Classic French Croissants: Tips & Techniques

[gfron1]

That make sense. I did keep them at the same temp throughout. I'll give it a try on my next batch.

[sugarseattle]

hey rob, are you going to score your pain au chocolate? I think that always makes them easier to eat since they look like little balls of tension.

[gfron1]

I'll do that on my next batch and see how my regulars respond. I've just never done it - what a strange exotic idea

[schneich]

after a lot of trying we finally made peace with the croissant gods :-)

(pierre herme recipe + 20% more butter, gruau flour and french "Beurre de tourage")

cheers

t.

[gfron1]

I have a question - pain au chocolat...I proof and bake them with the seams on the bottom. One out of every four like to roll over off their seam. What should I be doing? Am I just being too gentle with them? I'm trying not to damage the layers so I treat them like a butterfly on a baby's rear.

[ihatenougat]

I tried to make croissants at home a few days ago, and they were a quite a failure. I think from this thread I've been able to identify all the problems except one.

Most recipes tell you to stretch out the triangles a little before rolling them up. When I tried this, the outer layer of dough ripped in several places, exposing the butter.

What's the point of that? And wouldn't it be easier to roll out the dough a little wider as opposed to lengthening each triangle one at a time?

[Paul Stanley]

I think the idea may be that you want to have the long part a bit thinner, so that when you roll it up it doesn't get excessively thick about the midriff. If you just started with a bigger triangle you would either get a too-fat croissant, or undesirably thin points which would scorch too easily.

At any rate, I've never had trouble with it, and if your dough is delaminating I'd be inclined to think there is something else wrong with it.

Edited to add: Having said all that, I wouldn't want to swear it's strictly necessary. There seem to be a variety of ways of shaping them (including the "notches" and the "slug of dough in the middle"), and I'm not 100 percent convinced they matter. Why not try experimenting?

Edited August 10, 2010 by Paul Stanley (log)

[iii_bake]

Hi All,

I need your help.

When i roll the folded dough, trying to do the lamination, it tended to be like this at the end.

I tried to figure this out n fix it by playing n rollingl the scrap to see how i put the weight on each rolling and what the result would be...but still i could not figure this out.

Cud any one please give me some tips on rolling and how to fix this?

Kindly helppppppp

iii

[Mjx]

The dough looks a bit warm/the butter may have been a bit thick (but it's a bit hard to tell). More details, please?

[iii_bake]

Thanks for your Reply mjx.

I need the help on rolling technique that will not be a push that makes the three layers of dough stretched out to a different extent.

if you look at the pic, i need the three layers to be lined up well without seeing the two below layers poked out.

It is the way i rolled, sometimes it came out nice. Sometimes it was like this

Thanks again

iii

[Twernmilt]

Perhaps someone can help me diagnose my croissants.

This is the texture I'm aiming for:

This is the texture I achieved:

I'm using the recipe from Tartine, which has worked wonderfully for me in the past, but now I'm struggling to get a good batch. This batch was far too dense and somewhat spongy. My first thought is that I didn't let them proof long enough. It's fairly warm in my apartment, so I let them proof for two hours which is the lower end of what the recipe calls for.

A possible related question: What should the texture of the dough be just before it's rolled out for the first time? My dough was quite stiff. I added a few tablespoons of milk to loosen it, but it was still very firm and I had to struggle with it a bit to roll it out for each fold.

[LindaK]

Thanks for your Reply mjx.

I need the help on rolling technique that will not be a push that makes the three layers of dough stretched out to a different extent.

if you look at the pic, i need the three layers to be lined up well without seeing the two below layers poked out.

It is the way i rolled, sometimes it came out nice. Sometimes it was like this

Thanks again

iii

Over the weekend, I was reading a cookbook by a local pastry chef, Flour by Joanne Chang, and came across some advice for keeping the layers aligned when rolling out croissant dough: between each turn, use your rolling pin to strike the dough up and down the entire length, creating a series of ridges. Then use the pin to smooth out the ridges and roll out the dough as usual. According to Chang, this compression technique keeps the layers aligned.

If you give it a try, let us know if it works.

[Kerry Beal]

Thanks for your Reply mjx.

I need the help on rolling technique that will not be a push that makes the three layers of dough stretched out to a different extent.

if you look at the pic, i need the three layers to be lined up well without seeing the two below layers poked out.

It is the way i rolled, sometimes it came out nice. Sometimes it was like this

Thanks again

iii

Over the weekend, I was reading a cookbook by a local pastry chef, Flour by Joanne Chang, and came across some advice for keeping the layers aligned when rolling out croissant dough: between each turn, use your rolling pin to strike the dough up and down the entire length, creating a series of ridges. Then use the pin to smooth out the ridges and roll out the dough as usual. According to Chang, this compression technique keeps the layers aligned.

If you give it a try, let us know if it works.

I'm assuming that would somewhat replicate the effect of a Tutove rolling pin on the dough?

[LindaK]

Thanks for your Reply mjx.

I need the help on rolling technique that will not be a push that makes the three layers of dough stretched out to a different extent.

if you look at the pic, i need the three layers to be lined up well without seeing the two below layers poked out.

It is the way i rolled, sometimes it came out nice. Sometimes it was like this

Thanks again

iii

Over the weekend, I was reading a cookbook by a local pastry chef, Flour by Joanne Chang, and came across some advice for keeping the layers aligned when rolling out croissant dough: between each turn, use your rolling pin to strike the dough up and down the entire length, creating a series of ridges. Then use the pin to smooth out the ridges and roll out the dough as usual. According to Chang, this compression technique keeps the layers aligned.

If you give it a try, let us know if it works.

I'm assuming that would somewhat replicate the effect of a Tutove rolling pin on the dough?

It would appear so! I've never even heard of a Tutove pin before, so you've made my day.