Clem's Cheat "Croissants"
In all my years managing R&D in an academic setting, I have preached and practiced the ethic of not cheating. Today I show you a cheat.
Make an ersatz croissant using puff pastry.
- Take a sheet of market-made frozen puff pastry.
- Allow it to defrost until sufficiently malleable.
- Cut the sheet into several pieces, broad at one end and narrower at the other.
- Roll each piece from the broader end towards to the narrower end, making sure to make the roll tight.
- Egg wash the resultant croissant (this will not look like a crescent unless you actually bend it).
- Bake in an oven at 180 centigrade for some 45 minutes.
- Enjoy!
Puff pastry sheet cut into shape, rolled and
egg-washed
Ersatz
croissants made with bought puff pastry
Not as flakey as the real McCoy but passable (Cheats never prosper?).
- Cut cold
butter to form a shape which is smaller than a pastry sheet
This is difficult and one has to work fast before the butter melts too much. It must remain fairly cold and solid at all times.
Butter laid, out ready for encasing in between
two pastry layers
- Place one
sheet of pastry below the butter and one above it to "bag"
it (make sure to leave butter-free edges of around 2 cm all
around).
Tightly press the edges of the pastry to seal the "bag".
Two pastry layers encasing the butter in a "bag"
- Place the buttered pastry in a refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to allow the butter to get firm again.
- On a floured board, roll the pastry bag until it is about 0.5 cm thick.
Buttered pastry rolled out to final thickness, ready for cutting
into shapes
- Replace the pastry in the refrigerator to again let the butter get firm.
- Letter-fold the pastry: Fold over the bottom third towards the top and fold the top third towards the bottom.
- Roll the pastry until it is around 0.5 cm again.
- Return to the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Repeat the letter-folding and return to the refrigerator.
- Now cut the pastry into the croissant shapes: broad at one end and narrow at the other.
- Roll the cut shapes from the broad ends towards the narrow ends.
- Egg wash each piece of rolled pastry.
- Bake for 45 minutes at 180 centigrade.
The letter-folding has resulted in many visible laminations. The
butter added to the pastry is evident in smell and taste
Verdict?
The added lamination can certainly be seen. The added butter
added more flavour to the "croissants".
And why not? This is the way that real croissants are made:
pastry dough laminated many times with butter in between the
initial layers.
However, I just as soon go out to a good bakery (those which use real butter) and buy croissants for breakfast or afternoon tea. It will be much easier!