Croissants - Simplified and Addictive

Croissants are the sexiest bread you can put in your mouth. A really good croissant needs nothing else. Eat it naked (the bread...or you.) A really good croissant shoots flakes in the air when you pull it apart. The outside is golden, crispy and protects the buttery layers of the softest bread on earth.

If the croissant you bite into doesn't do all these things, please just call it a "Crescent Roll" and live with it. Hold out for the real thing before you call it (say it with your best French accent) Croissant.

(The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non- blogging members, Sarah,
the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking,

none other than Julia Child!)

This flaky luna delight has a sorted history and many countries lay claim to it's origin. It did not start out laminated (the technique of alternating butter and dough to form layers, like in puff pastry.) In the beginning it was crescent shaped and the texture was more like a bread roll, or rugelach. The Italians eat a similar, although usually softer and more hollow version of the croissant called Cornetto. In Vietnam, it's called bánh sung bo.

French Croissants were one of my first food fascinations. I tore a 4 page recipe out of Gourmet magazine when I was in college and swore one day I would make them. A couple years later I spent about 4 days, head bent over that scrunched up paper, tediously making about a dozen giant, whispy flaked brown croissants. I was so impressed with myself I immediately took pictures of them in a basket and wrote about it in my journal. That was 25 years ago. I guess I was food blogging without knowing it.I'm hoping I can simplify the idea of making these and encourage you (if you've never tried it) to make your own Croissant. It doesn't have to be a many-day tedious event. It's really a lot easier than you'd think.

Prep your ingredients, clear a space in the refrigerator for your dough to hang during that segment of time, and get ready to be impressed with yourself. The whole thing can be done (most of it just waiting for the dough to rise) in half a day, or you can do a little one day and a little the next day. Enjoy it. Do it while you're doing other things. Here we go.

Recipe: Croissants
(adapted from the Daring Bakers' adaptation of Julia Child)

1 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (about 1/2 pkg.)
3 Tbls. very warm water
1 tsp. sugar + 2 tsp. sugar
1 3/4 cups Bread Flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk (warmed)
2 Tbls. Oil
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 egg, for egg wash

1) Mix the yeast, warm water and first teaspoon of sugar together in a small bowl. Leave it for a few minutes so the yeast can foam up a bit.

2) In a large bowl, pour in the warm milk, salt and the 2 tsp. sugar and stir to dissolve.

3) To the milk- add in the flour, the oil and the foamy yeast. Stir it all together well with a spatula, and turn it out onto a work surface.

4) Knead the dough just 8-10 times, place it into a large clean bowl, cover it tightly with plastic wrap and leave at room temp (about 70- 74F) for about 3 hours (so it can triple in size as it rises.)
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5) After it triples in size, pull it out of the bowl and onto a lightly floured work space. Using your fingers, spread the dough out into approx. 8x12 inch rectangle. Then fold it like a letter in thirds (the bottom folded up, then the top over that).

6) Put it back into the bowl, cover well with plastic and let rise again for about 1.5 hours (or it can be put in the refrigerator for over-night.)
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NOW IT'S TIME TO USE THE BUTTER and THE DOUGH (called a deutremp) to START BUILDING THE LAYERS-

7) Put the butter on a piece of plastic, and using a rolling pin, pound it out to about 6x8 inches. Wrap in the plastic to help shape it. It should still be chilled, but not hard.8) Using your hands (or rolling pin if you prefer) spread the dough out to about 8x14 inches. Unwrap the butter and put it on the top half of the dough, leaving dough showing on the top & sides (see the photo.)9) Fold the dough over the butter, like a letter (bottom part folds up over the butter, then the top part down including the butter.) This makes a letter shape that has dough, butter, dough, butter, etc.

10) Turn the dough 1/2 turn, so the folds are on the right and left sides, and roll the dough out into about 14x8 inches again. Fold up into a letter, again. Wrap in plastic and place in refrigerator to chill for 2 hours.
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11) After 2 hours, take the dough out onto a lightly floured board. With the folds on your right and left, roll the dough out into a 14x8 inch shape again. Fold and roll out, yet again. Fold, wrap in plastic and return to refrigerator for 2 more hours. All this rolling, folding and chilling is creating the soft flaky luxurious bread inside your very own homemade croissants. It's all worth it!
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NOW IT'S TIME TO CUT THE DOUGH AND SHAPE THE CROISSANTS-

12) Take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it rest on the floured work space for about 10 minutes. Cut it in half and place one half in refrigerator to keep chilled while working with the other half. Roll your dough out to about 10 x 16 inch rectangle.
13) Using a Pizza cutter, cut the dough in thirds cross-wise, then in half from top to bottom. Then, cut into triangles. (NOTE: For larger croissants - roll the dough to 25 x 5 inches, cut into thirds cross wise, then cut triangles out of each third.)

14) Roll each triangle up, ending with a point. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and curve into a crescent shape. Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1 hour.
15) Preheat the oven to very hot 475F. Brush each croissant with an egg wash (one egg beaten with 1 tsp. water.) Bake for about 10- 13 minutes (more if yours are larger.) They should be caramel brown and crisp on the outside. Allow to cool on a rack for a few minutes before serving.

Wasn't it worth it? I know, I know, right? They are SO good. They are gone SO fast (if I'm around.) Seriously, once you've done this, the steps become familiar and you can carve out your time in between other things. Just try it once and you'll see. Go to Paris every chance you get (ok, but at least make your own croissants.) Bonne chance et merci~

Better Butter with Orange & Mint (Simple Saturday)

Sometimes people get jammed up about Jam and think Butter is better. For those times, and for those people, there's Compound Butter with Orange and Mint. And, of course, you could use both. Yeah, sometimes I do, so what? :DCompound Butter is simply taking soft butter and adding flavorings.It makes an amazing addition to Chicken Kiev when you make lemon and chive butter. It gives great color and flavor to Fish when you add Tomato Butter to the baking.Take a few moments to make sure you really combine the fats with the flavorings - - then chill the butter in a log for slicing later, or in a flat disk for cutting into shapes. You can add a little zing to your biscuit, scone, eggs, or brunch presentation with that imagination of yours. Go ahead - make your butter better.RECIPE: Compound Butter with Orange and Mint

1 stick of butter (soft)
1 orange zest and juice
2 fresh mint leaves (minced)

1) In a bowl with a wooden spoon or paddle, mix the juice (a little at a time) into the butter. Then mix in the mint.

2) Wrap the compound butter in plastic wrap in a disk, or a log and chill for a few hours.

3) When ready to serve, cut shapes out or slice the log into rounds. Replace any butter not used into the refrigerator. You can also keep this in the freezer for at least a week.:D Happy Saturdays~

Apple Thyme Butter

If you could taste the seasons, Autumn would be this Apple Thyme Butter on a warm, flaky biscuit.

Apple Thyme Butter

Apples are so versatile, I almost take them for granted. For this month's "Tigress Can Jam" challenge the wonderful and talented Cosmic Cowgirl chose a Pome to be the star of November's canning/jamming rodeo. I could have used Quinces, or even Pears, but the Honey Crisp Apples were being sampled at the Farmer's Market and one nibble had me wanting to take them home.I've made apple jam, apple jelly, apple preserves, apple rings and apple cheese, but never apple butter. Of course, there is no real butter in apple butter (just like there is no cheese in apple cheese), it's more about the consistency. Apple butter is made from apple puree that has been cooked down, most of the liquid is evaporated and you're left with this...well..fruit butter. There's no better way to describe it.Then, of course, I had to give it my spin - my take - my "if this doesn't work I sure have wasted a lot of apples" challenge for myself. I'm more than thrilled to report; it worked. The addition of fresh thyme and a pinch of dried thyme created a warm earthy and savory balance to the natural and added sugars needed to preserve the apples.Now, when would you use Apple Thyme Butter, you ask? Here are just a few ways I have been [obsessively] using this sinfully flavorful and spreadable gold:

* Spread on (or as an ingredient for) Oat muffins
* Turkey Sandwich, with Arugula and Apple Thyme Butter - (It tastes like a hand-held Thanksgiving lunch)
* Served as a glaze on Pork
* Mixed into Mashed Potatoes while still warm
* Licked off a spoon while spreading more on a biscuit (yeah, I did)

RECIPE: APPLE THYME BUTTER (adapted from too many books to mention, just to make sure I had the ratios for acid/fruit and sugar correct)

3 lb Apples (peeled, cored and loose chopped)
1 cup water
2 cups 100% Apple juice (unsweetened)
1 large lemon (juice to equal 1/4 cup) and zest
5-6 branches, or more, of fresh thyme
2 cups sugar
1 tsp Dried Thyme leaves
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves

1) In a large pot, add apples, apple juice, water, lemon juice and fresh clean branches of thyme.
Bring this to a boil, then quickly reduce to lowest simmer for about 45 minutes until apples are breaking down and tender.2) Set pot aside to cool a little. Then press apple mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl to catch the puree.
3) Measure 4 cups of puree and return that to the pot. Add 1/2 cup sugar per 1 cup of puree (so, 2 cups of sugar) to the apple puree. Also add the dried thyme leaves, cinnamon and cloves.

4) Bring back to a boil and quickly reduce to the lowest simmer. Cook, stirring very often and be careful not to burn the puree as it reduces, for 1 - 1 1/2 hours (depending on the size of your pot).
5) When the Apple Butter is a good thick consistency and the sugars have caramelized and turned it into a deep dark golden hue - carefully pour into sterilized jars, seal and process for 10 minutes in a hot water bath. (If not preserving: pour into clean containers, cool and refrigerate covered, or freeze for later use.)
Now, that I've posted this, I'm going to try Apple Thyme Butter in a Butternut Squash Casserole. You just know that will be good. If you make this and try it, or have other ideas for it - leave them in a comment. Thanks for stopping by.