Croissants

Croissants

25

Some hands-on time is required to master croissants. However, with a little patience (and a little butter) you’ll find these melt-in-your-mouth pastries are definitely worth the extra effort.

  • 2 cups cold milk
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 4 ½ Arrowhead Mills Organic Unbleached Wheat Flour
  • 1 ½ oz store bought gluten
  • 1 scant cup of Arrowhead Mills Pastry Flour
  • ½ cup of Hain Organic Sugar
  • 1 ½ oz fresh yeast, crumbled
  • 1 tbl plus 1 ½ tsp Hain sea salt
  • 5 sticks of unsalted butter cut into pieces and cold
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  1. Combine milk and honey and set aside. Using a electric mixer with a dough hook attached, stir together in a bowl, 4 ¼ cups Arrowhead Mills Organic Unbleached Wheat Flour, gluten, Arrowhead Mills organic pastry flour, sugar, yeast and salt; stir well to combine. Add in milk mixture in a slow steady speed and continue to mix until dough just comes together (approx 2-3 mins).c
  2. Turn dough out on to a well floured counter top, gently knead the dough to form a smooth ball (knead for about 1min). Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.
  3. Make the butter package; lay butter sticks side by side on a sheet of plastic wrap and sprinkle over remaining ¼ cup of flour. Pound with a rolling pin until all of the flour is incorporated, roll butter package into an 8-inch square. Wrap tightly and keep in the refrigerator.
  4. Remove dough from refrigerator; place on lightly floured counter top.
  5. Roll out to a 16 x 10inch rectangle, about ½ inch thick, with short side facing you.
  6. Remove chilled butter package from refrigerator; place on the bottom half of the dough and fold back the remaining half of dough over the butter. Pinch edges of the dough to seal.
  7. Roll out the dough to a 20 x 10 inch rectangle, about ½ inch thick with short side facing you; keep corners square. Brush off any excess flour with a dry pastry brush. Starting at the far end of the rectangle, fold into thirds, turning dough once at each fold. Wrap in plastic and chill for 1 hour.
  8. Remove from refrigerator and repeat rolling and folding 2 more times, starting with the flap opening on the right and chill for 1 hour between each turn.
  9. After wrap dough in plastic and chill for 6-8hrs or over night.
  10. Turn chilled dough put on a lightly floured counter top, roll the dough out to a 30 x 16 inch rectangle, if dough becomes too elastic, cover with plastic and chill for 10 mins.
  11. Using a pizza wheel cut the dough into 30 x 8 inch rectangles. Stack one piece on top of the other and line up the edges, each with a four inch base, Use pizza wheel to cut dough into triangles, cut a 1 inch slit into each triangle center. To shape croissants, stretch the two lower points of the triangle to enlarge the slit slightly. Fold inner corners formed by the outer sides of the triangles, press down to seal. With your finger tips, roll the base of the triangle up and away from you, stretching the dough slightly outward as you roll; the tip should be tucked under the croissant. Pull the two ends forward to form a crescent.
  12. Transfer crescents to a parchment lined baking tray. Set each crescent 2 inches apart on prepared trays and, cover loosely and set in a warm spot to let rise and double in size.
  13. Preheat oven 400F
  14. Brush croissants lightly with beaten egg. Bake 20 to 25 mins, rotating sheets half way through cooking time. Transfer to a wire rack to cool and serve warm or room temp.