{Progress Posts are a chance for me to look back and acknowledge my baking development. For these posts, I won't share a recipe, but I might discuss a technique or strategy behind my baking. In an "insta perfect" world, I think it's important to show the completely failures and the resulting growth from the lessons learned. }
12 years ago (it feels just like yesterday), Jamie and I spent a week in Paris. It was my first time out of the country. We did all of the "touristy' things: the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, etc. But what I remember the most was the little patisserie around the corner from our low-budget hotel. I ate a plain croissant from that patisserie every single day. It was a carb/bread-lover's dream.
Since then, I have had pretty good croissants at French Bakeries like La Farm and Amelie's. Just eating good croissants is not enough though. I needed to figure out how to make them at home. Thus begins three year journey. Why three years? To be completely honest it takes 3 days of prep to make a croissant and I don't really have that kind of time. So over three years, I have made these 4 times.
The first attempt in 2016 was a complete disaster because of the butter block. I didn't know the trick (fold the butter into a piece of parchment paper and beat gently into a perfect square). I ended up with chunks of butter fashioned haphazardly into a square shape. The result of that ugly "butter block" was that when I started doing the turns, I could see the butter separating through the dough and knew it the croissants weren't going to have those delicate flaky layers. I was right, Those bad boys baked in puddles of butter and had not a single layer nor whisper of a flake.
Fast forward all the way to 2018. I decide to try again. I googled all of the videos on how to make the butter block-- and I enlisted my 2 year old to help. I had no idea that making a butter block would be such a toddler friendly activity. 15 minutes of glorious quiet time later, we had a had a decent butter block. Progress! This time, the croissants didn’t bake directly in a pool of butter, which was a step in the right direction. They actually started to look more croissant-like:
But when I cut the croissant open, I noticed a very closed texture. The crumb is more parker house roll than croissant. This is likely the result of it taking me too long to perform the turns giving the butter time to melt. Alright, so now I know how to create a butter block like a pro. I've practiced the turns and know that I need to be a tad bit quicker, or my house needs to be cooler. More Progress!
A few weeks later in 2018, I am convinced that the third time is the charm. The butter block is now a source of enjoyment for the two year old. I turned off the heat in my house and went as far as to open the kitchen door to let in some winter air in. I was hyper focused on keeping the dough cold while doing the turns. While these were wildly misshapen and perhaps didn't get enough of a rise, you can start to see the layers. It’s so close. I'm right there.
An entire year passes. So in early 2019, I decide to give it another shot. I spent the last 6 months of 2018 learning how to make sourdough, focaccia and pizza dough. I go all the way in on this croissant-making challenge. I tried a new croissant recipe than the previous three tries. I followed the Tartine method to make sourdough croissants. In addition to using my sourdough starter, this recipe calls for a "poolish" which is essentially flour, water and yeast that you refrigerator overnight.
The butter block is no longer a hurdle. I managed the temps in the house better than before and moved the dough to the fridge at the first sign of warmth. When rolling out the dough on the 3rd turn, I realized I needed to put as much leverage into rolling as possible. To get the dough back in the fridge. But I’m not taller than my countertops. Solution: I pulled out my step aerobics platform to give me boost and rolled that dough out as quickly as I could. Like lightening! Let me tell you my forearms ached for days after that.
The morning that I baked the croissants was nerve wracking. After 3 whole days, will these croissants turn out? Will there be a flake? Some layers? I finished the final proof, heated the oven and slide them in to bake. Then I sat directly on the floor in front of my oven and waited. Great British Bake Off style.
They came out of the oven and I was besides myself. Jumping all around like a lunatic. They puffed up so nicely and without cutting them you could see the flake. It happened. Are they perfect? Definitely not. I think they should have stayed in the oven another two to three minutes.
It's progress and as the saying goes, practice makes perfect.
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