French croissants "the Hamelman way"

As I explained before, I think that bread should only consist of flour, water, salt and yeast. But... I am fond of croissants and Ed and Marieke inspired me by publishing their great croissants making video. So I started to make croissants "the Hamelman way" a few weeks ago for the first time in my Aga. It was a disaster! The croissants were ugly, the butter was far to warm and emerging through the dough, my working surface was greasy and sticky, etc. Next week I tried again: disaster number 2. Ugly croissants, but they tasted great! This weekend I followed the instructions from the Weekend Bakery more strictly and the result is satisfying.

How did I do it?

Dough:

- 500 g wheat flour

- 140 ml cold water

- 140 ml cold milk

- 50 g sugar

- 40 g soft (salted) butter

- 11 g dry yeast

- 8 g salt

Further:

- a packet of cold (salted) butter (250 g)

- 1 egg for the egg wash 

The evening before baking the croissants you prepare the dough. Mix the ingredients and knead it for a few minutes so it becomes a nice, homogeneous dough. Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest during the night in the fridge.

The next day, take the butter from the fridge and place it on a piece of baking paper on a cold working surface. Slice the butter with a cold knife in 8 slices of 1.25 cm thick: as the butter in Holland is sold in packets that measure 7 cm x 3 cm x 10 cm, you can form an almost square: 12 x 14 cm. Now put another piece of baking paper on top and pound the butter with a rolling pin until it measures 19 x 19 cm. It has to become a perfect square, use a knife to shape the edges, pound it again, use a knife again.... success! Put the butter in the fridge again.

Now take out the dough from the fridge, flour your working surface lightly and roll out the dough to a perfect square, measured 27 x 27 cm.

Take out the butter square from the fridge (it has to be cold but still pliable) and place it on the dough: the points of the butter square have to be centered along the sides of the dough. Now fold the dough over the butter, like an envelope. The dough must cover the butter entirely. You end up with a perfect square dough, with the butter completely sealed inside. Hamelman published some very instructive pictures on this site.

Now flour your dough lightly on both sides and roll it out, very gently, to a piece which measures about 20 x 60 cm. Fold it letter style: pick up one short end of the dough and fold it back over the dough, leaving one third of the other end of dough exposed. Then fold the exposed dough over the folded side. Put the dough on a baking sheet, cover it with plastic wrap and put it for 20 minutes in your freezer for relaxing and chilling.

Repeat the rolling and folding and freezing two more times, every time rolling the dough until it measures about 20 x 60 cm. Put your dough in plastic again and put it in your fridge.
The next morning it is time to make your croissants! Take the dough from the fridge and roll it out on a lightly floured working surface to a piece of 20 x 112 cm. Take your time for it and press your rolling pin only lightly. Now you can cut 15 triangles out of the dough: the short side of the triangles measure 12,5 cm, both long sides measure about 22 cm. Roll the triangles into croissants, brush them with the egg wash (made of the egg and a tablespoon of water) and let them proof on a rack on the warming plate of your Aga for almost 2 hours. Bake them in your roasting oven for only 4 or 5 minutes, transfer them to the baking oven and let them bake for another 12 to 15 minutes.

The best video to watch on YouTube about making croissants is of course this one: the late and great Julia Child!