SOURDOUGH CROISSANTS

Croissants is one bread 

that I can never get tired eating

I only like those

made with a good butter

so that I can get its fragrance that comes with the taste of butter

I came across this recipe

from Shipton-mill.com

To make the perfect tasting croissant takes 3 days:

Day 1 - make the initial dough

Day 2 - roll, laminate, cut and shape the dough

Day 3 - bake

Cold butter is the key to successful lamination,

keeping the butter cold stops it from being incorporated into the dough

Sourdough Croissants 
for 15 croissants
(A) 437g untreated strong bread flour

       77g cold water

       140g scalded milk (cooled)

       125g active starter

       55g castor sugar

       10g salt

(B) 55g unsalted butter, cubed & at room temperature

(C) 220g COLD unsalted butter for laminating

(D) Glaze: 1/2 egg wash

Day 1 

1. @ 6pm - feed your starter

2. at the same time, heat milk gently until it starts to simmer.

    remove from heat & allow to cool

3. @9:30pm - mix flour, salt & sugar in bread machine.

    Then add milk, water, starter, knead to form a dough

4. knead dough for 5 min & then add 1/2 of the 55g butter

5. knead until butter has been incorporated, add the rest of the butter & knead another 5 min.

6. cover dough & leave to proof at room temp for 2-3 hours

7. put dough in fridge overnight

Day 2 @ 1pm

1. take your cold butter out from the fridge & pound it lightly to form into a 20cmx20cm square. 

    Put your butter in some cling film & put back into the fridge to keep it COLD.

    Do not put it in the freezer! too cold

2. take the dough out of the fridge & roll it into 30cmx30cm sqaure..

    Dust dough with flour if necessary. 

    Rotate dough so that you have a point towards you.

3. take the cold butter out from the fridge & place with long edge facing you, onto the dough.

4. take one corner of the dough, stretch & fold it over the butter. 

    repeat for all 4 corners until the butter has been totally encased in the dough

5. roll dough from centre outwards, to approx. 20cmx60cm, keeping the sides straight.

    Now fold the dough, letter style in 3.

    Wrap the dough in clingfilm & put in fridge for 30-60min to cool down

6. take dough out from fridge & roll out to 20cmx60cm.

    Fold in 3 again, wrap & put back into the fridge for 30-60min

7. repeat (6) one more time so that you have 27 layers in all

8. to cut & shape your croissants (can be done on Day 3 also)

    a) Take dough out from fridge & roll out to 100-120cmx20cm on a lightly floured surface.
        Rest dough if it resists and shrink.
        Turn dough over several times to make sure it does not stick to the counter top.

    b) Make marks 13cm apart along the top and bottom of dough, 

    c) Using a pizza cutter to 'join the marks', actually cutting through it

    d) make a slit 1-2cm at the end of the triangle, 

        stretch it as you roll the dough up to the tip, nice and tight!

9. put croissant onto a lined baking tray, & repeat for the rest of the dough

10. allow the dough to proof in room temp for 4-5 hours until double or 75%

11. put the shaped dough into the fridge overnight

Day 3

1. take croissants out of the fridge & preheat oven to 200'C for 45min

2. egg wash croissants with beaten egg

3. bake @200'C fan mode for 30min. Turn tray round 1/2 way

4. cool for 15min before eating