Croissants

There is something about a flaky croissant. Buttery, fall-apart flakes. Layers so light they practically melt in your mouth. Delicious.

Before learning how to make these in class, I thought making croissants was way too complicated to try myself.

I’m so glad I now know otherwise.

Don’t get me wrong. Croissants take time. But they are not impossible to make.

What is even better is this one recipe will make classic croissants or filled croissants. It just depends upon how you cut the dough.

Ingredients: (you will want a scale that has both ounces and grams measurements)

High Gluten (or bread) Flour 1# 2 oz
Salt 0.4 oz
Sugar 1.75 oz
Instant Yeast 10 grams
Butter, soft 50 grams
Milk (90-110°) 11.3 oz

Roll In
Butter 10 oz

Before starting the dough, measure out the 10 ounces butter that will be rolled into the dough but keep it in the refrigerator.

Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk and then combine the first set of ingredients with a mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix just until everything is incorporated. Place the dough on a piece of plastic wrap, pre-shape it into a rectangle shape, and wrap it tightly and refrigerate.

Remove the butter from the refrigerator and place it on a sheet of parchment paper. The parchment paper will be folded over and you will end up with a piece of butter that is about 4 ½ x 7” so place the butter in the fold and then fold the paper to fit that desired shape. Then using a rolling pin, bang, flatten and eventually roll the butter to fill the folded parchment paper.

Now place the butter in the fridge and let both the dough and the butter remain in there until they are the same temperature  and consistency. You want them to feel somewhat like taffy: still able to hold its shape but you can press it and leave a mark. This is important because when you lock in the butter, it’s shouldn’t melt or squeeze out when rolling it.

Once the butter and dough has chilled out, place the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll it out so it is the same height as the butter, but twice as wide. You then place the butter on the center of the dough and fold the sides over so they meet in the middle of the butter. This step is called locking in the butter.

While the dough is still out, you are going to do the first fold. Turn the dough 90° and roll it out again, doubling the overall width and height. This dough will be folded into thirds, so fold one side in, then the other side over it. As it is, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for about 20-30 minutes, just until it is back to the taffy consistency.

Repeat this process 2 more times and then tightly wrap it in plastic wrap (I wrapped mine I think 2 or 3 times) and refrigerate it overnight. The dough will expand in the refrigerator, so a few layers will help prevent it from bursting through the plastic.

The next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator and place it on a lightly floured surface and roll it out to about a 14 x 18 rectangle and, if necessary, cut the edges so they are straight across.

If you are making classic croissants, you want to measure 2 ½” sections along the width and using a ruler and a pizza cutter and make long triangles. Then along the 2 ½” edge, cut a slit about a ½” deep in the center, the start rolling it up, keeping the end on the bottom of the croissant.

If you are making filled croissants, instead of triangles, they will be 2 ½” wide and 7” high rectangles that will be filled in the center, then the two sides will be folded over.

For both cuts, see the diagram below.

No, this is not to scale, it's just to give you an idea of how to cut it.

Place the croissants on parchment lined sheet pan(s) and lightly brush on an egg wash made of whole eggs and a splash of heavy cream (or milk if that’s what you have on hand). Lightly cover them with plastic wrap and place them in a warm location. (I turned my oven on low and cracked open the door and set the sheet pans on top of the range.) Periodically coat them again with the egg wash and, if like me you have them resting on a warm oven, turn them so they proof evenly.

Once they have puffed up and are jiggly, they are ready to go in the oven. Mine took about an hour to proof before baking them. Crank up the oven to 325-350°F, do a final egg wash and bake them until they are a dark golden brown all over. Remove them from the oven and let them cool as long as you can stand it before inhaling them. 

If you filled some with chocolate, feel free to dust a layer of powdered sugar on them.

Enjoy!

Blackberry Merlot Truffles

In early June I attended a wine and chocolate tasting. While I did not taste any wines that I cared for, I did taste something else amazing: blackberry merlot truffles. They were out-of-this-world good.

The wine tasting was hosted by the head of the culinary department at school, Ms Jane. As soon as we tasted the truffles, there were urgent requests for the recipe so we could make them on our own.

Ms Jane did share the recipe, and here I am sharing it with you. You can find the original here, on Ms Jane's blog.

Here is what you need:
6 oz. Heavy Cream
1 Pound Dark Chocolate (Any good brand chocolate disks or batons)
1 Bottle of Merlot (the bigger and richer the better, I used Blackstone Winery)
1 cup Blackberry Preserves, pressed through a sieve to remove seeds (I didn't have access to a sieve, so I skipped this)
½ Pound of Milk Chocolate (for dipping)
Optional: Ganache, frosting, or fondant for decorating

Please note, you can use a different type of wine and preserve than I used here. It just happens that this wine has a decided blackberry flavor, so they match up very well. If you love a wine that has a cherry, or strawberry, or any other fruity flavor, use that type of preserve.

Now...

I have a love/hate relationship with my parent’s freezer. It loves to not freeze stuff properly/quickly, and I hate it for it. I’m making truffles. I have the interior part, i.e. the part that will eventually be covered in chocolate, all set to go. Portioned out, shaped, and everything. But will their freezer freeze them solid? No. They remain in their sticky, still able-to-be-shaped state.  (Mom and dad, I'm upset with your freezer, not with you.)

What’s the big deal, you ask? Putting a piece of truffle, that contains chocolate, into melted chocolate, will melt the chocolate in the interior. Also, as soon as they go into the chocolate, they start to lose their roundness. They become little lumps on the sheet pan I’m resting them on. Overall, my OCD self is having a conniption fit. They aren’t perfect, darn it.

However, my stubbornness will prevail. It just means a bit of extra work on my part. I pull the truffles out of the freezer, coat a few in the chocolate, and then place the rest back in the freezer. Repeat. Every now and then, I need to reheat the chocolate for coating over a double boiler. I do this until they are all coated. I also ignore their less than perfect presentation. These are for me to enjoy and, if I’m feeling like it, share with friends and family. Who is going to complain about free truffles? Seriously.

Okay. Here is how you make them, provided you have a freezer that works.

Pour the the merlot in a saucepan and bring it to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the wine is reduced to about a half a cup (this took me about a half hour to reduce). Set aside to cool.

This becomes this:

While the wine is simmering, chop the dark chocolate into small pieces and set aside in a large bowl.

Heat the cream to a simmer. Whisk in the preserves and carefully heat back to a simmer. 

Remove from the heat and stir in the syrup you made from the red wine.

Pour the still-hot cream mixture over the chopped dark chocolate pieces. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and blended in. (Place bowl over a double boiler if you need more firepower to melt all of the chocolate.)

Cool the mixture until it is just  slightly warm to the touch and then put the mixture in the freezer for at least one hour to firm.

Use a spoon or small scoop to divide the mixture into walnut-sized pieces. A portion scoop would make this easier than your average spoon, and if you need to, dip the scoop or spoon into hot water every few scoops to make this even easier on yourself. Drop the pieces onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and freeze for about an hour, or overnight.

To form the truffles, roll the scoops one by one between the palms of your hands to round them out and then place them back onto the baking sheet. At this point the soon-to-be truffles can be frozen until you have the energy dip them.

Melt your dipping chocolate (milk chocolate in my case) over a double boiler and drop the cold truffles, one at a time, into your bowl of dipping chocolate. Remove them with a fork, and allow the excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl.  Note: the better the quality of chocolate you use, the easier it will be to “dip” with.

Place the dipped truffles on a parchment-lined tray. If you are feeling extra creative, decorate the tops with a little drizzle of contrasting chocolate or nice purple fondant. Let them stand until the chocolate and decorations are completely set.

Enjoy immediately, or hold the truffles in the fridge for up to a week. You can also keep the truffles in the freezer for as long as you like.

Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

It is approaching my birthday week. A birthday that has a zero at the end. This landmark certainly qualifies a week-long celebration. 

That being said, I spent this afternoon blowing bubbles off of my balcony, having fun surprising the innocent bystanders below as they tried to figure out where the bubbles were coming from.

Another way I'm kicking the week off correctly is by making a cookie brownie like thing.


Technical terms here people.


The original recipe says to make it in an 8" cast iron skillet. I have no such thing in my apartment, but I do have an 8" cake pan. And you know what? It worked just fine.


I got the recipe here after I saw it on Pinterest. That's another thing I did this weekend. I joined the dark side and set up an account on Pinterest.


That's me. Late to the party. Ignore the fact that I'm the person who is usually early and offers help setting up for said party.


Anyway, back to the recipe.



1 stick Butter
½ cups Granulated Sugar
½ cups Light Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
1 whole Egg
1-½ cup All-purpose Flour
½ teaspoons Baking Soda
¼ teaspoons Salt
1 cup Semi-sweet Chocolate, Cut In Chunks

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt butter in an 8" cast iron skillet set over medium-low heat.

Stir in the sugars and the vanilla and remove from the heat. Let this rest until the pan is warm, but no longer very hot, about 5 minutes.

Crack an egg onto the butter and sugar mixture and whisk it in.

Add the dry ingredients and carefully stir it into the batter. Then stir in the chocolate chunks.

If you are particular like me, you can smooth it all out so it's level and everything. You could also do this if you want it to bake evenly. Just an option. 

Place the pan in the oven for 15-25 minutes, or until it starts to turn golden on the top and around the edges, but still soft in the center. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

I do not have vanilla ice cream, so I was forced to eat this on it's own.

Further updates from the student baker

It's that time again. Time to show you what all I've helped make in my baking classes. While I'd love to say I made every single thing here, in actuality, most of it was a group effort.

Braided Challah

(Creating the braid involved a lot of head scratching and wondering what goes where before we actually formed it.)

Conchas

(These were abso-freaking-lutely amazing and delicious and I didn't want to share.)

Portuguese Sweet Bread

(I'm sure these were good, but they are taking a back seat to the Conchas in my memory.)

Scottish Baps

Turkish Pide 

(I really wanted to call this Turkish Pride.)

Covered Wagon Wheat Bread

Marbled Rye

Native American Fry Bread

(Think of a slightly chewier sopapilla.)

New England Brown Bread

(Very much like a bran muffin, so I was told.)

Cloverleaf Rolls

Apple Nut Sweet Bread 

(That name is made up, as we invented the recipe in class this day. In class I was actually calling it the magical mystery bread, but the above is more descriptive.)

New York Deli Rye 

(Very similar to a Jewish Rye bread. Also, I love the caraway seeds in this bread.)

Plantation Bread

Beer Ranch Bread 

(It does not actually have Ranch, like the dressing, in the bread).

Cheddar Cheese and Mustard Muffins

Whole Wheat Raisin Pecan Bread

Apple Walnut Bread

Cheese Beignets 

(After being fried, these were sprinkled with a cayenne and salt mixture. Very addictive.)

Chocolate Cherry Bread

Feta Herb Bread

(I could inhale this bread, so good.)

Fig Anise Bread

Multi-grain Bread

Blackberry Pecan Coffee Cake

Chinese Pork Steam Buns

(Add a bit of hot sauce and these disappeared.)

Monkey Bread

(The caramel was thicker than usual and made for a candy-like outer shell.)

Yorkshire Pudding

(Making these involved lots of lard. I could gladly do without making these again.)

Cinnamon Rolls

Pear Coffee Cake

Philly Sticky Buns

Russian Braid with Pistachios

Decorative Live Bread

(Not to be eaten, only to be looked at.)

Kolaches

(Filled with a cream cheese mixture and a raspberry preserve.)

White Pizza with Clams

(I liked this pizza a lot more than I was expecting to.)

Euros Torte

Pain de Gene Torte

(On this day I learned how to temper chocolate and we played with transfer paper - the paper is what gives the chocolate the pink design.)

Black Forest Cake

Interior of the Black Forest Cake

Rio Torte

Interior of the Rio Torte

Empress Torte

Interior of the Empress Torte

Opera Torte

(Eventually I'll get the whole writing-with-melted-chocolate-and-making-the-letters-look-the-same-and-level thing down.)

Gateau Saint Honore

(I got to play with spun sugar!)

Chocolate Hazelnut Torte

Interior of the Chocolate Hazelnut Torte