Puff pastry croissants: cooking secrets and recipes

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

What do you associate with a photo of puff pastry croissants? With the Eiffel Tower towering over Paris? With the Louvre, where is the Gioconda by Leonardo da Vinci kept? Or do you think about the gastronomic side of France, imagining yourself in a cozy coffee shop with a cup of fragrant drink served with a freshly baked croissant?

If so, believe me, biting into crispy pastries and drinking a sip of hot coffee is an incomparable pleasure. But when there is no way to go to Paris, there is one thing left: to create a sophisticated atmosphere at home … in the kitchen.

French symbol of France

Puff pastry croissants were born in the bowels of European bakeries in the early 1920s. Until now, there is a dispute about which city is their homeland: Vienna or Paris. In any case, the French croissant became the progenitor of a whole family of yeast rolls.

A beautiful legend about the origin is associated with military operations, when at the end of the 17th century the Ottoman army besieged the capital of Austria. The bakers who worked in thatnight, they learned that a tunnel was being prepared under the walls of Vienna, and they warned the defenders of the city. As a result, the plan failed, and the enemies went home.

As a sign of victory over the great army of the Ottoman Empire, confectioners baked rolls in the shape of a crescent moon, which was depicted on the flag of the enemy.

Real French puff pastry croissants: recipe with photo

Inspired by the legend, it's time to move into the kitchen and start cooking.

Step by step instructions:

1. Into 250 ml of water at exactly 250C, add 14 g of dry yeast and stir.
2. In a deep bowl, combine 12 g s alt, 500 g flour and 50 g sugar.
3. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and knead the dough.
4. Introduce 100 g of cold butter with a fat content of at least 82.5% into the finished flour semi-finished product and knead well for 5 minutes until a smooth, non-sticky surface is obtained.



5. Put the ball of dough into a bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise at room temperature.
6. After 2 hours, put the increased semi-finished product on a table sprinkled with flour. Mash, fold into an envelope (15 x 20 cm) and refrigerate overnight.
7. Take a 14 x 16 cm vacuum bag or parchment, put 250 g of butter (82.5%) in it and roll it so that it fills the package. Place in the freezer overnight.
8. In the morning, first of all, take the blank out of the bag and let the oil warm up a little and become plastic.
9. After 40 minutes, roll out the dough (15 x 30 cm) put on topone half sheet of butter and cover with the other.



10. Start rolling from the middle. The result should be a 50 x 16 cm rectangle.
11. Divide the semi-finished product into 3 parts by eye. After taking 1/3 of the dough, fold it like a blanket. The rest - in half, connect the edges. This technology is called tour simple.



12. Roll out the dough a little. Fold it in half and you get tour double.
13. Roll out again (50 x 16 cm). Divide it mentally into 3 parts. Fold the extreme sides to the center. Now roll into a rectangle (15 x 13 cm) and refrigerate for an hour.
14. Divide chilled dough into 2 parts. Return one to the refrigerator and start working with the other.
15. Roll out the semi-finished product into a layer (18 x 32 cm). Cut into triangles and roll them into rolls.



16. Line a baking sheet with baking paper, place the puff pastry croissants, leaving a few centimeters between them. Lubricate the products with beaten yolk.



17. Bake using the top and bottom heat settings;
18. The first 10 minutes should be at a temperature of 200^oC, the remaining 12 minutes at t 190^oC.

Puff pastry croissants: a recipe with a ready-made semi-finished product

Of course, only brave cooks will want to bake a French bun using the previous method. And when guests are on the doorstep, a quick option will help you out,described below.

First, defrost the puff pastry. Visually divide both layers into 3 identical parts, and then cut. Go over each rectangle with a sharp knife in the direction from the upper right corner to the lower left. The result should be identical triangles. You can put some stuffing in the center. Then roll up the puff pastry croissants. Brush with egg and bake for 10-15 minutes at t 200oC.

8 secrets of the perfect croissant

Member of the French Culinary Association Laurent Boursier is a generous person. Therefore, he is happy to share the secrets of cooking one of the gastronomic symbols of the country:

1. Don't knead the dough too vigorously. Excess oxygen can damage the texture.
2. It is necessary to put a small amount of sourdough. Semi-finished flour should rise slowly.
3. Butter fat content for puff pastry croissant at least 84%.
4. Knead at t 16oC.
5. Proofing occurs at a temperature of 25oC.
6. Both butter and dough must have the same consistency and t.
7. When rolling, the semi-finished product should be rotated 90 °.
8. The thickness of the layer when cutting products - 2, 5-3 mm.

Should I remind you that the classic French croissant does not and never had a filling. However, in the last 10-15 years the traditions have changed a bit. Even well-known confectioners "sin" and add extraingredients.

About the toppings in the end

As an additive you can use:

• cottage cheese;
• cheese;
• chocolate;
• jam;
• jam, jam;
• berries, fruits;
• meat products;
• nuts.

As for quantity, croissants don't fill like a patty. Sweet is added quite a bit (1 dessert spoon), otherwise it will leak out under the influence of high temperatures.

Before baking, you can sprinkle the surface with nuts or sesame seeds, and then decorate with cocoa powder, powdered sugar, or cover with chocolate icing.