Croissant in the making

Making:
Sourdough Croissants!

Makes 8-12 depending on cut size

Here's what I have:


Dough
28 G butter 

315 g flour plus additional for dusting. 

*Today I'm using King Arthur gluten free bread flour

25 G sugar 

1 tsp salt 

97 G sourdough starter 

180 ML whole milk 

Butter pad

240 G butter 

Allowed to soften at room temp.

Egg wash

1 large egg

2 tbsp whole milk

Preparation:

In total this recipe took 3 days from mixing to lamination process then baking.

Day 1 

The dry goods were all combined in the mixing bowl and whisked together until incorporated.

The bowl is placed on the stand mixer and set to the third setting with the dough hook in. Slowly I added milk and butter in increments. Once all the what ingredients were in the bowl I turned the speed up and let it run scraping down the sides every once in a while until a dough ball formed.

Making the butter sheet:

While the mixer was going I placed the butter for the butter sheet in between parchment paper and rolled it flat with a heavy rolling pin until it fit into a pan 1/2 the size of the pan I will be using to form the dough sheet.

This went into the fridge to firm up immediately after rolling.

Working the dough

After the dough ball was formed I was turned out onto a mat. It had a slightly sticky consistency so I had to use additional flour when working it until it had a more dry form. Just enough to not leave no residue on my hand when working it.

Once it was fully Incorporated and ready to roll out I used a sheet pan to set the size. This pan was double the size of the butter pan pictured below

I put them in the fridge allowing the dough sheet to sit for about 5 hours before moving to the next step.

Lamination round 1

Next I began the first part of lamination by taking the flat butter sheet and placing it in the middle of the dough sheet.

The dough sheet was folded over until each end met in the middle of the butter sheet and all open sides were pinched to keep the butter from running out of the seams. I turned the folded door sheet over and rolled over it lightly five times before flipping back over and continuing lamination.

The sheet was rolled out to the size of the original large sheet and folded over and then rolled out again. I did this six times before the sheet became too pliable and needed to go back into the fridge.

Next: Overnight chill

Before putting it back into the fridge I made sure all Corners fit into the sheet pan and covered it before placing back into the fridge. This time the dough sheet will be in the fridge overnight.

DAY 2

Today I will continue the lamination process. The same as the day before I will fold and roll the sheet out to the size of the sheet pan until it becomes too pliable. It will then be returned to the fridge to chill once again.

I did one more fold and roll on day 2 before putting the dough back into the guide pan and placing it back in the fridge.

This was allowed to chill for 3 more hours before I began the cutting and shaping process. To start I rolled the entire sheet out and squared off the edges.

I used a long straight ruler to get the corners at squares possible and used a pizza cutter to cut across the dough.

The final sheet.

The leftover edges were put together as closely as possible and rolled out later to make an additional croissant.

CUTTING THE CROISSANTS 

I made a mark at the 3-in or 10 cm mark on the top and bottom of the dough plate and used a pizza cutter to make triangles.

I placed some of the dough on top of the other with a sheet of plastic between to keep them from sticking together while I rolled the croissants.

Because I'm using a gluten-free bread flour they don't have as much pull so I had to be really careful with the stretching process.

I also forgot to make the little cut to the bottom of the triangle which would have helped with the process.

After rolling all the triangles I selected the best looking for out of the bunch and put them in the fridge. I had to bake them the next day since it was getting so late in the evening I wouldn't have time to proof.

The other four or partially frozen and then wrapped in plastic wrap before placing back in the freezer for a later date.

After doing a bit more research I found that sourdough croissants can go for a 12 hour rise at room temperature so I'm trying that with two of the four that will be baked tomorrow. I made sure the environment for the 12-hour rise would keep moist and was well sealed. 

Day 3

In the morning the remaining Croissants are pulled from the fridge and spritzed with a little water before placing in the enclosed area to proof. 

Once the overnight reached 12, and morning reached 4 hours proof time I compared sizing. At that time there didn't seem to be much difference so I decided to let them continue to proof and see what would happen. Eventually it didn't seem like they would get any bigger so I decided to cook them.

The 20 hour 

The 8 hour 

The 8-hour croissants had only slightly more puff on them and neither pan jiggles very much when shaken. 

I made the egg wash and brushed both pans before placing them in the fridge while the oven was set to preheat to 375.

After giving them a second brush of egg wash both pans went in for 20 minutes turning at the 10 minute mark.

Here are the 20 hours 

And the 8 hours proof. 

The plate!

The croissants came out with a light sheen and weren't as heavy as I was expecting when eaten. They flanked pretty well and I think this version of the dough might serve better for pie or a filled pastry that has a wrapped layer instead of rolled.

- Kris