Directions: |
Directions:THE BUTTER SHEET:
In a large bowl, put sufficient ice water to comfortably handle the 2 cups of butter. Knead the butter with your hands, in the water, with a few ice cubes floating nearby, until the butter is soft and pliable. It will take ten minutes or so. Don't worry about water getting in the butter; keep it cold; keep squishing the increasingly-pliable butter between your fingers. When kneading is sufficient you will have a nice blob of pure, kneaded butter. If a shortcut is taken, and the butter has been softened prior to (or prepared absent) kneading, the croissant will not have the incredible flakiness characteristic of this roll, but it will have some flakiness. Place the blob between two sheets of parchment paper, flatten it out to about a 5 x 10 inch sheet and refrigerate.
THE DOUGH:
Scald the milk, reaching a temperature just prior to boiling. Remove from heat. Do not boil; that would affect the milk sugars. Stir the olive oil, sugar and salt. Let sit until you are able to hold your finger in the milk comfortably. It should be slightly warm. When it is, dissolve the yeast in the water in the mixing bowl you will be using. Add the milk. Mix the flour and gluten together and add them to the bowl.
Stir or knead in the bowl or use a mixer with dough hook - the dough should be sticky. When it is, cover with a cloth and let rise for 1-2 hours. Then, chill the dough for 3-4 hours or overnight, covered tightly.
PREPARATION OF THE LAYERS:
When ready to prepare the dough, the room should be cold or the dough/butter will melt together and you will have sticky, unmanageable dough. Get the butter sheet out; heavily flour the kneading surface; have a rolling pin available. Place the chilled dough on the floured surface and roll out to a 5 x 15 rectangle. Place the 5 x 10 inch butter sheet over the first 2/3 of the dough, leaving the remaining 1/3 devoid of butter. Fold the devoid-of-butter third over the butter-topped middle third.
Now you have, top layer to bottom layer:
1st third: butter sheet on top of dough
2nd third: dough, butter sheet, bottom dough
3rd third: there is none on the counter - it is on top of the middle third.
Now fold the first third to the middle third.
The layers have been assembled and you have a fat square:
dough, butter sheet, dough, butter sheet, dough.
Roll the rectangle out smoothly, trying not to tug too much or tear the dough. Cut off ends of dough that pop out and stick them back wherever needed for tear repair. It's inevitable. Fold dough again using the above method to get the fat square, turning the dough a quarter turn (think unit circle from trig - go from 0 degrees to 270 degrees) and roll out again, really several times, turning the dough into different trig quadrants, maybe 3 times total, as long as the dough remains chilled. The idea is to incorporate the butter into the dough, keeping all layers chilled. The unique flakiness and texture that these efforts produce are worth the time. Fold your rectangle back into a fat square with many layers and chill again. The dough can be kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 days at this point, or frozen; wrap it well so no unwanted flavors enter the dough.
CREATING THE ROLLS:
Roll out your dough in a cold room, the shape at this point depends on what shape you want your rolls to be. For 20 years I have rolled out the rectangle and used a croissant cutter. If you can find one, the instructions will help you. Otherwise, visually plan the shapes you want to cut out from your dough and do so with a pizza cutter. The dough will want to spring back (hopefully) so work quickly and coax the itinerant dough with a little water pressed into it. Place the shaped rolls on parchment paper (they burn so easily without it) and chill AGAIN, but this time only for a half-hour or so. Actually, you can bake the first batch while you shape the next batches. Chill first, though. Temperature: 400º for the first 5-7 minutes (this puffs them up nicely) then 350º until they are done (approximately another 15 minutes; watch them closely). |
This recipe for Croissants is from