The constant bombardment of wintry precipitation last month and the first few days of this one kept me in a baking mood.
A few years ago, my mother gave me a croissant cutter for Christmas. I'd never made croissants, but the lousy weather gave me a great excuse to try it out.
These croissants take five days to make. But don't misunderstand; the actual work involved is only minutes a day. The instructions below include directions for making the croissants without a croissant cutter. If you happen to have one, by all means use it, though I found mine didn't make the process any easier.
Cinnamon Croissants
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 cup whole milk
1 egg
2 1/4 cups bread flour, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water)
Day 1:
Make the cinnamon butter: Cut the butter into chunks. Place the chunks in a food processor, along with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Process until thoroughly blended, scraping down the sides as needed. Transfer the butter to a sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper and flatten into a disc. Wrap well. Refrigerate 8 to 24 hours.
Day 2:
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the yeast, sugar, milk and egg.
In a food processor, whirl together the flour and salt.
Remove the cinnamon butter from the refrigerator and unwrap. Cut into chunks. Add the chunks to the food processor with the flour and pulse to cut butter into flour. When properly mixed, the largest pieces of butter should be no larger than peas. Be careful not to overmix.
Transfer the flour-butter mixture to the bowl with the yeast mixture. Using a long-handled spoon, gently stir until combined and no streaks of dry flour remain. If necessary, drizzle any dry spots with a few drops of water or milk to moisten. The dough should be wet and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Day 3:
Generously flour a work surface. Turn dough out onto prepared surface. Lightly sprinkle the top of the dough with flour. Using your hands, pat dough into a rough square. Using a rolling pin, roll dough to about 18 inches square, sprinkling the dough and work surface with flour as necessary to keep it from sticking.
Take the left third of the dough and fold it over to the middle, then fold the right third over to the middle. Fold the top third down to the middle, then fold the bottom third up to the middle. You should have a fat square of dough.
Roll dough to a 16-inch square. Repeat folding process. If the butter feels soft or squishy at any point, return the dough to the refrigerator for 10 minutes or so to firm up. Repeat rolling and folding one more time. After the third roll and fold, wrap dough in plastic and place in a zip-close bag and refrigerate overnight.
Day 4:
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Generously flour a work surface. Divide dough in half. Working with one-half at a time, roll dough into a 14-inch circle. Cut into 8 pie-shaped wedges. Working with one wedge at a time, stretch the base to 6 inches wide and stretch the point to 9 inches long. Starting at the base, roll dough toward the point. Curve the roll into a crescent shape. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining wedges, and then the remaining dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 45 minutes to 1 hour, then refrigerate overnight.
Day 5:
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Unwrap pans and brush each croissant with egg wash. Bake croissant until nicely browned, about 18 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Makes about 16 croissants.
Recipe adapted from Make Ahead Bread by Donna Currie
Food on 03/11/2015