The perfect croissant!
(so to speak...)

The legendary croissant, the perfect croissant, here it is!

It is good for breakfast, as a snack, for a snack; smooth or stuffed, with something sweet or salty

(the children of a friend of mine loved the padded, with a thin layer of mayonnaise and covered with tuna and artichokes!).

I put this recipe in the dessert but it would be well with the starters ... 

And when I talk about croissants, I'm not referring to those horrible croissants that are in certain bars ...

I mean that masterpiece of lightness that legend holds created in Vienna in the 1683, at the end of the Ottoman siege, by a pastry chef, Peter Wendler, to celebrate the defeat of the enemy whose symbol, the crescent, was so eaten!

The procedure for the preparation is very similar to that of the puff pastry:

two different doughs that are gradually arranged in more and more layers without ever mixing them.

So let's see how to prepare them, from start to finish.

What follows first is the description of a leavened dough base for croissants very simple and always very successful.

However, if you want a simpler dough, you can use the same one I indicated for the Butterzopf.

Also in that case the weight of the butter handled must correspond to about ¼ of the weight of the dough.

Ingredients:

Preparation of dough:

Pour all the ingredients in the planetary.

It is important to use cold water to prevent leavening of the mixture prematurely!

Mix about ten minutes at low speed and then with energy for another two minutes. It will result in a soft and elastic dough.

Where necessary to adjust water (I at home, even with the windows open, rarely overtaking the 30 / 35% humidity ... others may have too much!).

Level the dough in square form up to a thickness of approx. 2 cm.

Wrap it in aluminum and place it in the freezer for half an hour, so that it becomes hard but does not freeze.

In the meantime, prepare a 4 to 1 handled butter with butter and flour and form a square one centimeter thick as wide as the base dough but halfway along.

Place it in the fridge waiting for the thirty minutes of rest of the basic dough to pass.

Place the base dough on the counter and place the bar of butter in the center; then cover the butter with the protruding dough so as to cover it completely.

Spread the whole length with a rolling pin, always working in the same direction. Once again at a thickness of approx. 2 cm, fold the dough for three times, turn it 90 ° and spread it again, always operating in the previous direction. Then fold again, turn 90 ° and redistribute. Put the dough wrapped in aluminum in the fridge (in the coldest part) and let it rest from 30 'to 60' to resume a firm consistency.

Repeat the pasta dough twice and place the dough in the fridge until final use.

It is important to carry out these operations to prevent the butter from melting and becoming too amalgamated with the base dough; as for the puff pastry, at the bottom. 

Preparation croissants:

Remove the dough from the fridge one hour before starting to work it.

Roll out the dough until a rectangle with a thickness of 3 mm is obtained.

Cut into long triangles and roll up the triangles, for the long, starting from the base.

Arrange the croissants on a plate and brush them with egg and milk mixed together and put them to rise (finally!) In a warm place for at least an hour: they should double in volume. The ideal is to wrap the plate in a sheet or in a plastic bag, as in photography!

Heat the oven to 210 °, static. Remove the plastic cover from the plate and bake the croissants for 20 '/ 25' until they take on a nice dark golden color.

Remove from oven and let cool on a rack.

ADVICES AND NOTES:

• Recipe, text only: to print or download.
• The dough can also be frozen; both before and after the formation of the croissants.
  But never after the final leavening.
  Clearly because the dough starts to rise, you have to wait a few hours for it to thaw completely ...
• The triangles of pasta can also be just spread with jam, honey, chocolate cream and hazelnuts; in short, what you want!
  Certainly so they will not be ideal for stuffing with savory products!

Your comments are welcome!
Leave them in the form at the bottom of the page: