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Croissants
You can't beat the aroma or the taste of fresh croissants in the morning! These irresistible treats are made with plenty of butter and cream for layer upon layer of flaky indulgence. Break out the fruit preserves, lemon curd, or have them plain!
Dough:
1/2 cup warm half and half (105 degrees F)
2 tsp. instant yeast or 1 1/2 TBSP active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm half and half
1/4 cup sugar
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
2 TBSP softened butter
Beurrage:
1 cup cold butter
3 TBSP all purpose flour
Egg Wash:
1 egg beaten with 2 tsp. milk
1. In a small bowl, mix yeast with 1/2 cup warm half and half and set aside 5 minutes to proof yeast.
2. In a large mixer bowl, stir the remaining half and half, sugar, 2 cups of flour, salt, and butter. Mix until combined about 1 minute. Add yeast mixture and mix about 2 minutes on medium. Add additional flour 1/4 cup at a time and continue to mix 2-3 minutes just until dough is soft and pulls away from sides of bowl. It is not necessary to fully develop the gluten in the dough at this point so don't over mix. Cover the bowl of dough with a lightly oiled piece of plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. While dough is chilling, place the butter on 1 sheet of parchment or wax paper and sprinkle three TBSP of flour over it. Place another sheet of wax or parchment on top and use a heavy rolling pin to pound and roll the butter into a seven inch square. Wrap in plastic and place in fridge to chill until butter is soft enough to bend without breaking.
4. Lightly flour your work surface and remove dough from fridge. Pat it out to a 10 inch square and place the butter square on top of it diagonally with its corners facing up and down. Bring each corner of the dough over the butter square and to the center. Make sure to overlap the edges to completely cover the butter square. Turn the dough over and use a heavy rolling pin to roll it into an 8x18 inch rectangle. If butter starts to rip through the dough, dab rips with flour and allow it to rest on counter for 30 minutes covered with plastic wrap.
5. Mark the dough into thirds lengthwise and fold the left third over to the mark of the right third. Fold the right third over to completely cover the folded left third as you would a tri-fold brochure or letter. This is called a single turn and makes 3 layers. Repeat this procedure once and wrap dough securely in plastic wrap. Chill the dough for 30 minutes. Remove from fridge, unwrap dough to roll out into rectangle as before, give the dough 2 more single turns. Wrap and chill dough again for 30 minutes. Remove dough from fridge and unwrap. Roll into rectangle as before but this time fold left edge of dough only to the middle, fold right edge of dough to the middle to meet the other edge. Now fold dough in half just as you would close a book. This is called a double turn and makes 4 layers. Securely wrap dough back in plastic wrap and chill at least 5 hours or overnight for best flavor.
6. Lightly flour your work surface and remove dough from fridge. Roll the dough to 1/4 inch in thickness, approx a 10x25 inch rectangle. If too stiff to roll, allow dough to rest on counter for 30 minutes covered with plastic wrap. Cut the rectangle lengthwise to make two 3x25 inch strips. Mark each strip into triangles 5 inches wide on the bottom. Cut through the dough using a small pizza or pastry cutter and chill the triangles for 15 minutes on parchment lined baking sheets. Roll into traditional croissant shapes by rolling the bottom of the triangle up toward the point. Stretch the triangle slightly as you roll to keep it taut. Place it on parchment lined baking sheet with point on bottom to keep croissant from unraveling during baking. Bend the ends inward to form crescent shape. Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rise 1 - 2 hours at room temperature or until doubled in size.
7. Preheat oven to 425F during last 45 minutes of rise. Make egg wash and brush croissants. Place in oven, reduce heat to 400F and bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and done. Tent with foil during last 5 minutes if they start to brown too quickly. Remove from oven and from baking sheet immediately to cool on a rack. Allow croissants to cool 5-10 minutes before tearing into them to allow them to set and hold their flaky texture.
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