Hello friends, to satisfy your countless requests, today I will teach you how to prepare at home, authentic and traditional French croissants. To say that croissants are delicious and unique buns, is almost mauvais tones, that is: almost rude, since croissants have long since crossed all borders, and have become an essential, in many households by all the world. There is no breakfast, snack or snack more appetizing than a croissant. Especially if it is homemade, with a puff pastry and imponderable crumb and with a thin crust, crunchy and friable. To prepare the croissants you will need these ingredients: You need flour to make bread and pastries. One that has 11 - 12% protein serves you. This information you will find in the flour package. So that our croissants have a good flavor, we will enrich them with a piece of fermented dough. Those who still do not know what it is, do not worry because it becomes very easy and in less than a minute. To do this put in a container the yeast. Add the warm water. Stir until the yeast is diluted. Add the flour. Add the salt. Stir very well and leave the dough at rest for 1 hour. After a while, deflate the dough and store it in the fridge for at least 24 hours and up to 72 hours. It is so that it accumulates the necessary flavor and aroma. That's right, you have to prepare the minimum fermented dough a day before making the croissants Add the yeast into the container. Add the milk. Add the water. Remove. Add the sugar. Add the salt. Re-stir Sift the flour. With the help of a spoon stir very well. Close the container and store the dough in the fridge for 20 minutes, so that the flour particles are properly moistened. We store it in the fridge to prevent the fermentation from starting because with the dough that is fermenting it is more difficult to make a good laminate. Take out the dough and put it on a clean and dry table. Remove the fermented dough from the refrigerator. Add the fermented dough. This piece of dough is perfectly fermented and will give our croissants a lot of quality. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and even. After 6 - 7 minutes of kneading add 20 g of soft butter. Integrate it to the mass. Knead until you stop feeling the butter with your fingers. It is a soft and manageable dough but at the same time firm: very pleasant to the touch. I took a long time to knead it 12 minutes. Put it in the container and keep it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes, so that it relaxes. Meanwhile, take a piece of baking paper and fold it into a 17 - 18 centimeter square. Put 250 g of butter in pieces in the center. I have taken the butter out of the fridge 20 minutes before using it, so that it will be easier for me to work it. With the help of a rolling pin, spread the butter inside the square. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Sprinkle the table with a little flour.
Put the dough on the table. Stretch it in a rectangle the size of two squares of butter. Put the dough in a tray. Cover it so it does not dry out. I cover it with a plastic bag, with a slightly damp cloth and put it in a bag. They are not too many precautions, believe us. Store it in the freezer for 25 - 35 minutes or as long as it takes for it to harden but not freeze. And the butter keep it in the fridge. Sprinkle the table with a little flour. Put the dough on top. The dough has to be very cold and the butter has to be cold but at the same time flexible, not hardened. Put the butter on top of the dough. Put the butter in the dough as I show it. If the butter is hardened, at the time of making the laminate it will split and the laminate will not fit. Put the dough in such a way that the center seam is at the bottom and the side seams on the left and right. Stretch the dough in a rectangle of 6 - 8 millimeters thick. Work carefully but quickly. It is very important that the room where you are laminated the dough is as fresh as possible, the ideal temperature is 18-20ºC. In the event that the temperature of the room is higher than 20-22ºC you will have to work very, very fast. And maybe cool in the freezer the rolling pin and a table in which you could laminate the dough. The thickness of my mass is about 7 millimeters. Cut the ends where the butter has not arrived, leaving them as straight as possible. It is so that the puff pastry is perfectly laminated, that is to say: without any part of the dough the layer of butter is missing. This way you will get a nice puff pastry and not like a bread crumb. But if you do not care how the crumb structure is, then do not cut the punas. Fold the dough in three. Put it in the tray, cover it and store it in the freezer for 15-20 minutes. Lightly sprinkle the table with flour. When we finished making the first folding the mass remained in this position. Now turn it to 90ºC and put it with the seam down. Stretch it again in a rectangle 6 - 8 mm thick. Work carefully and as fast as you can. Re-trim the ends where the butter has not arrived. Fold the dough in three Put it in the tray. Cover and store it in the freezer for 15-20 minutes. When we finished making the second folding, the mass remained in this position. Turn it to 90ºC and put it with the seam down. Re-stretch it in a rectangle 6-8 millimeters thick. It is possible that at this stage the dough starts to resist and it is difficult for you to stretch it, do not fight with it, store it in the freezer for 10 - 15 minutes, so that it relaxes, and then continues to stretch it. Double the most in three. The dough laminate is finished. But before stretching it and cutting it into triangles to make the croissants, store it in the freezer for 20 minutes: to cool down and relax. With the dough that is left over or you can make some rolls or you can store it in the freezer and use it as the fermented dough: adding to the dough about 110 - 120 g. Stretch the dough in a rectangle about 4 - 5 millimeters thick. I also stretch it wide, until I get about 22 - 23 centimeters. As the dough is resisting me and I do not want to force it and spoil the very thin layers of dough that I made, I'm going to keep it for 15 minutes in the freezer, so that it relaxes. My dough is about 4 millimeters thick. Cut the dough into triangles with 10 - 11 centimeters at the base and 22 - 23 centimeters high. To help me out the same, he helped me with a rule. Place the triangles in the tray, cover them well and store them in the freezer for about 20 minutes: to cool and relax. Take a triangle. Stretch it a little. Make a cut of 2 centimeters at the base. Try to round well what the legs of the croissant will be. When rolling, do not press it. In principle butter croissants have to be formed straight and margarine in the form of a half moon. It is the suggestion of Raymond Calvel. The pieces that were left can also be rolled into mini croissants. Place the croissants in the lined tray with baking paper. Spray them with water. Cover them with clear film. Let them rise but do not double their size. The temperature of the ideal levado is of 23-25ºC. Never higher than 28ºC! 0 minutes before the levado ends, light the oven at 220-225ºC with heat from above and below.
At the bottom of the oven put a tray to pour the water. Crack an egg and beat it 10 minutes before the rise of dough ends, store the second tray of croissants in the fridge. So that you do not pass the rise while you are baking the first ones. At 24ºC my croissants have been slow to rise 1 hour and 50 minutes. At lower temperature it will take longer to rise and vice versa. Paint the croissants with egg. It is very important that you do not paint the edges where the layers are visible. So that at the time of baking the croissants can be opened without problems. Put the croissants inside the oven. In the bottom tray add a little more than half a glass of boiling water. Bake the croissants for 20-22 minutes or until they are the way you like them. If your oven heats more on one side than on the other, when it has picked up color, turn them to 180ºC. Bake until well browned and palatable. Take them out of the oven. In the same way, bake the second tray of the croissants. Eating a croissant fresh from the oven is the ultimate pleasure friends. The croissants that you have left over can be frozen and when you want to eat some of them thaw in the microwave or, better yet, in the oven.
