Croissants

[cooked]

I have eaten excellent croissants in Thailand, on Koh Samui to be exact, French bakery.

Reading various recipes, they recommend working in a cool room. I guess I could get temperatures down to 24°C if I leave the undersized A/C on all night. I also read that traditional recipes used lard or maybe lard plus butter. I have made lard and it makes great bread when I substitute butter or oil with it. One recipe:

http://www.helpwithcooking.com/pastry-guide/croissants-recipe.html

Any tips before I start please?Not much info out there on the net

Ps this recipe seems to use a lot of yeast....

[quidnunc]

You need a cool room because the melting point of butter is about 20 degrees Celsius. If the butter melts, you'll wind up with sort of a brioche. To get those flaky layers, the butter can't melt. So work quickly.

I've never heard of lard being used. But it sounds like it could taste good. I believe the Scots make some kind of pastry which are kind of a croissant but use lard or a mixture of lard and butter.

[cooked]

You need a cool room because the melting point of butter is about 20 degrees Celsius. If the butter melts, you'll wind up with sort of a brioche. To get those flaky layers, the butter can't melt. So work quickly.

I've never heard of lard being used. But it sounds like it could taste good. I believe the Scots make some kind of pastry which are kind of a croissant but use lard or a mixture of lard and butter.

WE'll see. I couldn't wait and didn'tknow that about the butter. Oh well, I like brioche also. Thanks

[quidnunc]

You need a cool room because the melting point of butter is about 20 degrees Celsius. If the butter melts, you'll wind up with sort of a brioche. To get those flaky layers, the butter can't melt. So work quickly.

I've never heard of lard being used. But it sounds like it could taste good. I believe the Scots make some kind of pastry which are kind of a croissant but use lard or a mixture of lard and butter.

WE'll see. I couldn't wait and didn'tknow that about the butter. Oh well, I like brioche also. Thanks

actually, my remark about brioche was just about completely wrong. Brioche has lots of egg in it. It should still taste good, though. More like a rich buttery bread.

[smokie36]

You need a cool room because the melting point of butter is about 20 degrees Celsius. If the butter melts, you'll wind up with sort of a brioche. To get those flaky layers, the butter can't melt. So work quickly.

I've never heard of lard being used. But it sounds like it could taste good. I believe the Scots make some kind of pastry which are kind of a croissant but use lard or a mixture of lard and butter.

Perhaps that's an Aberdonian buttery.....a congealed breakfast roll they seem to enjoy!

[AyG]

You need a cool room because the melting point of butter is about 20 degrees Celsius. If the butter melts, you'll wind up with sort of a brioche. To get those flaky layers, the butter can't melt. So work quickly.

I've never heard of lard being used. But it sounds like it could taste good. I believe the Scots make some kind of pastry which are kind of a croissant but use lard or a mixture of lard and butter.

I've also never heard of lard being used. I'd thought the whole point of a good croissant was its butteriness. However, Wikipedia tells me that in Argentina they have medialuna de grasa which are croissants made with lard.

The melting point of butter is a bit higher than 20°C - around 40°C. I think that in an aircon room at 24°C there shouldn't be a problem if you work quickly. (That's based upon my experience making puff pastry.) You'll need to allow plenty of time for your work surface to cool down. I'd also be inclined to put the flour into the freezer to cool it down before starting.

If the butter does become too soft and starts being absorbed into the flour at any stage during making, it's always possible to put the dough in the fridge for half an hour or so to firm up the butter.

[quidnunc]

You need a cool room because the melting point of butter is about 20 degrees Celsius. If the butter melts, you'll wind up with sort of a brioche. To get those flaky layers, the butter can't melt. So work quickly.

I've never heard of lard being used. But it sounds like it could taste good. I believe the Scots make some kind of pastry which are kind of a croissant but use lard or a mixture of lard and butter.

Perhaps that's an Aberdonian buttery.....a congealed breakfast roll they seem to enjoy!

Found a recipe for butteries. Looks pretty good to me

Ingredients: 450g plain flour 1/2 tbsp active dried yeast 1 tbsp caster sugar 180g butter 90g lard 360ml lukewarm water (ie at body temperature 40°C) pinch of salt Aberdeen Butteries Preparation: Method: Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Meanwhile mix the sugar in 100ml of water and add the yeast. Leave in a warm spot to prove and when it begins bubbling (about 20 minutes), add to the flour along with the remaining water. Mix well to combine then cover with a damp cloth and set aside in a warm place until doubled in size (about 40 minutes). Meanwhile, cream the butter and the lard together and divide into 3 equal parts. When risen knock the dough back then turn onto a floured board and roll into a long strip. Dot the first 1/3 of the butter mixture on the top 1/3 of the pastry. Fold the pastry over to make an envelope (ie fold the fat covered portion to the middle then fold the lower portion to cover. Roll out and repeat the process until all the butter mixture has been used up. Roll the dough out then cut into small ovals or rounds (about 5cm in diameter). Lay these on a floured baking sheet, ensuring you have 5cm free space between the rounds. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise for about 50 minutes. Remove the cover, place in an oven pre-heated to 180°C and bake for about 20 minutes, or until nicely browned.

Read more at Celtnet: http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/miscellaneous/fetch-recipe.php?rid=misc-aberdeen-butteries

Copyright © celtnet

[cooked]

You need a cool room because the melting point of butter is about 20 degrees Celsius. If the butter melts, you'll wind up with sort of a brioche. To get those flaky layers, the butter can't melt. So work quickly.

I've never heard of lard being used. But it sounds like it could taste good. I believe the Scots make some kind of pastry which are kind of a croissant but use lard or a mixture of lard and butter.

I've also never heard of lard being used. I'd thought the whole point of a good croissant was its butteriness. However, Wikipedia tells me that in Argentina they have medialuna de grasa which are croissants made with lard.

The melting point of butter is a bit higher than 20°C - around 40°C. I think that in an aircon room at 24°C there shouldn't be a problem if you work quickly. (That's based upon my experience making puff pastry.) You'll need to allow plenty of time for your work surface to cool down. I'd also be inclined to put the flour into the freezer to cool it down before starting.

If the butter does become too soft and starts being absorbed into the flour at any stage during making, it's always possible to put the dough in the fridge for half an hour or so to firm up the butter.

Well the result has been judged as 'aroi' by the committee. I did find a few croissant recipes that included lard, so I substituted the initial dosage of butter to mix into the flour with lard. Everything that I have tried up to now seems to be improved by its use in taste and texture.

The butter I used later on was quite runny, I let it get that way as I thought that it would be easier to spread, but it isn't, everything sticks to the knife. As I said, I got excellent results but next time I will use cold, thinly sliced butter as it will be easier to apply. The dough had been in the fridge for an hour before I started applying so that's one thing I did right. I left the dough in the fridge overnight before rolling it out again and coating it with egg white. Quite unlike anything I ever tasted before and I used to buy croissants regularly in France and Switzerland.

[quidnunc]

You need a cool room because the melting point of butter is about 20 degrees Celsius. If the butter melts, you'll wind up with sort of a brioche. To get those flaky layers, the butter can't melt. So work quickly.

I've never heard of lard being used. But it sounds like it could taste good. I believe the Scots make some kind of pastry which are kind of a croissant but use lard or a mixture of lard and butter.

I've also never heard of lard being used. I'd thought the whole point of a good croissant was its butteriness. However, Wikipedia tells me that in Argentina they have medialuna de grasa which are croissants made with lard.

The melting point of butter is a bit higher than 20°C - around 40°C. I think that in an aircon room at 24°C there shouldn't be a problem if you work quickly. (That's based upon my experience making puff pastry.) You'll need to allow plenty of time for your work surface to cool down. I'd also be inclined to put the flour into the freezer to cool it down before starting.

If the butter does become too soft and starts being absorbed into the flour at any stage during making, it's always possible to put the dough in the fridge for half an hour or so to firm up the butter.

Well the result has been judged as 'aroi' by the committee. I did find a few croissant recipes that included lard, so I substituted the initial dosage of butter to mix into the flour with lard. Everything that I have tried up to now seems to be improved by its use in taste and texture.

The butter I used later on was quite runny, I let it get that way as I thought that it would be easier to spread, but it isn't, everything sticks to the knife. As I said, I got excellent results but next time I will use cold, thinly sliced butter as it will be easier to apply. The dough had been in the fridge for an hour before I started applying so that's one thing I did right. I left the dough in the fridge overnight before rolling it out again and coating it with egg white. Quite unlike anything I ever tasted before and I used to buy croissants regularly in France and Switzerland.

If the result was flaky, and not bready, then you succeeded.

[ignis]

Bakery Shops sell the croissant butter packs, it appears to stay harder for a lot longer

[Ulysses G.]

Now I know why one place I eat croissants is kind of good, but they are not flaky. They do not make them in a cool room, so it looks like a croissant, but tastes more like buttery bread.