I made a whole bunch of croissants this weekend. I really love croissants so I was super excited! I noticed a problem, though, while they were baking. A lot of the butter leaked out of the dough and the pan that they were baking on was drenched in it. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to prevent this from happening?
The lamination itself. That being the butter wasn't rolled thin enough. But my guess is it's the proofing as thats always my issue. If the proof is too warm they end up leaking. Proof croissants for longer in a cooler space.
But maybe you could share your formula and process so we can see if there is a more obvious issue.
Josh
Proofing croissants between 75 F and 80 F until they're puffy and preheating the oven at a high temperature (for my oven, 475 F for 20 minutes, then after 5 minutes turning down to 400 F for 5 minutes and then down to 350 F for the remaining baking time until brown) help lessen the butter pooling in the tray during baking.
The initial high temperature will cause moisture from the butter and dough to create steam creating air pockets between the layers. I find that the initial high temperature gives a better lift to the croissants. It's like baking puff pastry which needs that initial high temperature to create steam between the layers and produce flaky layers. If the oven temperature is too low, butter might just end up melting and not creating that expansion between the layers. I had that happen when I baked puff pastry at a low temperature. The same thing happens when I bake croissants at a low temperature, or when the oven temperature wasn't properly preheated.
Thanks both of you. Between the two of you I think I know what I did wrong. I definitely think I didn't roll my butter thin enough and my oven was probably too hot. I will adjust my techniques for the next time!
Josh, this is the recipe I used:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/22677/poolish-croissant-pursuit-perfection
The link you gives references another link to someone named Ralph. I have modified the link to go directly to Ralph's comments instead of the top of the thread:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/338441#5328318
The first thing he says is:
He goes on to talk about proofing time and oven temperatures, etc. He gives details on his procedure as well.
Thick layer of butter does cause butter pooling during baking.
golgi70 was right about butter having to be rolled thin enough. I made croissants today. One tray had croissants that were rolled about 1/8" or slightly thinner than 1/4" thick. The other tray had the dough that was rolled a bit over 1/4" thick. The ones with thick layer had some butter melting during baking. The ones rolled out thinly didn't have butter pooling.