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 is my first time making croissants. I made puff pastry once before, Vols-au-Vent with the Daring Bakers a couple of years ago and it was a little frustrating because the butter got soft so quickly. So this time I took tips from the You Tube videos of Julia making croissants with pastry chef Esther McManus.
In the video they cream the butter and then chilled it again before incorporating it into the dough. I decided to spread the butter in to a rectangle the size that I needed and then chill it. This method was much easier for me and allowed me to work much more quickly. Only a little of the butter oozed out during the final turns and in the video Esther said that is to be expected.
Also in the video, before rolling up the croissants, they added a little ball of dough from the scraps. This made it easier to shape the croissants and gave the center a little bit more height.
The recipe makes 12 small croissants. I think next time I would divide the dough in to 6 croissants so they’re not so small. I doubled the final rising time to 2 hrs. but if I would have had more time I would have let them rise for 3 hrs. I incorporated my changes in the recipe below.
I served the croissants with homemade blackberry jam that I canned with Kelley, Mountain Mamma Cooks, and Maria, Two Peas and Their Pod a few weeks ago when we canned the peach salsa. The blackberry jam is so luscious and fresh tasting. A perfect compliment to my flaky, little croissants. The recipe is below.
Julia Child’s Croissants with Quick Blackberry Jam
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ teaspoon of dry-active yeast about ½ package
- 3 tablespoons warm water less than 100°F
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 ¾ cups 225 gm bread flour
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 11/2 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- ½ cup 1 stick chilled, unsalted butter
- 1 egg for egg wash
Quick Blackberry Jam
- 4 cups crushed blackberries
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 7 cups granulated sugar
- 1 pouch 3 oz. liquid pectin
Instructions
- Mix the yeast, warm water, and first teaspoon of sugar in a small bowl. Set aside for the yeast and sugar to dissolve and the yeast to foam up a little.
- Heat the milk until tepid (either in the microwave or a saucepan), and dissolve in the salt and remaining sugar
- Place the flour in a large bowl. Add the oil, yeast mixture, and milk mixture to the flour. Mix all the ingredients together using the rubber spatula, just until all the flour is incorporated.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and let it rest a minute while you wash out the bowl. Knead the dough eight to ten times. Place the dough back in the bowl, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Leave the bowl at approximately 75°F/24°C for three hours, or until the dough has tripled in size.
- After the dough has tripled in size, remove it gently from the bowl, pulling it away from the sides of the bowl with your fingertips. Place the dough on a lightly floured board or countertop, and roll it out into a rectangle about 8 by 12 inches. Fold the dough rectangle in three, like a letter (fold the top third down, and then the bottom third up).
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place on to a cookie sheet to rise for another 1.5 hours, or until it has doubled in size. (This second rise can be done overnight in the fridge.)
- Place the stick of chilled butter on a silpat (silicone mat). Using a rolling pin, beat the butter down until it is quite flat. Use the heel of your hand or a offset spatula to spread the butter until it is smooth and measures 10 x 8. Place the butter in the fridge to chill while the dough is on it's second rise.
- After the dough has double, place the dough in the fridge to chill for 30 min. Remove the dough from the fridge and place it on a lightly floured board or counter. Let it rest for a minute or two.
- Roll the dough into a rectangle about 15 by 8 inches. Remove the butter from the silpat, and place it on the top half of the dough rectangle. Fold the bottom third of the dough up and the top third of the dough down. Turn the dough package 90 degrees, so that the top flap is to your right (like a book).
- Roll out the dough package (gently, so you don’t push the butter out of the dough) until it is again about 15 by 8 inches. Again, fold the top third down and the bottom third up. Wrap the dough package in plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge for 2 hours.
- After two hours have passed, take the dough out of the fridge and place it again on the lightly floured board or counter. Tap the dough with the rolling pin, to deflate it a little. Let the dough rest for 8 to 10 minutes
- Roll the dough package out till it is 15 by 8 inches. Fold in three, as before. Turn 90 degrees, and roll out again to 15 by 8 inches. Fold in three for the last time, wrap in plastic, and return the dough package to the fridge for two more hours (or overnight, with something heavy on top to stop it from rising)
- It’s now time to cut the dough and shape the croissants. First, lightly butter your baking sheet so that it is ready (I baked mine on parchment paper). Take the dough out of the fridge and let it rest for ten minutes on the lightly floured board or counter
- Roll the dough out into a 20 by 5 inch rectangle. Cut the dough into two rectangles (each 10 by 5 inches). Place one of the rectangles in the fridge, to keep the butter cold.
- Roll the second rectangle out until it is 10 by 10 inches. Cut the square into three triangles (as shown in the video.) Cutting off the corners on each end to create a diagonal line. Stretch the triangle out a little to lengthen it.
- Make three small balls of dough from the scraps and place a ball of dough at the wide end of the triangle. Starting at the wide end, roll the triangle up towards the point, and curve into a crescent shape. Place the unbaked croissant on the baking sheet
- Repeat the process with the remaining dough, creating 6 croissants in total. Leave the tray of croissants to rise for 3 hours.
- Preheat the oven to very hot 475°F 52. Mix the egg with a teaspoon of water. Spread the egg wash across the tops of the croissants
- Put the croissants in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until the tops are browned nicely.
- Take the croissants out of the oven, and place them on a rack to cool for 10 minutes before serving
- Quick Blackberry Jam
- In a large, deep stainless steel saucepan, combine blackberries, lemon juice and sugar.
- Over high heat, stirring constantly, bring to a full rolling boil that cannot be stired down. Stir in pectin. Boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off foam.
- Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. (If you wanted to make seedless jam, you could strain it before filling the jars.) Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.
- Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars to folded towel on counter and do not disturb for 12 hours.
- Check that the lids have sealed. If they didn't seal, put in fridge and use within 2 weeks.
Deeba Rajpal (@vindee)
Congratulations GF … what a precious baby! CUTE! And gorgeous croissants. I’m envious! Really am!!
Lora
Lovely croissants and congratulation on your first grandchild. Such a sweet picture!
Patty H.
These look so wonderful! I love to bake breads of all kinds, but have never tried croissants. Watching a video is a great idea – I’ll have to try that with the more intimidating things I try to bake!
Your grandson is beautiful – – you must be so excited!!
anja jansen
Congratulations with the birth of you’re grandson. He looks adorable on the pictures.
You’re croissants sure do look delicious. Great job.
Jenni
Fantastic job on your croissants! They look wonderful! And super congratulations on your first grandchild!! He is adorable!
Jessica @ www.thecapitolbaker.com
Gorgeous! Great job on the challenge.
natalie (the sweets life)
oh my goodness, what a cutie! congrats!
The Backyard Baker
Congratulations….the lovely new grandma !!!
I love your croissants !!! What wouldn’t I do to get a batch of your freshly made croissants !!
I visit your space often and i always have a good time. 🙂
kristy
Barbara, congratulations on your newborn grandson. Isn’t he looks super adorable! I’m sure everyone is waiting patiently for his return. Btw, your croissants look as fabulous. Thnaks for sharing.
Blessings all the way from Malaysia,
Kristy
Anamika
These look simply awesome..much better than bakery stuff! Congrats on such an adorable grandson!!
Judy
Your croissants look fabulous, and congrats on your first grandbaby! He is beautiful.
Barbara
What a delicious looking grandbaby! Congratulations!
Barbara
Donna
He is a very lucky little boy to have such a fabulous grandma! I am looking forward to future posts featuring you cooking with him!
Barbara
Awww thanks! I have spent more than a little time daydreaming about cooking for/with my grandkids. lol
Angie's Recipes
So buttery and tasty! Well done!
Congratulations Grandma!
Pam
I love everything about this post – the croissants, the jam, and the new baby! Congratulations Grandma!
Barbara
Thanks for all the sweet comments about the croissants, but especially about my grandbaby. He’s an angel.
Melanie
Congratulations on the new little one!! He is just adorable, especially since he’s not crying either 🙂
Your croissants look perfect for the first try. I wish I could try your jam, it looks soooooo good. Aren’t videos wonderful to have to look at. I just recently watched a Ciril Hitz video on preparing the butter rectangle for croissant dough. Maybe I’ll try your recipe and incorporate his tips that I saw. Thank you!!!
Renata
Congratulations Barbara! I can imagine how happy you are! Your croissants are perfect! I love the trick about adding a scrap of dough in the middle to make it chubby 🙂
Kitchen Belleicious
you are amazing! I can’t believe you made your own croissants. I am so jealous right now but inspired at the same time! Even with my store bought croissants, I can never get the roll just right:)
Congrats on baby evan. He is adorable and just so peaceful and sweet. I hope your daughter is doing well and they are both in my prayers!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
They look fantastic mum and I remember that vol au vent challenge too! 🙂 And a big congratulations on your first grandson-what a wonderful joy! 😀 xxx