aaahoi

Hi everyone. Just want to give you an update. After a few more attempts, today's batch finally turned out fine. Thank you @teonzo for your amazing suggestions, especially the shaping part! And @scott123 for the info on flour. It helped a lot! Although the crumb was still a little tight this time. Next time i may need to knead less, reduce dough hydration or a longer proof to achieve a more open crumb. I also wonder how fold affects croissant crumb. Given that the recipe, shaping, proofing... is the same, does a 12-layer croissant have a more open crumb that a 27-layer one?

@teonzo So thank you for all your suggestions. I always struggle with shaping consistency. I normally do 3.5 inch width x 10 inch length with 1/4 inch thickness. I also place the tip of the triangle underneath the croissant every time, but it always breaks when the croissant is baked in the oven and the tip rises up. Maybe i rolled it too tight and it's stretched during baking? Some more updates. Yesterday's batch was done with King Arthur flour, less kneading and no diastatic malt powder. They didnt collapse nor go crazy this time, but there are large holes inside. I did some research. It says it was because layers are uneven/ there are large pockets of butter in the dough/ under-mixed détrempe (ref: https://joepastry.com/2008/those_darn_holes/). I tend to think it was under-mixing because i did reduce kneading time at the beginning. Also, i see King Arthur flour has malt powder. I wonder if other millers (Gold Medal/ Stone Buhr) add malt powder to their flour. If so, the extra 2g of malt powder i added might be the reason why my previous batches collapsed and were so mushy inside.

@scott123 @teonzo Thank you both for the input! Now I get a better understanding of some of the issues that I have had and a better sense of how flour works in croissant making. I managed to get King Arthur and Bob's Red Mill artisan bread flour in the supermarket today. Will definitely try them out! Bad news tho. Today’s batch (Gold Medal with less kneading time) went crazy again. *massive sigh*

@teonzo I roll it after the night in the fridge. But hey this is a great advice! Will try for my next attempt! Thank you so much!

@scott123 Thank you so much for the detailed explanation, it's really helpful. Perhaps i will omit DM and see how it goes. Unfortunately there are not many choices in Gaum. I've only worked with what is available here. Made a new dough tonight with Gold Medal bread flour. *fingers crossed*

@weinoo I tried to use AP before, for some reason the texture was so weird It was super cakey, interior was like a dinner roll.

Hi @scott123 Stone-Buhr unbleached white bread flour http://www.stone-buhr.com/flours/unbleached-white-bread-flour/ The dough needs to be warmed up? After rolling it out, usually i put the dough back in the fridge before i cut it in order to keep it cool. They are then shaped right away. It takes 10-15 mins from cut to shape. Hoosier Hill Farm Dry Malt (Diastatic) baking Powder https://hoosierhillfarm.com/Hoosier-Hill-Farm-Dry-Malt-Diastatic-baking-Powder-1.5-lb..html

I don't have the exact number, but i live by the sea so must be quite humid. Sometimes when the AC is off or when i open the balcony door, the floor gets wet in less than a min. Yet i keep the AC on when making croissants.

Hi guys! I've been working on my croissant project for a few months. I use this recipe from Gourmetier (https://gourmetier.com/french-croissants/). I did make a few tweaks to the original recipe (see below) but i follow the instructions very carefully. For the croissant initial dough (détrempe) 300 g bread flour (100%) 78 g cold water (26%) 78 g cold semi-skimmed milk (26%) 45 g sugar (15%) 30 g unsalted butter (softened) (10%) 6 g salt (2%) 3 g Saf gold instant yeast (1%) 2 g diastatic malt powder (0.6%) For laminating 168g butter (31% of the total détrempe weight) Working temp: 65-69F Proofing temp: 70-75F Humidity: unknown Oven temp: conventional with no fan 385F for 20 mins I’ve previously made some nice-looking ones with the same recipe and oven. Lately i tried to refrigerate the dough overnight after the last fold, then shape, egg wash and proof the croissants the next day. Everything seemed fine until proofing. The top layer started to tear during proofing. I continued to proof them until they were all fat and jiggly. And it was a disaster in the oven. They came out flat and broken. The layers were separated and won't merge together. The interior collapsed and was greasy. I tried to bake them for a bit longer but they were still undercooked. This has never happened before. Here are some pics: https://imgur.com/a/jEfKoHv The only thing i couldn't control was the ambient temperature and humidity. I don't have a proofer. I just turned the AC down to 75F, egg washed the croissants and cover them with a clear plastic lid. Here is something I'm guessing at - Perhaps there's too much liquid in the dough/ high humidity during proofing. Because it's quite humid in where i live - The dough started fermenting in the fridge overnight - Something went wrong with the diastatic malt powder, which is supposed to help with the rise, browning and crust texture - Simply overproof. There's not much information online about overproofed croissant. How do they look like? Dying to hear some advice! ( ͡ಥ ͜ʖ ͡ಥ) Thank you all so much in advance.