Croissants & Almond Croissants

As with any form of pastry, you will get the best buttery flavour if you make your own, and croissants are no exception to this. You will never want to eat the dry, cakey excuse for croissants you can buy in the UK again once you have tried these. Luckily you can easily double the quantities in the recipe below and freeze the unrisen croissants so you can have freshly baked buttery croissants whenever you like.

Things I have learnt from making croissants...

Laminating bread dough is very similar to making puff pastry, but it can be more tricky to roll out due to it's springy nature. If you are having difficulties just leave the dough to rest at room temperature for 5 minutes and it should become more cooperative.

Croissants should only ever been eaten when very fresh, so if you want them for breakfast (and don't want to get up at 3am) make a big batch and then freeze them after shaping the croissants. Once they are frozen you can transfer them to a freezer bag and take out however many you want the night before, place on a parchment lined baking tray and leave to defrost over night. In the morning they will be risen, puffy and ready to bake.

I like to put a sugar glaze on afterwards as it gives the croissants a nice shine and a little bit of sweetness, which means you can enjoy their wonderful butteryness without the need for jam.

If you do find you have more croissants you can eat in one day (unlikely), you can use the stale ones to make almond croissants, which is exactly why almond croissants were invented, and why I always feel a little bit short changed when I buy them, as they are really just a way for bakeries to sell off yesterday's old croissants!

Croissants: makes a lot of croissants

(adapted from Ripailles by Stéphane Reynaud)

400g strong white bread flour

65g sugar

7g salt

7g sachet of instant yeast

250g butter

Egg glaze:

1 free range egg

2 tablespoons milk

Sugar glaze:

100g sugar

60ml water

• Knead together the flour, sugar, salt, yeast and water to form a smooth dough (about 10 minutes)
• Rest the dough in a warm place for half an hour
• Envelope the butter in greaseproof paper and roll out to a thin square
• Roll out the dough and place the butter on one half, fold over the dough to enclose the butter and rest in the fridge for 30mins
• As for puff pastry, give the dough two turns: roll out the dough, fold into thirds, turn 90° then roll out again and repeat once
• Chill for another 30mins then repeat the two turns again, chill for 30mins
• Roll out the dough to a big rectangle, cut into two long thin rectangles and place one on top of the other

• Cut out triangles and make a small cut in the base of each one
• Roll up each croissant loosely place on a parchment lined baking tray (or in the freezer if baking later on)

• Leave to rise at room temperature for 2 hours, then brush with the egg glaze
• Bake for 15 minutes in an oven pre-heated to 180°C
• Make the sugar glaze by heating the sugar and water until it boils then remove from the heat, allow to cool
• Brush the sugar glaze over the Croissants whilst still warm
• Serve immediately

Almond Croissants: makes 4-5

(adapted from this recipe on the Chocolate & Zucchini blog)

4-5 day-old croissants

2 tablespoons sliced almonds

icing sugar

 

For the syrup:

2 tablespoons caster sugar

4 tabelspoons rum

½ cup of water

 

For the almond paste:

1 free range egg

50g caster sugar

50g butter, softened

50g ground almonds

• Heat the ingredients for the syrup in a pan, bring to the boil then remove from the heat. Leave to cool completely
• Preheat the oven to 180°C
• Slice the croissants open and dip both sides in the syrup, they should be quite soggy
• Mix together the ingredients for the almond paste and fill each croissant before sandwiching the two halves back together and spreading a little of the almond paste over the top
• Sprinkle with the sliced almonds and bake for 12-15 minutes
• Sift over icing sugar and serve warm