DIY -- croissants

Do not fear the croissant.
For it is simply bread dough rolled with butter
folded
rolled
until you wind up with lots of layers.
And bread dough is one of the most forgiving things you can make except for soup.
If you want croissants by 8 a.m. Sunday, you have to start Saturday, and get up at 5 on Sunday for proofing and baking.
That's because lots of things with butter that you bake, have to age in a cold place, overnight in the case of croissants.
There must be a chemical reason but I don't know what it is.
All I know is, shortbread is like that, madeleines are like that, puff pastry is like that.

So you make the yeast dough.
You let the dough rest in the fridge.
You roll butter into a sheet (it has to be somewhat warm for this, of course).
You layer the butter on the dough.
You fold the dough over in thirds,
You roll and fold and roll and fold and chill.  Repeat at least twice more.
After the overnight aging, you cut triangles, roll them up, let them rise, brush with egg-and-water,
and bake only 15 minutes.

Look, if you're fussy about your coffee, you should be fussy about your croissants.
No preservatives, no dough conditioners, no emulsifiers, and so on.
$3 of materials for 10 croissants.
Fresh from the oven.
The only other way to get them this fresh is to buy an airline ticket and a hotel room in France.
Or camp out at a local bakery -- and we all have local croissant bakeries (that was sarcasm) -- like you would for a new smart phone.
You wouldn't camp out for a new smart phone?
Don't camp out for your croissants.
DIY.
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights  Reserved