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Title: Croissants
Categories: Brotmachine
Yield: 1 Servings
| THE SPONGE | ||
| 1 | c | Milk |
| 1 | tb | Sugar |
| 1 | c | White flour |
| 2 1/2 | ts | Yeast |
| COMPLETING THE DOUGH | ||
| 1 | Extra lg egg | |
| 1 | lg | Egg yolk |
| 1/3 | c | Sugar |
| 4 | tb | Dry milk |
| 1/2 | ts | Salt |
| 2 1/3 | c | Flour plus 2-3 to form a |
| Ball that is slightly sticky | ||
| 1 | c | Frozen butter-see note |
| COMPLETING THE CROISSANTS | ||
| 1 | Egg | |
| 2 | tb | Milk |
| 2 | tb | Coarse sugar |
NOTE: To prepare the butter, cut 2 sticks unsalted butter into 1/2 inch slices. Place them in a plastic bag. Add 2 T white flour, seal the bag, and toss in the flour to coat both sides of all the pieces. Place the bag in the freezer for at least 2 hr or as long a several days. When the butter is frozen solid, use your fingers to quickly snap each piece into fourths (do this through the bag). Refreeze until ready to use.
1. Place all the sponge ingredients in the machine, set on dough and start. Knead for 2 minutes. Allow the sponge to reast for 5 minutes while you assemble the remaining ingredients.
2. Reset the machine on dough, and press start. Add the egg, egg yolk, sugar, dry milk, salt, and flour to the sponge during the prekneading cycle. Allow the dough to knead for 5 minutes, or until a discrete ball forms. The surface will be slightly stickly. With the machine running, add the butter scattering the pieces on top of the dough. Use a rubber spatula to push the butter into the center of the dough-it will look very messy but don't worry. Knead for 3 to 4 minutes, or until about two thrirds of the butter in incorporated into the dough. Canel the machine and turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. It will still look messy with pieces of butter sticking out. Sprinkle about 1 T flour on the dough and use your hands to quickly knead in the rest of the butter. You don't have to be too thorough; some pieces of the butter will still show-that's fine. Now proceed with completing the croissants.
3. Form the dough into a rough, flat brick and wrap it airtight in a plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. : This is the step that distributes the butter between the layers of dough which gives you the flaky layers that croissants have. For this recipe it is repaeted 4 times, with 30 minutes refrigerated rest between each turn. : Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a 18x12-inch reangle with a short end nearest you. Dust off any visible flour. Fold the bottom third up away from you, dust off any visible flour, then flod the top third down towards you to form a three-layered "book". Wrap the dough in a plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or as long as overnite. The longer you refrigerate the dough, the more times is has to relax and the easier it will be to roll out. Repeat this process 3 more times.
4. Line 2 heavy duty baking sheet with tin foil. Spray with ninstick spray. On a lightly floured surface. foll the dough into an 18x12 inch retangle. Cut the dough in half lengthwise to form 2 long strips. cut each strip into three 6-inch pieces, giving you six 6-inch sq. Cut each sq into 2 triangles. Working with one triangle at a time, position it with the point away from you. Roll from the long end toward the point, stretching the ends of the dough out as you go. Tuck the point underneath and form a crescent with the two ends touching. Place the croissants on the prepared baking sheet, 1 1/2" apart. Mix the egg and milk to make an egg glaze. Brush the egg glaze on the croissants and sprinkle with sugar. Allow the croissants to rise in a warm, draft-free place, uncovered, until nearly doubled in bulk, 45 minutes to an hr.
5. If you don't want to cook the croissants immediately, you can give them this last rise in the refrigerator, which will take about 2 to 4 hrs, or you can freeze them at this point. Deforst them in the refrigerator and allow them to rise at room temp. before baking.
6. Pre-heat over to 400 with the rack in the middle. Bake the croissants for 15 minutes, watching carefully to make sure they don't burn. If they are getting too brown, drape a sheet of foil over them.
Makes 12. Janet Juengling-Snell
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