*  Exported from  MasterCook  *
 
                 Croissant Dough & Croissants-Julia Childs
 
 Recipe By     : Washington Post-4/9/97-Baking with Julia
 Serving Size  : 24   Preparation Time :36:00
 Categories    : Pastry                           Roll
 
   Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
 --------  ------------  --------------------------------
    1      ounce         fresh yeast
    3 1/2  cups          flour, unbleached all purpose+
      1/3  cup           Sugar
    2      teaspoons     Salt
    1      cup           Milk +/-
                         FOR THE BUTTER
    4 1/2  sticks        unsalted butter-1 lb 2 oz -- cold-cut into 1/2 in
    2      tablespoons   flour, unbleached all purpose
                         CROISSANTS
    1                    recipe-croissant dough -- well chilled
                         Flour -- for rolling dough
    1      large         egg
 
    FOR THE DOUGH: Put the yeast, flour sugar, salt and 1 cup of milk into 
 the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook.  With the machine on its 
 lowest speed, mix for 1 to 2 minutes, until a soft, moist dough forms on 
 the hook.  If the dough is to dry,  add more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time. 
  In most cases if the dough does need more liquid, it won't need more than 
 about 3 tablespoons, but check carefully as you want all the flour  to be 
 moistened.  Stop the mixer and look into the bowl.  If the hook has not 
 picked up all the flour from the bottom af the bowl, add a few more drops 
 of milk.  
      Set ther mixer to its highest speed and work the dough until it is 
 smooth and elastic, no longer sticky and close to the consistancy of soft 
 butter, about 4 minutes.  To make certain that all the ingredients are 
 perfectly blendedyou can remove the dough from the mixer after 3 minutes, 
 and then with the mixer on high speed, return plum size pieces to the 
 bowl.  The pieces will remain seperate for a short while, then come 
 together, at which time the dough is ready.
      Remove the dough from the mixer, wrap it in plastic and put it in a 
 plastic bag, leaving a little room for expansion.  Keep the dough at room 
 temperature for 30 minutes to give the gluten time to relax; then 
 refrigerate the dough for 8 hours or ovenight.
       FOR THE BUTTER: Attach the paddle to your mixer and beat the butter 
 and flour on the highest speed until smooth and the same consistency as 
 the croissant dough, about 2 minutes.  Reach into the bowl and poke around 
 in the butter to make sure that its evenly blended-if you find any lumps, 
 just squeeze them between your fingers.  Scrape the butter onto a large 
 piece of plastic wrap and give it a few slaps to knock the air out of it.  
 Mold it into an oval 5 to 6 inches long and 1 inch thick, Wrap it tightly 
 and refrigerate until needed.
      At this point the dough and the butter can be frozen; defrost 
 overnight in the refrigerator before preceeding with the recipe.    
     INCORPORATING THE BUTTER:  Place the croissant doughon a generously 
 floured large work surface (marble is ideal (sure!!!)) and sprinkle the top 
 of the dough lightly with flour.  Using a long rolling pin, roll the dough 
 into an oval approximately 10 inches wide and 17 inches long.  Brush the 
 excess flour from the dough.  Center the oval of chilled butter across  
 the oval of dough and fold the top and bottom of the dough over the butter 
 to make a tidy package.  Gently and evenly stretch the folded layers of 
 dough out to ther sides and press the edges down firmly with your 
 fingertips to create a neatly sealed rectangle.  
      If you own a French rolling  pin (one without handles)now’s the time 
 to use it.  Hold one side of the doughsteady with your hand and strike the 
 other side gently but firmly with the rolling pin to distribute the butter 
 evenly.  As you hit the doough you will see the butter moving out into the 
 crevises.  Strike the other side of the dough the same way.  After 
 pounding you should have a 1 inch thick rectangle about about 14 inches 
 long and 6 inches wide.
      Keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured, roll 
 out the dough.  If this your first time working with croissant dough, you 
 may want to roll out the dough just a little to distribute the butter, put 
 it on a baking sheet lined with flour-dusted parchment paper, cover it 
 with plastic and chill it for 1 to 2 hoours first; this way you won't risk 
 having the dough go soft or the butter seep out.  (Each time you wrap the 
 dough, make sure it’s well covered-even a little air will cause the dought 
 to form an unwanted skin.)  If your experienced, feeling courageous or 
 have dough that is still well chilled, go on to make your first turn.
        ROLLING AND FOLDING:  Roll the dough into a rectangle 24 to 26 
 inches long and about 14 inches wide, with the long side facing you. (You 
 may feel as though your rolling the dough sideways-and you are.)  Brush 
 off the excess flourand, working from the left and right sides, fold the 
 dough inward into thirds, as you would a brochure, so that you have a 
 package that’s about 8 inches wide by 14 inches long.  Carefully transfer 
 the dough to a parchment- lined baking sheet, mark the parchment “1 turn” 
 so you'll know what you've done, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 
 hours.
      You can frereze the dough after this ar any other turn.  Thaw 
 overnight in the refrigerator before proceeding.
     FOR THE SECOND TURN:  Place the dough so that the 14 inch side runs 
 left to right.  (The dough needs 2 more turns; you've given it one 
 quarter-turn already.)   Making sure the work surface is well floured at 
 all times, roll the dough as you did before into a rectangle 24 to 26 
 inches long by about 14 inches wide .  (When doing the second and third 
 turns, you may find that the dough has cracked a little.  That’s natural; 
 it’s a result of the yeast.  Don't worry, just flour the dough and work 
 surface and keep going.)  As you did before fold the dough in thirds.  
 Place it on the parchment, mark the paper “2 turns”, cover and refrigerate 
 for at least 2 hours.
      FOR THE THIRD TURN:  Start agian with a 14 inch side running from 
 your left side ti your right.  Roll the dough into a rectangle 24 to 26 
 inches long by 14 inches wide.  Fold the left and right sides of the dough 
 into the center, leaving a little space in the centrer, and then fold one 
 side over the other as though you were closing a book.  This is the 
 famouse double turn, also known as “the wallet”.
      Chilling the dough:  Brush off the flour, wrap the dough in plastic 
 and refrigerate for 2 hours.
      At this point the dough is ready to be rolled, cut and shaped into 
 croissants.
      Storring:  The dough can be frozen for up to 1 month.  Thaw 
 overnight, still wrapped, in the refrigerator.
 CROISSANTS
     ROLLING THE DOUGH:  Generously flour a work surface.  Position the 
 dough so that it resembles a book, with the spine to your left and the 
 opening to your right.  For easy handling, cut the dough in half 
 horizontally so that you have two pieces about 7 inches long and about 6 
 1/2 inches wide: wrap and chill one half while you work with the other 
 half.  Flour the dough and roll it into a rectangle that’s 24 to 26 inches 
 long and 15 to 18 inches wide.  This takes a lot of rolling.  Keep the 
 work surface and the dough well floured and have patience.
      If necessary turn the dough so that the long side runs from left to 
 right along the counter.  Carefully fold the top half of the dough down to 
 the bottom.  The dough is now ready for cutting.  
      CUTTING THE DOUGH:  Working with a pizza cutter or a large, very 
 sharp knife, cut triangles from the dough.  This is done most easily by 
 making a diagonal cut on the left hand side to geet the pattern started; 
 save the uneven piece of dough.  MEasure off a 3 to 4 inch base and begin 
 cutting the triangles, always cutting from bottom to top.  You'll have 
 another scrap when you reach the other end-you'll use these scraps when 
 you shape the croissants.  Unfold each pair of triangles and cut them in 
 half to seperate.  You should have 10 to 12 maybe 14 triangles; set them 
 aside while you clear the work surface of all flour.      Line two large 
 baking sheets with parchment paper.
     SHAPING THE CROISSANTS:  Moisten your hands with a wet towel.  Working 
 with one triangle at a time, gently stretch the base to widen it slightly, 
 then, holding the base of the triangle in one hand, run the fingers of the 
 other hand down to the point of the triangle.  Use your thumb to pull and 
 stretch the dough until it’s almos twice the original length-have courage 
 and tug; the extra length is what allows you to make a large croissant 
 with sufficient rolls to show off it’s layers of dough.  
      Place the treiangle, point toward you, at arm distance on the work 
 table this will give enough space to roll the croissant into shape 
 with-out having to lift it in mid-roll)  Pull off a little piece of the 
 reserved scrap dough, mold it into a small football shape and center it on 
 the wide top part of the triangle-this will help make the “belly” of the 
 croissant plump.  Fold about 1/2 inch of this wide end over itself and 
 press the ends down once to secure.  With you palms and fingers positioned 
 over the flattened ends of the croissant  and the heels of your hands on 
 the flat work surface, roll the croissant toward you-try to keep your 
 hands moving down and out to the sides as you roll- ending with the point 
 of the triangle tucked under the croissant.  A well shaped croissant-and 
 it takes practice to achieve one-will sport at least six clearly 
 accountable sections, or ridges, from rolling.  Place the croissants on 
 one of the baking sheets, leaving room for them to triple in size without 
 touching one another.  Repeat with the other half of the dough.
      Glazing and rising:  Give the croiossants a last gentle plumping, 
 carrefully turning the ends down and toward the center to produce the 
 classic croissant shape.  Brush the croissants with egg wash and allow 
 them to rise, uncovered, at room temperature for 3 to 4 hours, until 
 tripled in size and spongy.  (Reserve egg wash, covered in the 
 refrigerator.)  The ideal place for rising is a turned off oven (one with 
 a pilot light is fine) containing a pan of hot steamy water.  To test that 
 they are properly risen, wet your fingers and squeeze the end of a 
 croissant:It should offer no resistance and feel almost hollow.
      Baking the croissants:  Arrange the oven racks to divide the oven 
 into thirds, and preheat the oven to 350 f.  
      Brush the croissants once again with egg wash and bake for 12 
 minutes.  Rotate front to back and bake another 4 to 6 minutes, until the 
 croissants are deeply bronzed.  Cool on racks.  As tempting as they are 
 croissants should not be eaten as soon as they come from the oven.  The 
 dough-and the layers within need time to set. 
    
 
 
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