How To Make Proper Croissants Completely By Hand

Has your house ever smelled like European butter and freshly baked

croissants

? Do you want it to be that way? (Saib's 'Vivre') Croissants made from scratch. There is no quick way to

make

a really good croissant. I hate to tell you. But there simply isn't any. These take time. Two or three days to be exact. Most of that time is almost

completely

idle and you can obviously do whatever you need that day while you wait for it. It is not a big thing. In reality, it's only maybe one hour of actual active work over all those days and that's not so bad.

If you want freshly baked

croissants

, this is what you should do. I'll stop talking, let's do this, okay? Now, to get started, we first need to bloom our yeast. Before anyone asks, I don't plan on making a sourdough version of this, I don't like the way the acidity plays with croissants. Now you will start by whisking 6 grams of active dry yeast into 130 grams of water at about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Now I'm pretty much just going to use grams for this recipe just because the croissants have to be precise to get accurate results. Therefore, I recommend getting a kitchen scale as it is actually not that expensive and I will leave a link below to the kitchen scale that I personally use.

Now, once everything is mixed together, you'll let it sit for about 10 minutes or until it starts to get a little foamy on top. In a medium bowl, you will add 250 grams of bread flour, 30 grams of granulated sugar, and 5 grams of fine sea salt. Then, just beat well until everything is evenly incorporated. Then add the bloomed yeast mixture, 1 egg yolk and 25 grams of slightly melted unsalted butter. Then simply mix those ingredients with your spatula until it starts to form a dough and then use your

hand

s when necessary, and lightly knead the dough until it starts to come together.

Don't worry, you won't have to knead this for 10 minutes. Now, once it's come together, to give the dough a little bit of strength, you're basically going to just pick it up and tap it on the table and then fold it over on itself like you see here. You pick it up like... (laughs) It looks a little weird. This part should only take 30 seconds to a minute. You will know it is ready when you start to see a smooth surface on the dough. Once you're done, carefully shape it into a ball and place it back in your medium bowl.

Cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Now, once you're rested, you're ready for something called: "it's the first turn." To do that, you'll grab one edge of the dough and gently pull it, stretch it, and then fold it over itself and gently pat it with the palm of your

hand

. And you're going to repeat that process around the entire perimeter of the dough, until you've stretched all the sides and it's basically like an elastic ball. Then you will turn it over and place it with the side facing down in the container, wrap it with plastic and let it rest in the refrigerator for 10 more minutes.

Once it has rested you will repeat that process once more for a total of two turns, being careful not to break the dough when stretching it. You want to

make

sure the dough stays nice and intact. Once you've done this, you'll wrap it in plastic wrap one last time and let it sit in the refrigerator for 25 minutes. Now once this has rested place the finished dough on a sheet of wax paper. Now you will need to roll this into a 7 x 7 inch square. So to do that, A: you'll need a ruler and B: you'll need a rolling pin.

Start shaping it into the general shape, but don't roll it until you reach the 7-inch shape. Now, once you've got it into sort of a rough oval shape, take the wax paper and fold it over so that the edges of the wax paper itself, not the dough, but the edges of the wax paper. They are 7 inches by 7 inches. Then all you have to do is flip the dough over and then gently roll it towards those edges and it will really shape the dough. Basically, the dough conforms to the shape of the wax paper. Now, two things about this: The first is to make sure the dough is rolled out evenly so that it is

completely

flat.

You don't want it to look like hilly terrain, high in one area and low in one area. Make sure it is completely even. And then the other thing is don't press too hard, otherwise it will come off the wax paper. In which case, simply unwrap it carefully, leaving the shape intact, and re-wrap it. It is not a big thing. Once you have the square as uniform as possible, place it in the refrigerator overnight for 12 hours. I will have a sample schedule below in the description if you need it. Now on the second day it's time to roll our dough.

So with the butter you can imagine that this is one of the most important ingredients in the entire recipe. So don't skimp on the type of butter you get. Don't get cheap butter. Spend some extra money and get some good European butter. The reason is because you want butter that has a higher fat percentage. A higher butterfat percentage means better layers as opposed to something with a lower butterfat percentage because it contains less water. Which makes it a little firmer and more flexible to support all those folds and thin layers. Anyway, you're going to measure 138 grams of European-style butter.

Make sure to cut the pieces of this butter as evenly as possible, you'll see why later. Now, using another sheet of wax paper, you will carefully place the cut pieces of butter evenly until they measure approximately 4 inches by 4 inches. I would leave a little space, maybe at least, maybe roughly. 1/2 inch smaller or even an inch smaller on all edges, because you'll be pounding it like we did with the dough. Now we are ready to start mashing it until it forms a small square. By the way, if you have any weird little bits, you can see I put that one right on top.

It's not a big deal. So we're going to fold this just like we did with the dough, making sure the edges of the wax paper are 4 inches by 4 inches, it's okay if the butter isn't because we're going to pat it down and have it fit the shape of the wax paper. . Once the wax paper has been folded into a 4 x 4 inch square, turn it over so that the seam side is facing down and, using a rolling pin, lightly tap the butter so it spreads to the edges and spread it out. to smooth it into a uniform 4-by-4-inch square block of butter, known as a blitz.

Then place it in the refrigerator to chill for 15 to 25 minutes. Once this is done, lightly flour your work surface and remove the preformed dough from the refrigerator. Now, this part is very important, so be careful when doing it. With the rolling pin, flatten and lengthen all the edges of the dough. Flatten the center slightly so there isn't too much of a lump there, and then place the butter in the center of the dough diagonally, so that the edges are facing away from the edges of the dough. And then you're going to take each edge of the dough and stretch it and fold it over the butter, wrapping the butter in an envelope of dough and it should be relatively square once you've done that.

Make sure it is completely covered and no butter is sticking out. Pinch the edges closed and let it sit for a minute or two. You want to make sure the butter isn't completely rock hard when you roll it, otherwise it will break up a bit. Next, lightly flour a rolling pin on top of the dough and before you start rolling, you will take the rolling pin and lightly press the segments of the dough. I pre-rolled there for a second; I'm not supposed to do that. And then you will press several times throughout the entire dough. This helps coat the butter and simply presses the butter to the edges of the dough before rolling it.

Alright, now we will begin the rolling process. Then, you will roll with even pressure and roll this dough into a long rectangle, which is about 18 inches long. Try to keep it as rectangular in shape as possible and also try not to rock it back and forth with the roller. You'll notice that I specifically go in only one direction on each roll when I roll this dough. And be sure to maintain even pressure throughout the entire process; If you do it unevenly, the butter will be distributed unevenly, so it is very important that you are careful when you are rolling.

Now, once it's done and has reached about 18 inches long, you'll take the bottom half of the dough, the part that's closest to you, fold it three-quarters of the way into a rectangle, and then take the top half. and fold it the rest of a quarter of the way until both ends meet evenly. Tap them lightly to make them stick, then fold the longer part over the shorter part to form an envelope. Using a rolling pin, tap it down very lightly so that all the layers stick together. Don't press it, just tap it lightly and then wrap it in plastic wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator for an hour.

Once that hour is up, we're ready for our second and final fold, so unwrap the dough, place it on a lightly floured work surface, and this time when we roll it, make sure to roll it as long as possible. direction of the mass. Now, we already rolled it in one direction and the other way, so we won't roll it in the same direction and make it a wider rectangle. You're going to keep this in kind of a long, thin rectangle. Same as before, lightly pat it across the entire surface of the dough and then roll it out exactly the same way you did last time with even pressure, keeping it into a long, even rectangle about 18 inches wide. long. .

Now, this time we're going to fold it letter style. You'll take the top and fold it down a third, and then fold the bottom so it overlaps evenly on the other side. So you're ending up with an almost perfect square. I had to make a little adjustment here. But make sure it's even so that it's an even square and there are no weird overlaps or under... overlaps, I don't know if that's a word. Now this is the part, we are going to decide if it will be a two or three day process. You will wrap it in plastic wrap as usual and place it in the refrigerator for 12 hours, or up to 12 hours, or just 1 hour.

Up to you. I personally choose to make it in three days because it improves the final product a little, but if you are short on time, you can let it sit for an hour in the refrigerator. There are two reasons why we will leave this alone. A: it's because we don't want the butter to melt and we want to make sure we keep it cold, and B: we want to give the gluten time to relax, because if the gluten is hard then every time you try to roll it it will resist you rolling it, and you'll just press all those beautiful layers of butter into the dough, and you don't want that, so make sure that if the dough resists at any point while you're rolling this, give it time to rest in the fridge.

So be sure to let it sit if it resists. Now we are ready for the final rolling in the form of croissants. So, you'll start by rolling this, but as you roll it, you'll roll it into a wider, thicker rectangle. So you'll roll it until it's about 10 inches wide. It is not long, but it is 10 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick. The length is not so important here, just rotate it until those parameters are met. This is a good example to show you. You can see that the dough doesn't roll very far and slides back into position after I roll it.

This is an example of how the dough resists me. So I decided to re-wrap it after spreading it out a little, leaving it in the same shape, without folding it or anything, I wrapped it again in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator to rest. for 30 minutes before continuing to roll it because I didn't want to ruin these beautiful croissants. Now here it has rested for about 30 minutes and you can see that it rolls completely easily, without any problems, and that is the big difference that a quick little 30 minute break makes when gluten is too tight for you.

Now you are ready to shape the croissants. You can see me looking at my notes on my phone here because I've always known to check my notes whenever I follow my own recipe, and you're going to make little marks on the bottom of the dough at 4 1/2 inch intervals. . Then from there, looking at the marks on the bottom, you'll basically mark the top as well by following between two marks on the bottom of the dough and then making a mark in the middle of the top of the dough. You can see me identifying the middle here and then following it to the top of the dough and making marks there.

Now, to cut the croissant, you will take a long, sharp knife and make cuts following the points you made before, so you will basically connect each point with a cut. You can see me cutting it into triangles here and you should get about five to six croissants out of this. I know it doesn't seem like much for all this work, but if you want to double that you can easily make two doughsseparately, I don't recommend doubling it and making one big dough because then it's a counter space issue. , because you have to extend it to a larger size.

So it's actually easier to make two separate doughs, but six croissants is enough in my opinion, but I'm sure there are other people who will disagree. Now, once you have all the croissants ready, you will take a triangle of dough and roll it out very carefully. So maybe just an inch more, if it resists in any way, don't pull any more, you'll ruin the croissant. And then you'll roll them up really tight. Don't squeeze the layers together, just make sure it fits tightly and makes as many turns when rolling as possible. And then just lightly press the tip down to make it stick and you're done.

Then simply repeat that process with each croissant keeping them as uniform as possible and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Now, one thing I really need to keep in mind here is the little tails on these croissants, those little bits, you want to make sure you put them in far enough for the croissant to hold onto them. Otherwise, when they are baked they will unroll and fall apart and it won't turn out very well. So make sure you place it upside down so the weight of the croissant keeps it underneath while it bakes.

Now, let's take a second to admire the lamination of these croissants. Well then. Look at these things. They are perfect. Now before proofing, you're going to brush the tops of all of these croissants with beaten egg, which is literally just a whole beaten egg. And you're going to lightly brush the top, don't lacquer them too much. Then, you'll simply cover that rimmed baking sheet with another inverted rimmed baking sheet to create an environment that keeps out drafts and allows them to expand more easily. Keep in mind that they will almost double in size. So, if you don't have enough space to accommodate it, don't do it.

You can very easily put it in the cold oven with the door closed and that will keep the drafts away so it doesn't form a skin. And you're going to test them at 78 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 hours. Now, the way I did this was to place it on the lowest rack of my oven with the light on and the door slightly ajar. The way to tell if they are fermented is that they should look puffy and almost double in size, the layers should start to split a little, and they should move back and forth a little if you shake the pan slightly.

Now, once they are sufficiently fermented, you will give them another gentle brush with beaten egg, be very careful at this point, they are very, very fragile. To bake in a convection oven, you will bake them at 390 degrees Fahrenheit for 6 minutes and then at 330 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 to 15 minutes or until deep golden brown. For a non-convection oven, you will bake them at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown and puffed. Alright guys, and that's it. This recipe was a bitch and a half for you, I'm really sorry it took me a while to upload it. I've had some scheduling issues the last few weeks and they've been slapping me over and over again.

Overall, I ended up with a bunch of croissants that I now don't know what to do with. I mean, obviously I can eat them, but how many croissants can one person eat? I hope you get a chance to make these. Don't forget to DM me the photos of your croissants if you make them. The link to my Instagram is in the description as always. With all that said, if you liked this video or learned something, leave a like, subscribe and we'll see you next week.