Hello TFL Comunity!
Hope everyone is healthy and at home baking :)
I am a croissant newbie. My first batch didn't look too bad but tasted terrible and was underbaked. Have been doing some reading- my head is swimming with all the different ideas and approaches. I was hoping you would give me your thoughts. I read French T55 is preffered but it is impossible to find here in Toronto. A kindly local baker has suggested using 70% pastry and 30 % Red Fife. What do you think?
Also do you proof your shaped croissant in a closed oven with hot water underneath or room temp or refridgerated.
Are there any visual clues to tell when the croissant is fully baked? I pulled my first batch from the oven 5 minutes early as they were over browning. I used 475F - 5 min then 400F 10 min. Recipe called for a further temp reduction to 375 - for 5-10 min, which I did not do.
Also what thickness should the detrompe and final laminated dough be?
Lastly, thank god I hear you say;) should the detrompe and the pounded butter be the same temp? I could see pieces of butter through the dough.
Many thanks and stay healthy.
JAK
Always nice to meet another intrepid soul on the quest for the perfect croissant. Here in California, I've been making mine with a 50/50 mixture of Central Milling All Purpose (10% protein) and King Arthur Bread Flour (12.7% protein). FWIW, in the past, I've done fine with 100% All Purpose though I am liking the results and the process I use now. My current process also includes sourdough starter and a poolish or pâte fermentée viennoise.
I do all proofing at room temp with the exception of defrosting frozen formed croissants overnight in the refrigerator. Those still go on the counter for 2 hours unless I'm impatient for breakfast. I suppose you could hurry things up in the oven with a small heat source. BTW, the frozen croissants bake beautifully. I keep 1-2 dozen frozen for future petits déjeuners.
I've been playing with oven temp, too. Mostly because I recently had to change my bottom element, so I suspect calibration may be off now. That said, I preheat to 475 but bake at 450. I think a few minutes at a lower temp at the end is not a bad idea. Might increase those top crisp, crunchy layers. Will try when I bake an hour from now.
I'd say rolled out dough thickness should be 4-5 mm. 4 is probably ideal. I doubt if I could get it much thinner in truth.
I don't think temp is as important as texture. If the butter is not sufficiently malleable, it won't roll out smoothly with the dough. I've never had this problem when constructing the dough in a single day.The few times I've had the little flakes of butter under the dough problem have invariably been after an overnight refrigeration required by scheduling, then not waiting long enough for the entire dough mass to warm back up...so very cold butter starts breaking up even though the dough will roll out.
Hope this helps. Lots of croissant discussion in the archives.
Phil