If you would like to learn more about how lamination of Croissant dough works, check out my post on "The Artistry and Deliciousness of Croissants: A love affair with French pastries"
DOUGH AND BUTTER TEMPERATURE FOR LAMINATION
Textbooks will tell you to look for a similar consistency of the dough and the rolled out butter. A lot of times, this is confused by the temperature of the two. Just because they are the same consistency does not necessarily mean that they are at the same temperature.
One of the best way to judge when either of the dough and butter are ready is by feel and touch. The dough should feel firm and cold but not solid from the fridge. If your dough have puffed up too much during the resting process in the fridge, this means that the dough temperature was not monitored properly and have risen higher than 24°C. Yeast typically starts to become active from 24°C and above . Keeping the dough below that temperature during mixing can prevent pre activating the yeast, ultimately yielding a dough that is relatively easier to handle during lamination.
If you have however overheated the dough during mixing, you can place them in the freezer slightly to bring the temperature down before the bulk fermentation process. Do not leave the dough in the freezer for too long though as this will prolong the first fermentation process. During the first fermentation process, the bulk dough is left at a cool place with the dough temperature constantly maintained at below 22- 25°C for an hour to two hours until it increases at least 50% in volume.
When testing for the readiness of your laminating butter. After they have been rolled to a sheet, the sheet of butter should feel flexible and not break when you try to bend it. This is an indication that your butter is "flexible" enough for it to be rolled out.
When laminating, lamination butter is flexible and easier to roll when it is between 13°C - 15°C for warmer days and between 15°C-19°C for colder days. The recommended temperature of the dough for lamination is around 4°C - 5°C
CONTROLLING THE PRESSURE WHEN ROLLING DURING LAMINATION
When performing the lamination, it is crucial to roll the dough to length and width without putting too much pressure on the dough. If you press the dough too hard when rolling after the butter have been "locked-in", the dough and butter will start to mixed in together and can compromise the layers that is what the lamination is trying to achieve. The rolling shouldn't be a fast process especially if you are rolling them by hand, therefore patience is the key.
When you are rolling the dough during lamination, it is also important to roll the dough from one end to the other end at all times. This ensures that the butter are well distributed between the layers and that they are of even thickness. This is why a revolving rolling pin is perfect for this task.
CROISSANT DOUGH (DETREMPE)
The dough, or often referred to as 'detrempe' in French is the first thing that you will have to prepare in making croissant. There are a vast variety of recipes out there in making the dough and the one that I stick by is what I will be sharing with you in here.
Take note that the method of preparing the detrempe will be quite different from if you were to prepare them commercially. Because you are making such a smaller amount domestically, you can prepare the dough at a higher temperature with more yeast to expedite the proofing process.
In this recipe, we will aim for a Final Dough Temperature (FDT) of between 22- 25˚C depending on the ambient of your kitchen, ensuring that it does not go anything above 26˚C. Anything above 26˚C will cause the yeast to activate too quickly and can compromise the desired slow fermentation process, which aims to develop flavour in the croissants. It is not recommended that you prepare this pastry when the atmosphere is too warm as it can make the task rather difficult to achieve.
After the dough is prepared, it will go through the first part of the first fermentation at room temperature until the dough increases 50% of its original volume. Once that is achieved, the dough is knocked back (where you press the dough down to release any additional gas that was produced by the yeast). The detrempe will then be rolled to a rectangle and placed onto a tray, wrapped well and placed in the fridge sitting at between 4˚C - 5˚C for the second part of the first fermentation.
The purpose of the first part of the first fermentation is to give the yeast a kick start in activating before putting them in a colder environment for a slower final part of the first fermentation.
HOW DO I CONTROL THE FINAL DOUGH TEMPERATURE OF MY DETREMPE?
Bakers often control the final dough temperature by working out the factors that contributes to the temperature of the dough and these factors are often referred to as variables. Variables that plays a role in the Final Dough Temperature are:
Flour
Room Temperature
Water &
Friction
Out of the four variables, the only one that can be controlled are water temperature since it would be hard to change the temperature of the room that you are working on and the flour temperature where you stored them. The easiest way to change the final dough temperature after mixing of the dough is to control the temperature of the water since they can easily be manipulated by either using colder or warmer water for adjustments.
Friction refers to the temperature increase during the mixing of the dough. When the dough hook hits the dough around in the bowl, it creates an energy that can increase the temperature of the dough.
Desired dough temperature is the temperature that you want your Final Dough to be after mixing.
In the case of the day that I prepared the Detrempe (Croissant Dough), the temperature of the mentioned variables are as below:
Room temperature = 22˚C
Flour = 23˚C
Friction = 5˚C estimation
*Note that the final water temperature can be different from you depending on the ambient of your kitchen and the temperature of your ingredients.
Therefore, to calculate the temperature of the water, you will first need work out your DDT (Desired Dough Temperature) and use the DDT to minus the estimated friction (5˚C), then multiply it to the number of affecting variables (3 - friction, flour & room temperature), and finally use the total to subtract the actual temperature of the room temperature and flour variable, and you should then have the recommended water temperature :
Here is the example for the calculation
DDT is = 24˚C
DDT - Friction
= 24 - 5
= 19˚C
then
(DDT x 3) - (Room temp. + Flour Temp.) = Water Temperature
(19 x 3) - (22˚C + 23˚C) = Water Temperature
57 - 45 = Water Temperature
12˚C = Recommended Water Temperature
BEURRAGE (LAMINATING BUTTER)
In making of the croissant, there are two parts butter. The smaller part of the butter are added into the detrempe and the larger part of the butter is used in the laminating process.
When preparing the beurrage, it is important the you use the right type of butter specifically made for this type of pastry. The butter used for lamination are also often referred to as French butter or fractionated butter. These butter has been manipulated with water content extracted and contains higher fat content than normal butter to ease the flexibility of the butter. Flexibility of the butter is crucial to prevent it from breaking during the laminating process.
When laminating, it is important to understand the texture and feel of the beurrage. The best guideline is to look for the same consistency of the beurrage and the detrempe. The butter that I am using is a French imported butter from Flechard Le Grand Tourage, with 82% fat.
The ideal temperature of the butter during the lamination process is usually between 16˚C- 19˚C. The butter should feel fairly flexible but not melting in your hands for lamination.
GOLD INSTANT YEAST
There are varieties of yeast that you can use in the recipe and my most preferred and recommended by professional baker acquaintance of mine are Gold osmotolerant instant yeast. This type of yeast can withstand environment that are high in sugar or salt concentration and is especially ideal for dough that needs to go through a long fermentation time.
Fresh yeast is not preferred as they break down too easily and loses its properties during the long fermentation process.
LAMINATION AND RESTING OF THE DOUGH BETWEEN TURNS
Traditional croissants often calls for 3 single folds with resting time in between folds. Three single folds often yields a close crumb interior and requires a longer preparation time. To achieve a more open interior crumb and a shorter preparation time, this recipe will call for one double and one single with one resting time in between.
It is important to rest the dough in between folds if you are doing this by hand. This is to purpose the relaxation of the gluten as the dough may become resistant in between each fold and make it hard to roll it out to the desired width and length. To prevent from over working and possibly tearing the layers from trying to forcibly stretch the dough, resting is crucial.
During the resting of the dough, it is important to not let it sit in the fridge for longer than 30 minutes. This is to prevent the butter from hardening too much which can shatter when you try to roll them out again, compromising the layers of the croissants.
FINAL PROOFING
Once the croissants has been shaped, it is now time to leave the croissants to final proof until they double in size.
The best atmosphere for proofing croissants is an ambient that are drought free and sitting at a temperature between 24˚C - 26˚C. To control this environment at home, you can start by filling a deep dish with hot water and placing it in the turned off oven with the door close. Monitor the temperature inside the oven before placing the croissants in the oven to proof.
To prevent the croissants from forming skins, grease a cling wrap with oil and loosely place it over the croissants during the proofing process.
Alternatively, if you are proofing croissants on a warmer day with your kitchen temperature sitting around 24˚C - 26˚C, you can simply just leave it to proof at room temperature lightly covered.
Depending on the ambient of your kitchen, proofing time can take between 3 - 5 hours.
RECIPE
CROISSANT DOUGH
INGREDIENTS | QUANTITY | PERCENTAGE (Bakers) |
Bakers Flour 12% Protein | 265g | 50% |
Plain Flour 8% Protein | 265g | 50% |
Fine Salt | 10g | 2% |
Caster Sugar | 30g | 5% |
Milk Powder | 30g | 5% |
Invert Sugar | 30g | 5% |
Unsalted Butter - Room temperature | 40g | 7% |
Bread Improver | 8g | 1.5% |
Water - at 21C | 255g | 48% |
Lamination Butter - French Butter | 300g | 32% on final dough weight |
*percentage of butter for lamination is a percentage of the total dough weight
*The strong flour I used is from Lauke Wallby in Australia which has a minimum of 12% protein content.
* T45 Flour used from an imported French pastry flour which has 8.5% protein
How to work out water temperature to achieve a Desired Dough Temperature (DDT) of 26˚C . (Note that: if it is a summer's day you will want your DDT to be at a lower temperature, preferably 24˚C )
DDT = 26˚C
Room Temp - 21˚C
Flour - 20˚C
Friction - 5 ˚C (mixing on low speed for 12 minutes) - Kitchen Aid Standard mixer with dough hook
*Friction refers to the increase of temperature in the dough during mixing depending on the volume and the machinery in use. In the case of this dough, I am using a standard size kitchen aid with a total mixing time of approximately 12 - 15 minutes.
Water Temperature(WT) = ((DDT - Friction) x 3) - (Room Temperature + Flour Temperature)
WT = ((26˚C (DDT) - 5˚C (Friction)) x 3) - (21C(RT) + 20˚C (FT))
WT = (21 x 3) - (41)
WT = 22˚C
COLORED DOUGH
INGREDIENTS | QUANTITY |
Bakers Flour | 150g |
Unsalted Butter | 20g |
Water | 70g + - |
Salt | 2g |
Purple Gel Based Color Ideal for doughs | qs |
ALMOND CREAM
INGREDIENTS | QUANTITY |
Unsalted Butter - room temperature | 100g |
Caster Sugar | 100g |
Eggs | 100g |
Almondmeal | 100g |
Vanilla Bean Paste | 2 teaspoon |
DARK FRUIT COMPOTE
INGREDIENTS | QUANTITY |
Frozen Blackberries | 340g |
Frozen Blueberries | 160g |
Caster Sugar | 280g |
Lemon Zest | 1 Lemon |
Lemon Juice | 60g |
Vanilla Bean Paste | 10g |
FINISHING
INGREDIENTS | QUANTITY |
Fresh Blueberries | 500g |
Fresh Blackberries | 500g |
Mint Leaves | qs |
Absolu Crystal Clear Glaze | Optional |
METHOD
DARK FRUIT COMPOTE
Place all the ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Once it starts to boil, continue to cook over medium heat for 10 - 12 minutes or until thickens.
The mixture will start to bubble and rise to the top, so ensure that you use a slightly larger pot than necessary.
The cooked compote should reach 104C.
Once cooked, transfer into a clean bowl, placed a plastic wrap on top touching the surface to prevent forming a skin. Leave in the fridge to cool completely.
To test the consistency of the compote, spread some on the table and let it cool. It should not be runny.
ALMOND CREAM
Place the room temperature butter, vanilla bean paste and sugar into a stand mixer bowl and mix with a paddle until well combined with no lumps of butter remaining.
Add in the room temperature eggs, one at a time and continue to mix until the ingredients are well emulsified. Add in the almond meal and mix.
Transfer the almond meal into a piping bag ready to use.
CROISSANT DOUGH
DETREMPE
NOTE: The detrempe / dough will need to be prepared the night before.
1. Place all the ingredients except for the laminating butter into a stand mixer bowl fitted with a dough hook attachment. Start mixing on low speed until the ingredients start to bind.
2. Increase the speed to medium speed and continue to mix for another 3 minutes, the dough should look rough and breaks easily when you try to stretch a small piece of the dough. If there are dry bits at the bottom of the mixer bowl during mixing, stop the machine and fold the dry ingredients at the bottom of the bowl into the dough.
Continue to mix on medium speed for another 2- 3 minutes until the dough starts to pull away from the side and is slightly smooth.
When you pull away a small piece of dough and stretch it, it should feel stretchable with some gluten development, but still tear. You do not want to over mix and develop too much gluten at this point or it will be difficult to roll the dough out when you perform the lamination.
3. Shape the dough to a smooth ball then place it into a bowl and cover with cling film and leave at room temperature for an hour while maintaining the temperature of the dough to below 26°C. This is to initiate some yeast activity before retarding it in the fridge.
4. Once the dough have rested for an hour at room temperature, with the help of a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a rectangle with approximately 20 mm in width, not being too concern with the length at this point. Transfer the sheet of dough on to a tray lined with parchment paper.
Wrap the tray well with cling film then place into the fridge to retard overnight at below 5°C or the closest spot in your fridge overnight for at least 12 hours but not exceeding 18 hours.
DETREMPE VIDEO SUMMARY
COLORED DOUGH
1. To make the colored dough, place the flour, butter and salt in a mixer with a dough hook attachment.
2. Gradually streaming in the water, continue to mix on low to medium speed. You may need to fold the dry ingredients from the bottom of the bowl with your hands if you are using a mixer to help bring them together better.
3. Once the dough just come together, add in the desired amount to gel color.
Change the attachment to a paddle then continue to mix until the color are well combined.
4. Once the dough is smooth and is stretchable, flatten then wrap in cling wrap and rest in the fridge overnight.
COLORED DOUGH VIDEO SUMMARY
BEURRAGE
The next morning, an hour prior to doing the lamination, remove the laminating butter from the fridge to come to a consistency where is is malleable and easy to roll.
Roll the dough between two parchment paper to a 20cm square. Have the parchment paper folded to size to have the folded lines as a guideline. Roll the beurrage to as even thickness you possibly can.
The perfect temperature to do the rolling out of your beurrage sits between 17°C to 19°C. The butter at this temperature will be slightly hard to roll at first and as you keep rolling to shape they will soften enough to be shaped to a square.
Note: If the beurrage is too soft after you have shaped it, simply place into the fridge to firm up slightly before proceeding to lamination. The ideal temperature for the butter to be is around 13 - 15°C on warmer days / 15°C - 18°C for colder days) and with the dough at 4 - 6°C for lamination.
LOCK IN AND LAMINATION
1. When you are ready to laminate, roll the dough to approximately 20cm in width and 40cm in length. Place the butter sheet in the center, then fold the two dough on both end over the top to encapsulate the butter.
Ensure to not overlap the dough. Pinch the ends together to seal.
You will have 3 open ends where the butter are visible and one folded ends. Run a sharp knife over the folded end (this prevents any tensions during rolling that can misshape your dough).
2. Roll the dough to approximately 60cm in length from one open end towards its opposite open end.
Perform the first book turn by folding one end of the dough sheet lengthways 1/3 of the way then fold the opposite ends 2/3 of the way where the two ends will meet. Fold the pastry to half again.
Wrap the pastry well with food wrap and rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
3. Once rested, roll the dough from one open end towards its opposite open end to approximately 60cm length again.
This time, perform a half turn by folding one end lengthways so that the end meet the center of the dough, then fold the opposite side over the top.
You have now completed all the folds for the lamination.
4. Wrap the pastry once again and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Note: During the rolling process between turns, the dough will tend to resist a lot. If that is the case, do not force to roll the dough. Place the dough onto the tray again, cover and rest in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes, take it out and roll then repeat the same process until you get to the recommended size and thickness.
LOCKING IN AND LAMINATION VIDEO SUMMARY
FINAL PINNING AND SHAPING
1. Once the dough have rested. Dust your bench with some flour and roll the purple dough to the same length and width of the croissant dough. Lightly brush the top of one side of the croissant dough with water then place the purple dough on top.
Trim off any excess purple dough that is overhanging on the sides.
2. Begin to roll the pastry to 30 cm in width, then turn the pastry around and continue to roll the pastry until you get approximately 8mm in thickness.
Trim off all corners for a straight cut, ensuring not to trim off too much and that you have enough to cut strips of 4.5cm in width x 28cm in length. You will end up with approximately 12 strips with this recipe.
With each strips, slit the center, leaving approximately 1 cm gap on each edge lengthways. Turn one edge inwards from the top on one side, then turn the opposite ends inwards from the bottom to create a twist. Do this twice on each ends for each strip.
3. Place the twist on a baking tray lined with parchment paper leaving enough space for it to rise.
Lightly spray some oil on a cling film then loosely place over the pastry. Leave at room temperature or in a controlled turned off oven warmed to around 24C and not above with some warm water prior.
4. Leave to proof for 2 - 3 hours depending on your kitchen environment.
5. Once the pastries start to feel light and airy and you can see the layers starts to seperate, they are ready to bake.
BAKING
Pre heat the oven to 200C.
Egg wash the croissant pastry, avoiding the layers. Pipe the almond cream in the center of each pastry.
Lower the temperature to 180C then bake for approximately 25 minutes or until it starts to turn golden in color.
FINISHING
Pipe the compote on top of the baked almond cream then decorate with blueberries, blackerries and mints.
