Croissant improvement - height
Long-time lurker here, but first time posting. I have been making "decent" croissants for a while, but I really want to improve them, particularly their final shape.
My recipe is:
Flour 250g (111g plain flour, 139g bread flour)
Salt 0.5 tsp
Sugar 30g
Dry yeast 3g
Butter 20g
Water 61g
Milk 70g
Egg yolk 1
Butter block 140g
Mix dough and hand-knead to window pane on day 1
Laminate on day 2
Fridge proof overnight, final proof 2-3hrs at 25C on morning of day 3 and bake at 200C, immediately dropping to 160C
Any advice on making the cross-section higher and rounder? My first thought it using more yeast (similar recipes use the equivalent of 5g) and rolling them tighter, though I have seen bakers rolling them with minimal force, so I'm not sure that is the key. (As an aside, I added the egg yolk to the recipe in hopes of allowing more dough relaxation as I've had trouble with it pulling back in the past).
Thanks for your advice in advance!
I roll out and shape from cold dough, but I proof for 90-120 min at 75° F before egg wash and bake. I also make sure my dough triangles are long enough to support 3 full turns…so that 7 distinct overlapping layers are visible. Target size 10x25 cm triangles with gentle stretches applied lengthwise then horizontally before rolling to final shape.
HTH,
Phil
Final step is "Fridge proof overnight, final proof 2-3hrs at 25C on morning of day 3" so I get the shaped croissants out of the fridge and put them in my proofer. I go for the same size as you as well, so I don't think it's size. I'll have to try again with more yeast and see if pushing the final proof further will help. Otherwise, I can't think of many more factors other than changing my flour...maybe?!
With such a lot of fridge time the dough will probably have relaxed a lot and gotten very extensible. That would promote slumping and that's what I see in your pictures. I would be inclined to try baking them right from the fridge, or at least reducing the final proof time, temperature, or both. I'll bet they will still expand a good amount. If you think you still need a longer proof, try to get it before that last retardation so you can bake them cold.
TomP
So you think I should try doing the final proof, then into the fridge? Interesting idea. The only other three-day-type recipe I have seen is an interesting one where the final rolled-out dough is frozen overnight, then defrosted for 30mins the next morning before being cut and proofed. I wonder if that would work better? I think I need to revise my method and review Jimmy Griffin's "Art of Lamination" as well.
if I recall correctly a local (now closed) croissant shop I went to said that they cold proof their dough to prevent the dough from slumping or flattening too much. Makes sense to me since the butter solidifies and prevents the croissants from going too flat, room temp where I live means near melted butter.
Yes, and put them in before the full proofing period since they will continue to ferment for a time as they cool down.
I think this is the next thing to try. Looking at Jimmy's book again, I note he lists 20-steps of making laminated dough and he lists the following in order:
12 cutting to size13 shaping14 proofing15 egg washing16 fridge at 3C if holding overnight for baking the following day...18 baking Perhaps I can split my next dough into batches for testing! One with the method above, another freezing the bulk dough overnight and defrost/shape/cut/proof in the morning (which I have also seen) and perhaps the original method as a control. They still taste good.or cut into the long side of your dough triangle before rolling up. :)
I do that already. Nothing I have tried in terms of rolling/cutting changes it, unfortunately.