Croissant adapted from Julia Child F lour Options Probably th e most importan t step in the recipe is to use the

right flour type for th is type of pastry. Ju lia su ggests u sing a low -gluten flour so the dough can be easily rolled with ou t becomin g ru bbery, etc. You could f or instance use a mix of 1 part unbleached all -purpose an d 2 parts unbleached pastry flour . She also adds tasteless oil to th e mix, to h elp tenderize the dough. Y east Dough Even if todays dry yeast h as a very small chance of failing to do its job, I will give it a chance to prove itself to be worthy of our croissant dough.

1 Tsp dry yeast 1/4 Tsp salt 1/2 Tb sugar 1/4 cup warm water (not more than 110 degrees, otherwise youll kill the yeast)

S tart by mixin g all these in gredients with the warm water until dissolved, and let it sit for 5 min . If th e yeast is active (and it should) it will form a soft foamy mass on its surface:

Croissant Dough Recipe

2 Cups of your flour mix (see Flour Options above). 1 Tb sugar 3/4 Tsp salt 1/3 to 1/2 cups tepid milk if using unbleached flour: 2 Tb vegetable oil (I used Canola) if using bleached flour: 4 Tb vegetable oil

Blend all th e above in a mixin g bowl ( dont forget the yeast mix ) with a spatu la into a sticky mass, th en ou t on the board:

Time for some pun ch in g works well when you are mad. Julia suggests the lift and-throw motion an d as sh e talks and demonstrates the moves, the dough gets stuck to h er pastry scraper an d goes f lying as she exclaims Whew! and goes on with her explan ation without an y trouble Typical Julia Child ! Love it. Un -edited fun!

Keep on bein g rou gh with you r dough for about 3 minutes itll be somewh at sticky at first but after a good rapid fold and knead with the heels of your han ds it will become elastic, smooth an d will not stick to your hands anymore:

Time to rise. Plop th e dou gh in to a bowl and do a criss -cross scissors snip on its surface to h elp it rise. Th en cover it with a plastic wrap, and let it rise until it becomes dou ble in bu l k:

Rising time depen ds on th e room temperature. I found that if I do this in th e summer, risin g is faster th an in winter. About 1 to 1 -1/2 hours at say 75 d egrees will suffice. Don t keep it in temperatures higher than 85 degrees or longer th at needed (over -rise) sin ce th at wll impart an unpleasant taste. At this point you can retard the risin g by placin g th e bowl in the refrigerator:

Then, pun ch it down into a flat circle, wrap it in wax -paper and chill it for abou t 20-30 minu tes. Th e ch illin g is important as it makes working the dough mu ch easier:

Rolls, Turns and Chills If the croissant recipe wou ld be considered a somewhat complicated procedu re, than this particu lar step wou ld proba bly be the one that will need more attention . What makes th is basic yeast dough (good for bread, etc.) become a croissan t dough is a good old stick of chilled butter . It is butter that makes the world tu rn . And it is bu tter th at will make th e 82 dough laye rs for our croissants :

Time is now to beat th e dayligh t out of this chilled butter with your rolling pin . The idea h ere, my frien ds, is to work the butter into a malleable consistency, free of lumps an d very fast, to keep the butter cold working with melted butter is just not fun:

Then finish th is procedure by pu shing the whacked butter bits by bits out with th e heel of you r h an d, so it is completely lump -free:

Lovely, hu h? Havin g fu n yet? Now, press your dough (I roll it) into an approximate 9 diameter circle, th en form th e butter into a 5 square (square -ish in my case) and place it on th e top of you r dough (centered):

Now gently flip th e dou gh edges (without ripping it!) over the butter and seal in the butter by pin ch in g th e dou gh :

Voila! now you h ave a n ice package of dough with a stick of butter in side, ready to be massaged in to man y layers. For that, flour your rolling pin and both sides of your dough , place it on you r board with the seal side up and start gently rollin g back and forth from th e center towards the edges to form a rectangle of about 15 long and 5 wide. It doesn t HAVE to be exact, but try to at least get close to th at dimension. If th ere are bu tter bits that poke through, just pinch the dough over that spot to re -seal it. Also, if the dough became too rubbery (read warm), ch ill it a gain for about 20 minu tes an d continue from where youve left it. What you wan t here is to even ly spread the bu tter between the two dough layers (this gets you ready for you r n ext step):

Turns #1 and #2 Okay. Whats a turn in cu lin ary lingo? Julia Child defines it as having the dou gh folded like a bu sin ess letter in 3 even layers. And really, thats exactly what it is. Gently fold th e bottom of you r rectangl e to the center of the dough then fold th e top flap over it th e same way. Thats defined as turn #1 :

Then once again , roll out th e dough to the initial 15 long and 5 wide rectangle to prepare it for turn #2 ju st as before. Keep the edges as straight as possible (I re align them with th e rollin g pin ). You will see that it will look more like a rectan gle than before. Rin se an d repeat you got it right?

By this time (after turn#2 ) your dough needs some chilling to be able to roll it another 2 tu rn s. Leave it folded as a business letter, flour it lightly, wrap it in wax paper and place it in th e fridge for about 1 -2 hours: Turns #3 and #4 After the time spen t in th e fridge (1 to 2 hours) the dough is relaxed and ready for turn #3 an d turn #4 . Really nothing special here. Just repeat the same process as for the previou s two turns two rollings into the 15 long and 5 wide rectan gle and two busin ess let ter style folding. You will end up with 81 layers of butter between 82 layers of dou gh . Again, by this time the dough is probably gettin g to rubbery to work with , so back in the fridge it goes for a 2 hours chill.

Croissants Shaping After the 2 hour ch ill, ou t of the fridge the croissant dough comes and onto a lightly floured board. Th is time roll it into a 20 long by 5 wide rectangle. Try to keep the edges as straight as possible:

Next, make a middle crosswise cut and chill one half:

Now, roll th e on e half of th e croissants dough into a 12 long by 5 wide rectan gle and cut it in th irds an d ch ill two of the thirds:

Now take on e of th e th irds an d roll it into a 5 - 1/2 square and cut it on the bias. Mine here doesn t look terribly squar e-ish but you get the idea:

Roll the trian gles ou t to exten d to about 7 long and shape it as much as you can into a isosceles trian gle (wh ere two sides are equ al in length). Now starting at th e base, roll u p th e dou gh towards the tip of the triangle, then bend it into a crescen t

moon form, an d place it on a buttered 12 x 14 baking sheet (not too close to each other so th ey don t fuse together while rising and baking) with the tip of th e triangle on th e bottom so th at it wouldnt unwrap during baking. Form the rest of the dough th e same way in to a total of 12 croissants , and let it rest for an h ou r covered with a plastic wrap. Th is might be a good time to get yo ur oven goin g set it to 475 degrees (min e takes about 45 minutes to heat up). You can freez e the risen croissants for later baking and pop them in the oven while frozen:

Glazing and Bak ing Again, no rocket scie n ce h ere. S imple egg -wash. Paint the risen croissants with one egg beater mixed with 1/2 Tsp water:

Then pop th em in th e pre -h eated 475 degree oven and really keep an eye on them because th ey bake very fast. Usually something between 10 to 15 minutes depending on h ow dark brown you wan t them to look. Dont do any other activities during this fast bake you will forgot about the oven like I did so many times. I tend to leave th em in u ntil th ey turn dark -brown. Let them cool on a rack for about 10 minutes an d resist th e temptation of eat ing they are HOT! :

Voila! Julia mentions in th e episode th at she could eat Croissants in the morning, for lunch, for din n er, mid -morn in g or mid- night snack and so on. And I dont blame her. These evil Croissants are so wicked delicious that can be enjoyed throughou t the day. I ten d to like th em in th e morning and for lunch, as a sandwich, or simply with any sort of jam or marmalade. Too bad we dont have Le Figaro, the French news paper th at Ju lia grabs at th e end of the show while sitting down and enjoyin g her caff au lait , an d fresh ly baked croissant .