The classic French croissant is a delicious bagel made from thousands of layers of puffed pastry. It is golden and crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The freshest butter, gourmet cheeses, jam, honey, chocolate are perfect for such a croissant, but it will be no less tasty with a fragrant cinnamon filling.
How to make croissant dough
Croissants are baked from classic yeast puff pastry. Many housewives are afraid to work with it and buy ready-made ones, but in fact, you only need a little skill to learn how to simply and quickly do it yourself. For 15 medium croissants you will need:
- 500 grams of wheat flour;
- 140 grams of water;
- 140 grams of milk 2.5% fat;
- 55 grams of fine granulated sugar;
- 40 + 280 grams of butter;
- 11 grams of instant yeast;
- 12 grams of salt.
The croissant dough is started about 24 hours before you bake it. Sift flour with salt and yeast, add 40 grams of softened butter, granulated sugar and warm milk. Knead the dough quickly, shape it into a ball, cover with cling film and leave in the refrigerator for 8-10 hours.
After 7-9 hours, remove the remaining oil from the refrigerator. Cut it into strips about 1½ centimeters thick and form them into a square with sides measuring 15x15 centimeters. Place it between sheets of baking paper and roll it evenly until it is 17x17 centimeters in size. If you don't get it right away, just trim off the excess and put on top of the oil, and then roll out with a rolling pin again. Wrap the layer in parchment and refrigerate for 30-45 minutes.
Take out the dough and roll it out into a layer of uniform thickness with sides of 26x26 centimeters. Unroll the dough on the work surface at an angle of 45 ° C, put butter parallel to the edge of the work surface on the dough and seal it with an envelope. Roll out the dough into a rectangle with sides of 20x60 centimeters, fold it back into an "envelope", wrap it with cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Repeat the process by rolling, folding and cooling the dough 3 more times. After the latter, leave the dough in the refrigerator for 10-12 hours.
How to make cinnamon croissants
Prepare:
- 10 tablespoons of butter;
- 120 grams of brown sugar;
- 2 tablespoons of cinnamon.
Whisk the sugar, butter and ground cinnamon together.
Roll out the croissant dough into a long strip 110 centimeters long and 20 wide. Using the pizza wheel, cut it into long triangles (it’s okay if you first mark them with a ruler and a knife blade) with a 6 centimeters base … Brush each triangle with cinnamon oil and then roll into a bagel.
Cover the croissants with cling film and leave for 1 ½ - 2 hours in a warm place with a temperature not exceeding 22-25 ° C, otherwise the oil will leak. Preheat oven to 220C. Remove the foil, brush the croissants with a lightly beaten egg and place in the preheated oven. Immediately lower the temperature to 200 ° C and bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180 ° C and bake for another 10-15 minutes. Let the croissants cool slightly on a wire rack and serve warm or chilled.
