Liz Hunter wrote:Dear Dan,
Help, I had saved your croissant recipe in your wiki site and am now distraught as I can no longer access it. I should have printed it out but failed to do so. Please, please will you post it again as they were the best croissants I have ever made.
Many thanks Liz
Here it is!
Dan's breadwiki croissant dough
From the old Bethesda Baking wiki (now retired)
for the dough:
500g French T55 flour (from www.flourbin.com ) or strong white flour
50g caster sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
50g unsalted butter, softened
about 200ml milk, to make a firm dough
1 tsp easy-blend yeast (*increase to 1 3/4 tsp if freezing the croissants before the final bake)
150g white leaven
1 large (60g) egg
for rolling:
300g unsalted butter, softened until it's pliable.
to finish:
2 - 3 egg yolks, beaten with 25ml water and a pinch salt
1. Measure the flour, sugar and salt into a mixing bowl. Rub the butter through the dry ingredients until it vanishes. In a separate bowl dissolve the yeast in the milk then beat in the leaven and the egg until smooth. Add this with the flour mixture and work to a firm dough, adding more milk if necessary. You want the dough to roll easily without flowing, so I keep it drier than I would a bread dough. Knead the dough for 10 - 12 seconds, then replace the dough in the bowl and leave for 1 hour in a cool place.
2. Lightly flour the worksurface and roll the dough out into a rectangle about 1cm thick, and pat slices of the rolling butter over two-thirds of it. Smooth the butter together with your fingertips so you end with an even layer of butter that covers two-thirds of the dough without any gaps and leaves a 2cm border around the edges. Then fold the unbuttered layer in over half the buttered one, and finally fold that over the remaining buttered section. This is called a single fold.
3. Lightly flour the worksurface again and roll the dough out as above to about 1cm thick, but this time make sure that the folded edges become the long sides of the rectangle. Give the dough another single fold, using a pastry brush to dust away any flour from the dough before you fold it. Then roll the dough out again, again making sure the folded edges become the long sides of the rectangle and give it a further single fold. Then wrap the dough in plastic, and chill in the refrigerator for 1 - 2 hours. At this point you have given the dough three single folds.
4. Give the dough another two folds, then wrap the dough up well and chill overnight (12 - 24 hours). The following day give the dough another two or three single folds - two single folds will make the layers very pronounced, three single folds will make the layers more flaky and soft. The fashion at the moment is to use fewer folds to show off the layering, but it doesn't produce a very tender result.
5. For the final rolling try to work somewhere cool, and at a time when you won't be disturbed. Chill the dough for another hour then roll the dough out to about three-quarters to one cm thick, into a rectangle about 20cm by 50cm or so long. Using a sharp heavy knife trim half a cm from the long edges of the dough to keep the shape crisp. Then cut triangles about 15 cm at the apex, and stack them up out of the way on the worksurface so they fan out a bit.
6. Line a tray with foil or non-stick baking parchment. Stretch the point of the triangle a little then place it on the worksurface and roll the dough up tightly. Lay these on the tray then repeat with the remaining dough. Many top pastry chefs freeze the croissants at this point (*using the increased amount of yeast), so if you want to, you can pack the croissants very close on the tray, then freeze the whole tray and pack them into a zip-lock bag or box once frozen. Otherwise space the croissants about 6 - 8 cm apart.
7. Cover the croissants and leave to rise. If they've been frozen they will need 2 - 3 hours to come to temperature and then another 2 - 3 hours at 21C - 24C to rise, all the time covered with plastic wrap to stop them drying, though you must use your judgement here in case they rise faster or slower. If the dough hasn't been frozen then leave covered with plastic wrap until they have doubled in height.
8. Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan-assisted). Brush the tops of the croissants sparingly with the egg yolk wash and bake for 30 minutes until a rich golden brown. Leave to cool on the tray.
