Croissant Class in Paris

One of our passions is taking cooking classes whenever we travel - or traveling to take cooking classes. We’ve been to Napa Valley for a week of bread making classes from all the over the world, a weeks class at the French Pastry Institute in Chicago for french macarons and other french desserts, a Bouche de Noel class in San Francisco and last week a class in Paris learning how to make the laminated dough with which you make croissant and brioche. It was amazing.

One of the things that I learned was that croissants that are have no curve to them are made with 100% butter and that the croissants made with margarin have that little curve on each end! The pure butter ones are more expensive but definitely worth it. Those are the ones that we made in class.

The laminated dough takes an entire day to make so we began with some dough that had already been started but we did learn the process from start to finish. All it takes is patience and rigorous attention to detail.

Making your own Croissants - Have patience and you will be rewarded at the end!

Ingredients

Weigh all ingredients - if possible use a digital scale for greatest accuracy

For Step One

• 20 grams of fresh yeast (if using dried yeast use 10 grams)

• 112 grams of room temperature water

• 75 grams of flour (AP flour)

• 475 grams of flour (AP flour)

For Step Two

• 175 grams of room temperature whole milk

• 110 grams of 82% fat butterfat room temperature (take out no more than 15 minutes before use)

• 50 grams of sugar

• 12 grams of salt

For Step Three

• 350 grams of CHILLED butter

Note on the ingredients: Flour T55 corresponds more or less to All Purpose Flour. Fresh yeast is preferable but if using dry, you should half the quantity (use half the quantity of dry yeast vs what is suggested below, and dilute with same quantity of water and/or as per instructions on pack). The butter we use is 82% fat (but if you do not have 82% fat butter, you can still make croissants). The milk we use and recommend is full fat (about 3% fat).

Step 1. Making the Starter (aka Poolish)

1. Weigh the ingredients for the Starter (Poolish)

2. 20g fresh yeast, 112g water (room temperature), 75g flour T55 - mix these ingredients together with a hand whisk in the bowl of a Kitchen Aid or a large bowl.

3. Weigh 475g T55 flour and tip on top of the yeast mix. Do not stir. Tap the flour down gently to create a smooth, flat surface. Cover and let sit for 15-30 mins until some deep cracks appear.

Step 2. Making the dough and pounding the butter

1. Weigh 175g milk (room temperature) 110g butter (take out of fridge 15mins before using so the butter is cold but not chilled) 50g sugar, 12g salt

2. Add the milk, butter, sugar and salt to the Starter (Poolish) and place onto a stand mixer (Kitchen Aid) attached with a hook and mix on low to medium speed for 2-3 mins until a smooth ball of dough has formed. Place the dough into a large bowl and cover.

3. Allow to rest and rise in a warm atmosphere for approximately 1 hour (place a small dish of hot water into a cold oven to create a steam room to help the process of rising).

4. Once the dough has almost doubled in size, cover a wooden board with plastic wrap and tip the risen dough onto the covered board and massage into a large rectangle (approximately 35 x 25 cm) then cover the dough with the remaining plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 1- 2 hours.

5. Weigh 350g butter (chilled), place into some parchment paper. Using a rolling pin, pound the butter into a small square, approximately 15 x15. Place back the in fridge.

6. You want the dough and butter to be nice and cold before the next step.

Step 3. Adding the butter and making the 3 turns.

Flour the surface and gently roll the dough out to make sure it's wide enough to encase the butter - place the butter square at an angle into the centre of the dough and encase the butter completely, making a butter parcel. Press down gently with the rolling pin to knock out any air pockets then roll the dough out evenly to approximately 50 x 20 cm, making sure that the butter is evenly spread out through the dough. (insert photo)

Turn 1. Fold the dough into thirds (evenly). You should have a rectangle shape. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.

Turn 2. Placing the chilled dough like a book on your floured surface and roll out again to approximately 50x20cm. As above, fold into thirds, cover and chill for 1 hour. You can leave the dough in the fridge over night at this point and do the 3rd Turn the following day.

Turn 3. Placing the chilled dough like a book on your floured surface and roll out again to approximately 50x20cm. As above, fold into thirds, cover and chill for 30 mins.

Once the 3 turns are complete you can leave the dough in the fridge for a couple of days before using it. You can also freeze the dough at this point.

Step 4. Cutting and shaping the Croissants.

1. Place the dough like a book onto your floured surface, roll the dough out to approximately 50 x 20 cm. Cut width-wise into three.

2. Place one third onto your floured surface and cover the remaining dough and keep chilled in the fridge until ready to roll out some more. Roll out the dough to approximately 45-50 x 20 cm (don't let the dough get too thin).

3. Using a pizza cutter, tidy up the edges then cut triangles approximately 12 x 20 cm. Make a little slit at the bottom so you get your "little Eiffel Towers". Give the triangles a little tug, then roll up into the croissant. 

4. Make your egg wash: 1 whole egg, 1 yolk, pinch of salt. Strain the whole egg and the salt and egg yoke through a very fine mesh strainer with the back of a spoon. This creates a smooth consistency for your egg wash without the little albumin bits from the eggs.

5. Coat the croissants with some of the egg wash. Leave the croissants to rise 30-50 mins then apply the remaining egg wash.

6. Bake the croissants at 180°C for approximately 12 mins. Best eaten once they have cooled some.

Et voilà...