Croissants

Total Time: 16 hrs 20 mins Preparation Time: 16 hrs Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup warm water (100 degrees)
• 1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 9 ounces all-purpose flour (2-cups)
• 1/4 cup warm water (100 degrees)
• 3/4 cup milk
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 11 1/4 ounces all-purpose flour (2 1/2 cups)
• 1 3/4 ounces unsalted butter, completely softened at room temperature (3 1/2 tbl)
• 10 ounces unsalted butter, chilled
• 1 large egg, beaten with
• 1 pinch sugar, and
• 1 pinch salt

Recipe

• 1 preferment: in a mixing bowl, stir the warm water and yeast together.
• 2 wait for it to foam, about 2-4 minutes.
• 3 add flour and mix on low speed for 3 minutes with a mixer (or 5 minutes by hand).
• 4 cover and let rest at room temperature (70-75 degrees) for 12 hours, until tripled in bulk.
• 5 dough: in the mixer bowl, combine the water and milk.
• 6 add 1 tsp of the sugar.
• 7 sprinkle the yeast over the warm mixture and let sit until it starts to foam, 2-4 minutes.
• 8 add flour, the remaining sugar and softened butter along with the preferment.
• 9 mix with the dough hook, stopping to push the dough down the dough hook.
• 10 knead until the dough pulls into a translucent sheet without tearing, about 12 minutes.
• 11 the dough will be soft and supple.
• 12 if working by hand, knead for about 15 minutes.
• 13 transfer the dough to a large, lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic.
• 14 let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk- about 1 hour.
• 15 on a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 12 x 14 inch rectangle about 1/2 inch thick.
• 16 transfer dough to a parchment lined baking sheet, brush off all excess flour and cover with plastic.
• 17 put into freezer until it is as firm as the chilled butter.
• 18 5 minutes before the dough is finished chilling, lay the butter between 2 sheets of plastic.
• 19 with a rolling pin, pound butter into a 12 x 7 inch rectangle that is uniformly thick.
• 20 even out the rectangle with your hands and/or a dough scraper.
• 21 lay the dough on a lightly floured surface and position the butter on one side of the dough rectangle.
• 22 line it up parallel with the edges and leave a 1/4 inch margin.
• 23 fold the rest of the dough over the butter.
• 24 pinch the edges to seal in the butter.
• 25 fold the pinched edges over.
• 26 position the dough with the folded edge away from you.
• 27 roll the dough into a 10 x 20 inch rectangle that is about 1/2 inch thick.
• 28 fold 1/3 of the dough toward the center, brushing off excess flour.
• 29 fold the other 1/3 of dough over the two layers- like a business letter.
• 30 wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• 31 remove dough from the refrigerator and roll it out to a 10 x 20 inch rectangle, fold, rewrap and chill as before.
• 32 repeat this sequence one more time.
• 33 after the final chill, roll dough into a 19 x 25 rectangle that is 1/8 inch thick.
• 34 trim ragged edges and slice dough in half.
• 35 leave the halves in place.
• 36 on the upper half of the top strip, measuring from the left corner, cut small notches every 4 1/2 inches.
• 37 on the lower edge of the bottom strip, do the same thing.
• 38 with a pizza cutter and a ruler, connect the upper left corner of the top strip to the first notch of the bottom strip.
• 39 continue making parallel diagonal lines.
• 40 now connect the lower left corner of the bottom strip to the first notch on the top strip to cut a triangle.
• 41 continue until you end up with 20 triangles mand some scraps.
• 42 cut a small notch in the middle of the base of each triangle and dab the three corners with egg wash.
• 43 take each triangle and pull gently at the base so that the notch separates.
• 44 fold the edge of the base over twice- 1/2 inch at a time, pinching as you go.
• 45 with one hand roll the base towards the tip while pulling gently on the tip with your other hand.
• 46 finish the roll so that the tip is underneath the croissant.
• 47 lay on a parchment lined sheetpan so that the lines of the roll converge toward you.
• 48 leave at least 1 inch between croissants.
• 49 gently curve the ends of each croissant together toward you, pich and brush the croissant with egg wash.
• 50 (if you wish to freeze for later use, do it at this stage,) let them rise uncovered at room temperature untli they double- about 1 hour.
• 51 heat the oven to 375.
• 52 bake the croissants in the hot oven for 18-20 minutes or until deep golden brown.
• 53 to check for doneness, push gently on the inner curve of the croissant.
• 54 if it springs back they are thoroughly baked.
• 55 if frozen, let thaw over night in the refrigerator and then let rise (it will take about 2 hours) before baking.