Marilyn, the Mar/April "Bake from Scratch" has a detailed (including photos) Croissant 'how to'
- Thread starter deb-in-mi
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Thanks, Deb. It's snowing here so I watched the full hour of Gesine's tutorial. Excellent!
...and about 180 degrees different from SaraBeth's version.
Gesine uses regular flour:
SaraBeth uses a combination of bread flour and unbleached pastry flour.
Gesine uses INSTANT yeast.
SaraBeth uses either fresh or regular dry yeast.
Gesine wants the pre-layered détrempe to be firm.
SaraBeth wants the dough to hold its shape but spread when standing.
Gesine used a combination of cultured European and American butter (Land of Lakes now makes a cultured butter?)
SaraBeth didn't specify...just unsalted.
Note: Both recipes are all butter.
Adding the beurrage:
Gesine rolls out dough to twice the length of the beurrage and just a bit wider. After placing the butter block on one half, she folds over the dough like a book and seals the edges. Done. No additional flour is used.
SaraBeth cuts her dough with a cross and pushes out the four sides like a cloverleaf, placing the beurrage in the center and folding each of the sides inward. THIS was a lot of work. I almost had the cloverleaf perfect, but thought "I can get this perfect" and so I balled up the dough and started again. Wow, was that a mistake. You are to use as much flour as needed (I know bread is all about feel and daily weather conditions, etc but that kind of unspecificity does not work for me).
The three folds were the same: two business letter folds and one book fold, although Gesine put her book fold at the end, while SaraBeth's alternated.
Gesine ripens the finished paton for 24 hours in the refrigerator.
SaraBeth ripens the dough for 24 to 96 (max) hours in the freezer.
Proofing:
Gesine proofs in a COOL room for as long as it takes (hers took about 4 hours)
Sarabeths proofs in a warm spot, with added moisture (cup of hot water inside bag with dough)
Cutting the dough into triangles:
Gesines dough is 1/8' to 1/4" thick (she rolls to a finished dough size: 10x22). They looked about 3-4" wide at the bottom and then she stretched it another few inches (maybe 15" long?). Finished croissants were huge, bakery size She left her straight, but joking said there was so much dough, they wouldn't curl if she wanted to.
SaraBeth's were 3.5" x 6", stretched to 5x7. They ended up looking like crescent dinner rolls. She curled them and pressed the ends together.
Baking:
Gesine spritzes the oven immediately upon putting the risen dough and doesn't open the door until done.
Sarabeth uses two temperatures (375, then lowers to 350).
Neither discussed convection option.
SaraBeth has a bakery in New York and I'm sure everyone has seen her jams (she of the SaraBeth Apricot Jam). But I won't be using her recipe again. Once I can get off my hill, I'm getting Julia's version at the library, but for now, I have INSTANT yeast and can try Gesines.
...and about 180 degrees different from SaraBeth's version.
Gesine uses regular flour:
SaraBeth uses a combination of bread flour and unbleached pastry flour.
Gesine uses INSTANT yeast.
SaraBeth uses either fresh or regular dry yeast.
Gesine wants the pre-layered détrempe to be firm.
SaraBeth wants the dough to hold its shape but spread when standing.
Gesine used a combination of cultured European and American butter (Land of Lakes now makes a cultured butter?)
SaraBeth didn't specify...just unsalted.
Note: Both recipes are all butter.
Adding the beurrage:
Gesine rolls out dough to twice the length of the beurrage and just a bit wider. After placing the butter block on one half, she folds over the dough like a book and seals the edges. Done. No additional flour is used.
SaraBeth cuts her dough with a cross and pushes out the four sides like a cloverleaf, placing the beurrage in the center and folding each of the sides inward. THIS was a lot of work. I almost had the cloverleaf perfect, but thought "I can get this perfect" and so I balled up the dough and started again. Wow, was that a mistake. You are to use as much flour as needed (I know bread is all about feel and daily weather conditions, etc but that kind of unspecificity does not work for me).
The three folds were the same: two business letter folds and one book fold, although Gesine put her book fold at the end, while SaraBeth's alternated.
Gesine ripens the finished paton for 24 hours in the refrigerator.
SaraBeth ripens the dough for 24 to 96 (max) hours in the freezer.
Proofing:
Gesine proofs in a COOL room for as long as it takes (hers took about 4 hours)
Sarabeths proofs in a warm spot, with added moisture (cup of hot water inside bag with dough)
Cutting the dough into triangles:
Gesines dough is 1/8' to 1/4" thick (she rolls to a finished dough size: 10x22). They looked about 3-4" wide at the bottom and then she stretched it another few inches (maybe 15" long?). Finished croissants were huge, bakery size She left her straight, but joking said there was so much dough, they wouldn't curl if she wanted to.
SaraBeth's were 3.5" x 6", stretched to 5x7. They ended up looking like crescent dinner rolls. She curled them and pressed the ends together.
Baking:
Gesine spritzes the oven immediately upon putting the risen dough and doesn't open the door until done.
Sarabeth uses two temperatures (375, then lowers to 350).
Neither discussed convection option.
SaraBeth has a bakery in New York and I'm sure everyone has seen her jams (she of the SaraBeth Apricot Jam). But I won't be using her recipe again. Once I can get off my hill, I'm getting Julia's version at the library, but for now, I have INSTANT yeast and can try Gesines.
SB used all milk. G used milk & water. Both add sugar. But G adds soft butter to her dough as well.
Good luck. I''m getting the urge to try again, but just realized (thanks to GOOGLE) that today is PI DAY and there are blueberries and golden mangos in the refrigerator and no way off my hill until the sun comes out.
So it's PIE!
Good luck. I''m getting the urge to try again, but just realized (thanks to GOOGLE) that today is PI DAY and there are blueberries and golden mangos in the refrigerator and no way off my hill until the sun comes out.
So it's PIE!