A first attempt at The New York Times croissant recipe by
Claire Saffitz
What a daunting task that stressed me out for no other reason than to get it right. Making croissants is a long and technical process and its knowing this which makes it more terrifying. I'd say I'm a comfortable home cook/baker, but there's something about croissants that strips away all confidence. Perhaps its the fact that there's nowhere to hide when it comes to the iconic French pastry. There are so many factors to take into consideration; temperature, strength of the flour, fat content in the butter, rolling pressure, humidity. It's definitely not a walk in the park. By the end of day one, once my dough has finally been through all the folds and resting, I sat tense, anxious but also excited to wake up on day two and actually do the shaping and proofing.
Day two started at 7am, one hour "late" according to the time schedule. At this point it's either hit or miss and no matter how you shape your croissants, its ultimately all up to the dough to make or break my baking spirit. Waiting for two to two and a half hours of proofing in the oven is equivalent to the runway scene in Fast and the Furious - a very very long time. Almost literal agony, waiting for it to end. You could clean up while you wait or do something to occupy your mind, or you could just pace up and down the kitchen and peek into the oven every 3 minutes.
Oh, but when you hear the timer go off and it's time to take those babies out of the oven, un-matched-feel-ing. Maybe my whole take is just dramatic but it's such an achievement for me. I was both shocked and pleasantly surprised that I pulled off this technical bake. I now understand when Claire talked about the obsession that had overcome her when she started making croissants. I'm already thinking about making them again, going back to the drawing board to troubleshoot the little things until I get the p e r f e c t honeycomb cross section. As for the taste, it was delicious no doubt. Crispy, flaky, rich and buttery pastry. Just as you imagine, that's how it is.
Here are some tips which play a big role in making good croissants. These are based on lots of reading and what Claire Saffitz mentioned in her YouTube video:
Temperature: you need everything to be cold until the final proofing. Cold counter tops, cold ingredients, cold utensils and more importantly, cold air temperature. I feel like it makes beginner croissants easier because there's less pressure about the butter warming up or the yeast activating.
Strong dough: a strong flour is key to make a dough that can keep up with all the folding. I used a strong bread flour to make these croissants.
Good quality butter: this is actually the most important step. Good quality, high fat percentage butter doesn't crack when chilled and folded multiple times. High fat European butter is also richer in taste and that shows in the end result. Please do not skimp on this, it will affect the end result. I used Lurpak, but Kerrygold is also a great choice.
Pressure: When rolling out the dough, it's important not to add too much pressure. This would fuse the dough with the butter, which would ruin the lamination. Instead, roll the dough to lengthen to the dimensions rather than to roll it thin.
Chilling: between each fold, the instructions say to chill in the freezer/fridge. Do this quickly as the worst thing that can happen is that your butter melts into the dough and ruins lamination.
Tacky dough: keep the dough slightly tacky and dust off any excess flour. Especially at the end when you roll your croissants, if the layers are dry they will separate while baking.
Proofing: Unfortunately, to know whether your croissants have proofed correctly is all up to time and the naked eye. Since you can't touch the dough once proofed to be sure that they are light and airy (this can deflate them), you just have to see if they jiggle and hope the humidity and temperature was enough to do the job.
These were the steps that I did not compromise on and made the croissants a success at first try. While I try to perfect the honeycomb look, following Claire Saffitz recipe step-by-step and with a lot of patience, it can be done. I am of course no expert and there are probably lots more to it that I don't know if, but this is my experience :)
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