Sourdough Croissants
These Sourdough Croissants are crisp and flakey on the outside and soft and chewy inside. Croissants are not as difficult of a project as you might think.
The Dough:
400g All-purpose Flour (100%)
80g Starter (activated) (20% of the flour weight)
160g Water (40% of the flour weight)
80g Milk (20% of the flour weight)
8g Salt (2% of the flour weight)
48g Sugar (12% of the flour weight)
48g Butter, unsalted, melted, not hot (12% of the flour weight)
The Butter Block
200g Butter, unsalted for laminating (50% of the flour weight)
Method:
The Dough
Mix the water and Starter together in a mixing bowl. Thoroughly combine into a creamy liquid.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Do Not let it sizzle, truly just melt it.
Turn the heat off and add the sugar and milk to the saucepan with the butter. Stir everything together. The residual heat from the pot should take the chill off the milk. The sugar should dissolve a little bit but not completely. The liquid should be no warmer than 80 degrees. Allow to cool if necessary.
Add the Flour to the mixing bowl with the water and Starter.
Add the mixture of melted butter, sugar, and milk to the mixing bowl; and add the salt.
Mix by hand to form a “rough” dough.
Perform a stretch/fold every 30-45 minutes four times.
After 4 stretches/folds, allow the dough to bulk ferment for 4-6 hours depending on your environment. It should at least double in size before beginning laminations.
The Butter Block for Lamination
After the last Stretch &Fold , prepare your butter for laminating. It makes things much easier if you can slice the butter into as few similar thick slices and then organize them on parment so they are a square-ish shape. Place another piece of parchment paper on top and roll the butter into a ¼-⅜” square. You want all of the edges of the sliced butter to join and become one homogenous mass. If you are making the recipe as it reads 200g of butter should become an 8” x 8” square. Once you achieve the right thickness, you can keep it between the parchment paper; place it on a sheet tray and refrigerate for later. It needs to be very cold.
Laminating
Once the dough has doubled in size, stretch the dough on a lightly floured surface. The dough should be very elastic and cooperative. Be patient and gentle , but you are going to stretch it out into a large rectangle. You are looking to make it as wide as you rolled butter, but much longer. The goal is to be able to place the butter in the middle of the stretched out dough and be able to bring the long ends together in the middle of the dough and form a seam. So, if your butter is 8” x 8” square; you would need a stretched dough that is 8” wide and 16” long.
Place the cold square of butter in the center of the rectangle of dough. Bring the top edge down to the middle of the butter. Bring the bottom edge of dough to the middle of the butter to join a seam with the folded down top edge. Gently press the seam together and bring the dough together along the sides to enclose the butter in the dough.
The Book Fold: Roll the dough into a 10” x 18” rectangle. Fold the dough in half at the original seam. Wrap the dough in some parchment paper, place it on a sheet tray, cover with plastic wrap or a lid. Refrigerate for 60 minutes.
First Letter Fold: Remove the dough from the refrigerator to a lightly floured surface and roll it out into a long rectangle. Approximate dimensions are 10” wide by 18” long at a ¼” thickness. Try to make it an even rectangle, so you get nice layering of butter and dough. Fold the 10” x 18” dough into a “letter” or thirds. Wrap the dough in some parchment paper, place it on a sheet tray, cover with plastic wrap or a lid. Refrigerate for 75 minutes.
Second Letter Fold: Remove the dough from the refrigerator to a lightly floured surface and roll it out into a long rectangle. Approximate dimensions are 10” wide by 18” long at a ¼” thickness. Try to make it an even rectangle, so you get nice layering of butter and dough. Fold the 10” x 18” dough into a “letter” or thirds. Wrap the dough in some parchment paper, place it on a sheet tray, cover with plastic wrap or a lid. Refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours or as long as overnight.
On a lightly floured surface roll the dough into a 16” x 18” rectangle that is ⅜” thick. Trim off the ends from all of the sides. This will allow for good expansion of the layers. Cut the rectangle into halves that will be 16” wide and 9” long. Cut these two smaller rectangles into triangles.
Position a triangle with its short side toward you and the point, pointing away. Cut a 2” cut into the short side and roll the Croissant away from you toward the point. Don’t press down too much, be gentle.
Place the rolled Croissant on a parchment lined sheet tray for final proofing. Make sure the very tip of the triangle is squished under the weight of the croissant to prevent it from unrolling during proofing.
Proof in a cold oven with the light off until the Croissants have doubled in size and jiggle slightly when the tray is bumped.
Brush the Croissants with a beaten egg. Use the yolk and white together.
Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Rotate the tray 180 degrees. Reduce the heat to 375 and continue baking for 10 minutes longer. Turn the tray 180 degrees and continue baking for 5 minutes longer. Total baking time of 30 min.
Cool for a minimum of 1 hour before eating. Don’t worry they will still be warm.
