Your Best Croissant Recipe and Technique

If anyone is ever wondering which Croissant recipe and technique has been the best, I highly recommend two books -  the forming technique illustrated in the Baking with Julia Child and recipe/technique in Tartine Bread bring the best result.  Of course, this is my personal opinion, and practice always make it better.  One of the Youtube favorite of mine that I reference is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxCE963K-FY  by Pino Ficara.  You can test and try and mix all techniques that will fit your kitchen.  Eventually, you will produce the best croissants for your family, ... and like me -- love to take the pictures of Croissants at any angle.  "They are beautiful!"

How many layers have you achieved during pulling and rolling?  6? 9?

I personally do adjust the recipe to have less 'butter" in the butter block, but if it's your first time, follow the recipe to achieve your buttery layers you desire and think layer look you want vs bread like center.

Your croissant crumb color is all up to you.  However, traditionally, it should be 'dark' chocolate brown as the 'complete'.  Because I can't eat all 24 croissants in one setting, I want to be able to reheat them in the toaster oven a few days later without drying them out or have the burnt taste, so I prefer to bake them till they are just 'beautiful'.

Try and bake and enjoy!

All right.  Quite a few have asked for the recipe.   For your convenience, here it is.
Tools:  Pastry brush, French rolling pin, or long rolling pin, Pizza cutter, a ruler, Saran Wrap and a  Plastic container with tight lid, Digital scale, and other normal baking tools.

CROISSANT Ingredients:
Preferment:
Nonfat Milk 6 oz       ( Plus Warm water - 1/2 C)
Active Dry Yeast 15 ml
AP Flour 6-1/4 oz or 175 g

Dough:
Active Dry Yeast   25 ml   - 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp
Whole Milk   425 ml or 1 Cup warm whole milk plus 1/4 C warm water
AP Flour   800 g - of the 6 Cups, save 1/2 Cup for the work surface
Sugar   70 g
Salt    2 tsp
Unsalted Butter, melted   15 ml - 1 TB

Roll-In Butter:
Unsalted Butter - Cold but pliable - 1 pound  But I only used 625 g
AP Flour - 1/3 C

Egg Wash:
Large Egg Yolks   4
Heavy Cream   60 ml
Salt    pinch

METHODS:
1.   Make Preferment - In a Mixer bowl  with paddle attachment - Add 6oz of non-fat milk (or regular milk) to flour and yeast.  Mix and check consistency of the dough.  Add  warm water 2 TBsp at a time to build puggy soft dough but not wet or tough.   Mix just enough to incorporate - 1 to 2 min.  Transfer to lightly oiled bowl/container with cover.   Set it aside to rise till bubbly and light.

2.   Make Butter Block - Cut butter into large chunks and with fingers mash some of them 'a bit' and coat butter chunks with flour.  Place the floured butter between two sheets of wax paper.  With floured Rolling pin and pastry scraper -  beat the butter to flatten and scrape the side form into  to approx. 1/2 inch thick block. Wrap it and Refrige for 30 min.  (Butter block should be of the same consistency as the dough when ready to fold the butter block in.). 

3.   Make Dough - Half way waiting for the preferment, in a mixer bowl with Paddle attachment or by hand in a large mixing bowl - add all ingredients and half of 425 ml of whole milk.  Mix. The dough should be shaggy.  Stop - cover the bowl and wait for preferment. 
Add preferment to the dough.  Add the rest of the liquid and knead.  
Important tip:  The dough should feel soft - Add tablespoon more of warm water at a time to make sure the dough is quite moist.    Mix for 8 minutes.  The dough is tacky.

4.   Cover with plastic wrap.  Place in a large rectangular plastic ware, if you have one.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

5.   Take out the dough and butter block.   The dough should be soft without much resistance.   Roll out  the dough into round mound.  Use a scissor and make a criss-cross cut on the top and pull each cut side open and flatten the center a bit.  It looks like a flattened and squared star-fish.  
or roll out into a large rectangle shape - large enough to enclose the butter block.

6.   Place the butter block in the center of the flattened and squared star-like dough.   Then fold each arms in toward the center to enclose the butter block.   If your dough is a rectangle shape, place the butter block in center and fold the butter with the right and left side of the dough.  Then using your hand's end of the palm to press down the top and bottom open ends to seal the butter.    
Or use other methods described at the URL mentioned at the top of this blog.  But my testing show that the butter block made by premixing the butter with some flour turned out the best with the home oven, unless you have one of those beautiful commercial hot convection oven for home.    Butter would not wooze out before the croissants are baked.

7.   With butter block enclosed int he dough, roll the dough from center to 1/2 to 1 inch away from the edge in each direaction to shape into large rectangle.

Fold the dough in to thirds.  Brush off the extra flour off the dough with pastry brush as you fold the right and left dough over to the center.  
Wrap tight and refrigerate for 30 minutes.   Preferably in a large rectangle plastic container - to hold shape.

8.  Repeat the folding process 3 times.   Refrigerate for 30 minutes each time. 
** After the 3rd foldings - you could - wrap it up tightly and let the dough rest in refrigerator overnight. wake up at 4 am, form the croissants, let rise and bake at by 8 am for fresh croissants for the family.   Or can be kept frozen till needed.  

9.    Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper or with Silpat.

10.    If Frozen - Take out the dough out of the refrigerator 1 hour before the next step.   If you want to fill the croissants with raisins, almond paste, chocolate, etc. gather them now.     Set them aside. 

10a.    On a work surface 'barely lightly' floured or 'barely oiled' surface, unwrap the dough and beat the dough with rolling pin - a good wack several times, but carefully not to tear the dough..  

10.   Roll into large rectangle.   Using a ruler, measure the dough out and slice the dough with a Pizza slicer into triangle shape.  Each triangle should have cleanly sliced edge.  The extra dough can be cut into equal pieces and tucked in center of each croissant as a 'tummy'.

11.   Foming  Croissants -  Moisten fingers.    Hold two pointy ends of the wider end and Pull out to elongate. Roll the dough over the extra dough pieces or fillings to cover.   Move the free hand right above the first roll at the bottom by  stretching the dough toward the narrow tip at the same time you roll the 'tummy' side of the dough upward - hopefully  the stretch is double its original length.   
Tip: **This will tell you if you added enough water or not at the beginning.  So be sure to make a note of the amount of liquid to the particular bag of flour you used that day.  And if you are going to use the same bag of flour, you will know to add or subtract liquid the next time.....

Suggestions:  Curve the ends of the unfilled croissant  and place on baking sheet.    Keep the filled croissants with goodies straight or vice versa.

13.  Brush with egg wash without sealing the cut edges.   (Cover and refrigerate the extras.)

14.  Let rise in warm kitchen till double to tripple in size.
Preheat oven to 425'F - about 15 minutes before the croissants reach its double+ size.

15.  Brush again with egg wash - very gently - before baking.
Bake for 12 minutes or until beautiful dark brown.

Shakers Lemon Pie

This is one of the pie that Shakers invented in early nineteenth-century when they settled in the New England area.   It is tangy and sweet at the same time.  Your mouth will feel refreshing after a moment of bitterness from the its pith.  The whole lemons are sliced 'very' thinly (after removing the seeds) and set overnight with a plenty of sugar.  (recipe to follow a bit later.)

After overnight, the sugar has melted into lemon slices.

*Be sure to use acid proof mixing bowl  or you will end up with metallic tasting pie.

Mix into beaten eggs.

Pour into prepared pie shells.

Cover with top pie shell.

Egg wash the top and bake.

After thought in technique:
1.  Slice the lemons into thin slices, then, cut each slice into smaller quarters following its natural division.  This will make it easier to slice the pie when ready to serve.  Otherwise cutting through the whole lemon slices in the pie will cause a 'landslide' and make it a bit messy.
2.  To keep the bottom pie shell from becoming soggy or dense, coat the bottom shell with beaten egg white before pouring in the lemon filling.   This technique will work well all other 'baking' pie with liquidy filling.
Enjoy it with whip cream or ice-cream.  Pucker up and enjoy the momentary bitterness, but followed by refreshing taste in the mouth. 

Buttermilk Biscuit Testing - Butter or Shortening or Lard?

I have been baking biscuits for many years.  The ones that I love the most are the ones that I made for my boys.  Of course, they are all grown up, so I bake for my grand-kids.  There are times, for whatever reason I don't know why, the biscuits just don't come out the same.  A carton of buttermilk is only used once, then, the rest end up discarded ... despite the fact that you can use buttermilk for a few other dishes.  It's quite easy when you have a crowd, but for a single serving, it becomes challenging.  I decided to test on my biscuits using three different shortenings - lard, vegetable shortening, butter.

I really thought the lard would have tasted better but there is no "SHANG WEI" - "wonderful aroma".  It was disappointing.  I remember using the actual 'renedered' pork fat - that we saved after cooking fat pork when I was young for Chinese pastry.  The pastry tasted very nice.   I actually had never used "Lard" out of a box to bake the biscuits.   I have seen the bacon grease used to make biscuits, and I have used it by mixing it with butter chunks, etc.  It turned out quite tasty.  The biscuits made with self-rising flour is always the fluffiest, but I want to control all the ingredients, so all purpose flour is used.  To make the test production portion size small, I used the following measurements:
Preheat oven 435'F - 450'F - depending on the power of your gas oven or electric oven.

Butter Buttermilk Biscuits:
Portion:  4 to 5

1-1/2 Cup all purpose flour, shifted with the followings 3 times
1/2 Tb Double acting non-aluminum baking powder (Red or Silver can)
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
1/8 tsp Baking soda
1/4 Cup cold butter cut into chunks
Rub the butter and flour together between thumb and fingers until they form flat flakes. 

Then, Add
1/4 Cup Buttermilk - if the flour mixture feel dry, add water a teaspoon at a time.
Tips:  The dough should feel quite moist..

Mix gently at first with spoon maybe or with hand till flour is moistened.  The dough should be shaggy and moist.  Then, mix gently in fold and layer, add bit more buttermilk, then, fold and layer motions to form a flat disc.  Roll it out with a rolling pin with gentle press or simply pat it down with floured finger tips to disc shape.
Then, cut out with biscuit cutter or with a rim of a glass cup.  Transfer to baking sheet.
If a tender side is desired, place biscuits close to each other on top of a aluminum foil.  Then, fold up the aluminum foil to make a wall.
Bake till golden brown.

Shortening Buttermilk Biscuits:
- use the same ingredients as above, but replace butter with vegetable shortening.

1/2 Cup all purpose flour, shifted with the followings 3 times
1/2 Tb Double acting non-aluminum baking powder (Red or Silver can)
1/4 tsp Kosher salt


1/4 Cup cold vegetable shortening, or room temperature
Rub the shortening and flour together between thumb and fingers until they form flat flakes. 

Then, Add
1/4 Cup Buttermilk - if the flour mixture feel dry, add water a teaspoon at a time.

Mix, form, and portion the same as above, and bake till brown.
Actually the picture below shows that the biscuits could use some more liquid.

The result - You can see the difference. 
But I am not quite convinced that my test is true.  So, I will repeat it three more times to say, the ingredients listed here will produce the same results each time.















No, I am not crazy.  I just finished baking twice the Banana Buttermilk Biscuits the other evening and plain ones.  The results?  I ate them all... do I have pictures for evidence?... I will check on it.

Polly's Cashew Chicken - YIAO GUWO JI DIEN

Sometimes, you really wanted to eat well, and wondered what to do with all those celery in the vegetable compartment?  Make fresh health drinks, eat raw, etc... a number of recipes come to mind, then, again, noooot... I don't know why, but sometimes, you just don't feel like it.  But this time, I see a jar of nuts that I bought from COSTCO with various types of nuts in it.  And I noticed there are bunch of cashew nuts in it more than other nuts.  The Cashew Chicken! I thought.  Cashew Chicken is not our traditional family dish when I was growing up.  Because cashew nuts were not available at the local markets,  they are imported.     But here they are, right before me are the great tasting cashews.   So, for my office lunch, I made this in the morning right before I left the door.... nope! it didn't last till lunch time.  I end up eating it as a breakfast.  

Tip:  In Chinese cooking, you often stir fry ingredients and set aside to stir fry the next ingredients, then combine them together for the finale. 

I remember my mother always marinate the meat in KATAKURIKO (Japanese potato starch) with some seasonings.  It makes them taste tender, seal the flavor, etc.

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 - 1/2 Cup Cashew nuts - Toasted in some olive oil in the Wok and set aside.

Slice chicken breast thinly (as you know they normally shrink and become thicker as they are cooked.)

Marinate with 2 tsp of KATAKURIKO and pinch of salt (potato starch or Corn starch.  *FYI - Cornstarch prepared food tend to form 'water' in the overnighted dish in refrigerator.)

Salt 

White ground pepper

Some water

3 Defibered/deveined celery sticks - sliced slanted into 1/2 chunks.  To defiber - pull down (toward back - convex side) at the stalk joint where leaves start to grow and pull down toward the root.  It will pull the stalk fibre off to make it more tender and less fibrous when chewing.) 

 I didn't remembered about thinly slicing the chicken until afterwards, as I have not cooked the chicken this way for a while.  Then, I remembered what my mother said, to slice chicken fairly think for better taste.

Stir fry the chicken breast - Medium high heat just enough till most of the pink is gone. 30 seconds to 45 seconds.  Normally for a larger family dish, meat will be taken out and set aside and celery is stir fried next in the same Wok and in the same oil left behind.

 As this is a small batch, and I am in a hurry, I add the celeries.  Stir fry for 30 seconds at medium high heat. 

 Add Cashew nuts.  Add salt and white ground pepper to taste.  

** If  liquid is desired in this dish, add 2 Tablespoon of water.  This will cause the interaction with the starch enveloping the chicken slices and thicken.  Otherwise, make the starch slur and add to the Wok and bring the liquid to boil and cook for a minute longer.  

Remove from heat and serve.

 Taste the celery.  If you like the crisp state that it is in.  It's done!.

Family Hamburger Steak - Nie`O ROU Biean

We were very lucky when it comes to exposures to various food types in our younger days.  We were exposed to TV dinner, waffle, sausage, apple sauce, chocolate cakes, Hershey chocolate bars, Foremost ice-creams, milk shakes, soft drinks, ketchup, hotdogs, and hamburgers that other kids in the neighborhood have never seen or heard before.  This is one of our favorites that my mother prepared for us.  I always enjoyed it because I can't believe that on one plate, you can have rice, meat, vegetables, and a fruit all together and served with our favorite TONKASTU sauce (*thick Japanese Worcestershire sauce.)

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Wash and clean  1/4 head of cabbage - finely julienned.  Set aside

10 oz ground chuck (home grounded)

4 Tb onions fine brunoise

1 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

Pinch fresh ground black pepper

Cooked rice to serve with

Sliced apple of your choice

Japanese TONKATSU sauce (thick Japanese Worcestershire sauce)

 

It's important that the cabbage is finely sliced.  My mother can slice them hair thin-threads.   This will effectively taste less 'bitter'.  Mix all the ingredients, except cabbage in a gentle tossing motion until all is mixed well without the fat to get gelatinized/integrated with meat.  Pan fry the hamburger.

 Serve with rice, cabbage, and apple slice.  Topped with TONKATSU sauce.

Lion Head - Pork Meatballs Stew

It's getting a bit challenging trying to translate or interpret some of our family's favorite dishes.  The LION HEAD is a description of well seared large pork meatballs, then simmered with Chinese Nappa Cabbage - BAI TSAI, dried SHIITAKE - DONG GU, Firm TOFU, Bean thread,... It's our father's favorite dish.

My mother makes it the best.  And here is mine. 

I made enough to serve 4.

Ingredients: 

1 Quart Chicken Stock - home made & pre-frozen

2 C to 4 C water - (2 Cups come from the hydrated dried mushroom below)

3 hydrated SHIITAKE - dried Chinese mushrooms - Microwave it with enough water to cover the mushrooms (leave a small plate on top to keep the mushroom in the liquid.)  Place the bowl over a microwave tray to catch spilling liquid.  Bring the water to boil. Remove from microwave and set aside to hydrate in liquid.  *transfer liquid to the pot when ready to add mushroom into the stew

1-1/4 lb of ground Pork - fatty pork is preferred, but mine is 95% lean.

130 grams - 1 small can - water Chestnut (discard liquid and washed & rinsed well) - chopped

3 grams of minced fresh Ginger (Tip:  cut and prepare fresh ginger into various size and Freeze them in plastic bag.  Use the ones you want.)

1 Large egg

32 grams of chopped green onions - about 3 slender American green onions - Stir Fried in teaspoon of Olive Oil till browned.

Salt to taste - at least 1 to 2 tsp will be used in meat - Tip:  season the liquid as you go.

White ground pepper.

(Click on any of the pictures to view in larger size.)

 Water chestnuts are my father's idea.  He told me that since our ground pork is so lean, add chopped water chestnuts to give the nice fluffiness and at the same time it gives the enjoyable crispness.   Normally you would put the fresh chopped green onions, but I wanted to try with pre-stir fried green onions.

 Mix well by tossing motion.  Do no stir crazy in circling motion with the chop sticks or spoon.  That will make the meatball 'tough', unless your intention is to make the meatballs with gelatinized texture.

 Instead of pan frying the meatballs because I do not have the normal rounded end cone shaped Chinese iron WOK like my mothers, which will keep the rounded shape of the meat as they fry, I decided to test my new tool - meatball baker pan (I got it from the AVON catalog.) 

 If the pork is really fatty, this would really helped in getting rid of the extra fat.  But on the other hand, normally when pan fried in the Wok, some of the fats are left in the Wok to complete the stew, and it gives a lots of flavor.

 Here is the hydrated mushrooms.  I only used three.  Cut them into quarters.  Add to the stew.  Wash and rinse the Chinese Nappa Cabbage well.  Cut the broad leaf into halves - lengthwise.  Then cut into 2 to 3-inch chunks side ways.  Add Nappa Cabbage into stew. 

Open up your Firm or extra Firm TOFU package.  Drain the liquid.  Set the TOFU on a plate with rim or bowl and place a plate on it to extract some more water.  Drain.  Repeat 2 times.

Cut into nice large chunks.... like 1-1/2 inch size.

Add salt and white ground pepper to the soup, as needed.

** Be aware of the "fake" Bean thread vermicelli.  This one I have turned out to be it!  I forgot that the good bean thread vermicelli in this brand is always "individually" wrapped and tied close in red and white ribbon.  This one is in one whole plastic bag.  Also, the good bean thread vermicelli's brand has blue coloring on the plastic wrap at one end.   I totally forgot to be careful when I purchased it.   The whole thing turned into glue like when added to the stew. 

To hydrate bean thread, add the bean thread vermicelli into a bowl of hot boiling water.  In this one, I just took out the mushrooms and quartered it and added to the stew.  Then, I reboiled the liquid in the microwave and added the bean thread vermicelli.  When soft, use scissors and cut the both ends of the vermicelli, so it will not be toooooo loooong.

 Add the bean thread vermicelli at the end  - like three minutes before serving.  Otherwise, you will not find them - all dissolved into the soup.

Serve with soy sauce as dipping sauce.