Make the Bread, Buy the Butter - Jennifer Reese [26]
¾ pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon instant yeast
¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
1¼ cups warm milk
2¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
½ cup whole-wheat flour
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
1. Cut each stick of butter lengthwise into 4 slices. Place on a plate and refrigerate.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the yeast, sugar, and milk. Add the flours and the salt and mix just until smooth, about 30 seconds.
3. Place the dough on a floured countertop and roll it out to form a rectangle about 18 inches long and 8 inches wide. If one of the short edges of the rectangle is not directly in front of you, turn the pastry so that it is. Arrange the butter atop the pastry, leaving about a ½-inch margin around the edge, starting at the short end nearest you and extending two-thirds up the length of the pastry.
4. You now have a long rectangle of dough, two-thirds of it covered with butter slices, one-third of it still bare. Lift up that flap of unbuttered dough and fold it over the nearest segment of butter-covered dough. Now fold that thick double layer of dough over the third of the dough nearest to you. You should be looking at a smallish rectangle of dough separated by layers of the butter, which is completely covered now. Press the edges so the pastry layers seal.
5. Turn the dough so a short side is facing you. Roll it out to a rectangle 18 inches long and 9 inches wide. Fold the 2 short ends so they meet in the middle, and then fold them together. Your dough now has 4 layers.
1. Roll the dough and cut into long rectangles, then cut each rectangle into triangles.
2. Now take a triangle. Stretch each corner very slightly.
3. Then roll.
4. Voilà, you have a croissant.
6. Wrap and refrigerate for about 45 minutes.
7. Return the dough to the counter with a short side facing you. Repeat steps 5 and 6.
8. Repeat step 7.
9. Now you can put the dough in the refrigerator overnight. It will rise a lot, so if it’s in a resealable plastic bag you might have to cut it away in the morning.
10. In the morning, line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Lightly flour the work surface and roll the dough into a 20-inch square. It will be thin. Trim the raggedy edges so you have a nice, neat square.
11. If you have a rolling pizza cutter, now is the time to pull it out. You want to cut the dough into three long, narrow rectangles. (You cut it into four rectangles if you want miniature croissants.) Cut each of these rectangles into triangles. You’ll get between five and eight per strip of dough.
12. Working from the wide end, roll each croissant up very tightly. (See illustrations.) Place on the cookie sheets, about an inch apart. Cover with a clean, damp dish towel and let rise in a cool place for about 2 hours, until puffed.
13. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
14. Bake the croissants for 15 minutes, or until golden. When you pick one up it should feel firm and light.
15. Eat immediately.
Makes 2 pounds, 15 to 20 croissants
VARIATIONS
To make chocolate croissants—pains au chocolat—when you get to step 11, instead of cutting the dough into triangles, cut it into rectangles and spread a small amount of shaved dark chocolate along the length of the short end. Roll up the pastry jelly-roll fashion. Bake as for croissants.
Chestnut croissants are formed exactly like chocolate croissants, but instead of chocolate, use about a tablespoon of sweetened chestnut cream per pastry.
1. Roll out dough, but instead of cutting into triangles, cut into stout rectangles.
2. Now you have a rectangle of dough with some filling on one short end.
3. Roll.
4. Pain au chocolat!
DANISHES
In the house where I grew up in San Francisco, my mother sewed quilts and Halloween costumes, and knit sweaters, and stripped