This recipe is not for the weak of heart. It is a lot of work. I highly suggest reading the directions two or three times. At least two days worth of work, but day one is just mixing the poolish together and let it sit over night. Day two is where all the action is, kneeding, folding, baking, and eating. I did mention eating, that is the best part of any recipe.
You are probably looking at this and saying what in the world is poolish. A poolish is a wet sponge, typically made with a one-part-flour-to-one-part-water ratio by weight with a small portion of yeast added. After everything is combined, cover with plastic wrap and let it sit from 8-16 hours. Don’t forget to time into consideration the temperature, preferment that is ripening cooler room would require more yeast than one in a warmer room.
The other scary word is lamination. Lamination is a term used for dough that is consisting of many thin layers of dough separated by butter, produced by repeated folding and rolling. This type of dough may contain over eighty layers! See these terms aren’t that scary once you break them down.
After making these a few times now, I can honestly say you will be getting some toned arms if you making them enough. Great food and toned arms, what more can you ask for!? lol My family’s mouths start to drool when they smell theses in the oven. They make a great breakfast or even for an alternative choice for a lunch sandwich. However you eat them you won’t be disappointed.
Croissants
DAY ONE
TO MAKE POOLISH: Mix flour, water and yeast in a bowl, cover and let at and for at least 4 hours or over night. I usually do over night.
DAY TWO
Bring milk to room temperature, about 10 minutes. In a standing mixer bowl, add poolish to milk and stir until well combined.
Mix in bread flour, salt, sugar, brown sugar, and yeast. Cover and let stand for half an hour.
Knead the dough for 5-10 seconds, cover and let ferment at room temperature for 1.5 hours.
Flatten dough it into a rectangle on parchment paper. Wrap in plastic wrap refrigerate for 2 hours.
Fold a piece of parchment paper in half and open it up. Add butter and flour, fold the parchment paper over the butter/flour mix and into a 8 x 12 inches rectangle. Place in fridge.
Take out the dough from the fridge and roll out into a 12 x 20 inch rectangle.
Take out the butter from the fridge and lay it horizontally on the dough. It should cover about 2/3 of the length of the dough. Fold the left and the right side of the dough as you would fold a letter. Turn the dough 90 degrees and roll it out into a rectangle measuring about 12 x 20 inches. Do the fold again, place on parchment paper and cover with saran wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Take the dough out of the fridge, roll out to a 12 x 20 inch rectangle and fold. This is the second turn. Return dough to fridge for 1 hour. Repeat this step one more time, making it three turns.
After the third turn, the dough relax in the fridge for half an hour, then take out and roll out to 12 x 24 inches rectangle. The dough should be about 1/2 inch thick
Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough in half, horizontally. Then cut vertically into about 3 or 4 equal pieces. Then cut each piece in half diagonally into triangles.
Roll up each triangle, beginning at the widest side, and placing the narrow end on the bottom.
Place rolled up pieces onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for about 2 hours. Croissants should increase in size by about 1.5 times.
Preheat oven to 425˚F.
Prepare egg wash by whisking briskly egg yolks and cream or milk. Brush the tops of croissant with the egg wash.
Bake for about 20-30 minutes , until the croissants are deep golden brown, crisp and flaky. Smaller size croissants may take 15 minutes to bake, so keep an eye on them, especially the first time you are making them!
DAY ONE DAY TWO
Croissants
Ingredients
Instructions
