Method

Croissant Dough

A quick note about dough temperature – the desired dough temperature (also known as the Desired Dough Temperature (DDT) is ideally around 24-26C. This is the perfect temperature for fermentation. Now – the DDT will depend on the temperature of your ingredients which means you may need to adjust the temperature of your milk and water according to your environment. If you check the back of the PDF recipe you will see how to calculate the DDT. You can follow the temperatures below as a guide but if you want to be very accurate, use the DDT formula.

1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the mik, water & yeast. Use a whisk to whisk it until the yeast has dissolved.

• • 40g Fresh Yeast
  • 265g Whole Milk (5 Degrees Celsius)
  • 265g Water (25 Degrees Celsius)

2. Add all of the remaining ingredients into a bowl, and attach your dough hook to the stand mixer.

• • 700g Croissant Flour
  • 300g Plain Flour
  • 25g Salt
  • 120g Sugar
  • 30g Unsalted Butter, Soft

3. Place the mixer on low speed (speed 1 on your mixer) and mix for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes, increase the speed to 2, and mix for another 5-7 minutes.

4. After this time, take a small piece of dough and check to see if the gluten has fully developed. To do this, stretch the piece of dough out, and if it tears easily, then the gluten has not developed enough and you need to keep kneading the dough.

5. Keep kneading the dough until when you carefully stretch a small piece of dough, it stretches without tearing and you can see through the thinly stretched dough.

6. Depending on the strength of your mixer, the time it takes to develop the gluten may vary. It could take up to 15-18 minutes.

7. Remove the dough from the stand mixer and briefly knead it by hand into a smooth ball.

8. Using a dough scraper, cut off about 230g of the dough, which you will need to create the chocolate dough.

9. With the remaining dough, use your hands to pat the dough down and form it into a rough rectangular shape.

10. Wrap the dough in cling film, ensuring the cling film is not wrapped too tightly, there needs to be a little bit of room for it to expand.

11. Place the dough on a tray and into the fridge. The dough needs to be in the fridge for 8-15 hours (I prefer to do it for 12 hours). This the perfect window of time for the fermentation to take place and for the flavour in the dough to develop. I prefer to mix the dough at night so that I can laminate first thing in the morning.

Chocolate Croissant Dough

1. Into a stand mixer, take the croissant dough that you cut from the main dough, and place it into a stand mixer.

2. Into a separate bowl, add the water and cocoa powder. Mix it with a spatula until it forms a rough crumbly paste. Scrape this on top of the croissant dough.

3. With the dough hook attachment, mix the dough until it forms a cohesive chocolate dough. It can sometimes be a little difficult to incorporate so you can also scoop it out onto your work surface and knead it together with your hands.

4. Place the dough onto your work surface and with a rolling pin, roll it into a rough rectangle, about 30x20cm. You may need to flour it lightly to stop it from sticking.

5. Wrap the dough in cling film and place it in the fridge to chill overnight.

Butter

Depending on the type of butter you use, you may not need to follow the following steps and add flour into your butter. If you are able to purchase professional butter sheets used specifically for croissants then the butter will be pliable enough and you will not need to do this.

Option 1 – “Professional” Butter

1. Remove the butter from the package – they usually come in 1KG sheets, and cut it in haf to get 500g.

2. Place the butter on one long sheet of parchment paper then fold it in half. Leave the butter at room temperature for about 30 minutes then it will make it much easier to roll.

3. Use a rolling pin to roll the sheet of butter into a rectangle, around 20x30cm (7.8”x11.8”).

4. You fold the parchment paper into a 20x30cm (7.8”x11.8”) rectangle and then use the rolling pin to roll the butter into the edges until you have a nice even layer of butter.

5. Place the butter block in the fridge to chill overnight.

Option 2 – “Regular” Butter

1. Place the soft butter into a stand mixer along with the flour.

2. Beat the mixture for 1-2 minutes on a low speed until the flour has completely incorporated into the butter.

3. Scrape the butter out of the stand mixer and place it into the centre of a large sheet of parchment paper.

4. Fold the parchment paper over the butter and then fold the edges in, to create a rough rectangle that is 20x30cm (7.8”x11.8”). Use a rolling pin to roll the butter into the corners until you have an even layer of butter that is in a neat rectangular shape

5. Alternatively (and slightly easier) is to find a sandwich bag that is roughly 20x30cm (7.8”x11.8”) and place the soft butter inside that. Seal the sandwich bag leaving a slight hole at the top for air to escape.

6. Roll the butter into a neat rectangular shape, trying to get the butter a relatively even thickness. Seal the top of the bag and place the butter in the fridge overnight.

Laminating

1. After the croissant dough has fermented in the fridge, you are ready to laminate.

2. Remove your butter block from the fridge to allow it to come to temperature. The temperature of the butter is crucial – if the butter is too cold, it will crack when you begin to roll it. If the butter is too warm, it will bleed into the dough and you won’t get any layers to your pain au chocolat. Be sure to cut around the outside of the sandwich bag (if you are using one) and lift the butter out of the bag. Place it on a sheet of parchment to come to temperature.

3. The temperature you need your butter to reach before you begin laminating will depend on the butter you are using and the fat percentage. But a general rule of thumb is to leave the butter at room temperature until it reaches between 11-15C (51F-59F)

4. In my experience, if you are using “professional” croissant butter, you can laminate at around 11C, but with “regular” butter, you need to be closer to 13-14C.

5. Every butter brand will be different and behave differently depending on your room conditions so it may take some experimenting. If your butter melts or cracks the first time you begin laminating, don’t panic! You can still make the bi-color pain au chocolat, your layers may not be quite as perfect however. It can take a few failed attempts of bi-color pain au chocolat in order to understand your butter.

6. Place a digital thermometer into the butter. Depending on your room temperature or the weather outside, it can take the butter anywhere from 10-30 minutes to reach the correct temperature.

7. Once your butter is close to temperature, work quickly to remove your croissant dough from the fridge and start rolling. We want to ensure the dough status cold and is rolled out as soon as the butter is at the right temperature.

8. Very lightly flour the dough and roll it out into a rectangle, that is the same height as your butter (30cm/11.8”) but twice as wide.

9. If your butter block is 20x30cm, you want to roll your dough to 40cm wide x 30cm tall.

10. Place the butter block into the centre of the dough (as shown above) then fold each side of the dough into the centre so they meet in the middle.

11. Use your fingers to pinch the dough together to form a seam down the centre.

12. Turn the dough 90 degrees so the open seam is not facing you and give the dough a quick roll, to give it a little bit of width – extending the width of the dough by about 10cm/4”.

13. Turn the dough 90 degrees again so the seam is vertical in line with your body and begin to roll the dough. Working relatively quickly. Apply even pressure and roll the dough into a long even rectangle.

14. Don’t worry too much about the length of the dough, we are looking to roll it until it reaches around 1cm thick (0.39”)

A quick note on thickness – in an ideal world you would roll to about 5mm thick – but when you are doing it by hand, this can be a little more difficult. So as an easier guide I say around 1cm. 1.5cm is a little on the thick side, but, if you are really struggling to get it any thinner then you can leave it at this thickness and still progress. But if you can get closer to 5mm then even better!

15. Once you are happy with the thickness and shape, dust off any excess flour with a brush, and if the ends of the dough have gone a bit wonky, cut them off so you have straight edges on either side.

16. Perform a single fold of the dough, where you take one third of the dough and fold it up, then take the other third of dough and fold this over the top (see diagram in the PDF)

17. Wrap the dough tightly in cling film and place it onto a tray. Place the dough into the freezer for 10 minutes, then into the fridge for 5 minutes.

18. Remove the dough from the fridge and unwrap it.

19. Following the same process as before, turn the dough 90 degrees so that the “open seam” is horizontally against your body (so it is not facing you).

20. Roll the dough to give it a little bit of width, then turn the dough 90 degrees so that the open seam is now facing you.

21. Roll the dough into a long rectangle, until it is around 1cm thick (0.39”).

22. Now, perform your second, single fold. Following the diagram again, take one third of the dough, fold it up, then take the other third of dough and fold this over the top.

23. Wrap the dough up in cling film and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes, then in the fridge for 10 minutes.

24. Remove the dough from the fridge, and we are going to perform our final single fold, Repeat the process in steps 18-21.

25. When folding this dough, remember that after this stage you need to add the chocolate dough on top. The chocolate dough is 30x25cm, so try to roll the dough so that it is 30cm tall and 75cm long.

26. Perform your final single fold and you should be left with a block of dough that is close to 30x25cm.

27. Wrap the dough tightly in cling film and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

28. After 30 minutes, remove the dough from the fridge along with the chocolate dough that you rolled the night before.

29. Take the chocolate dough and unwrap it from the baking paper. Unwrap the croissant dough block. Lift the chocolate dough on to the top of the croissant dough. Avoid flouring the dough at this point as you need the chocolate dough to stick to the croissant dough. ○ If the chocolate dough is a little too small, very gently stretch it with your hands to the edge. If it is too big, simply trim off any excess.

30. Ensuring the chocolate side of the dough is facing up, take the open seam of the dough and turn it 90 degrees so the seam is not facing you. Here we need to roll the dough to the final width that we need for the pain au chocolat.

31. Each pain au chocolate is 8x17cm, which means that we need the dough to be at least 36-38cm tall.

We will make two rows of bi-color pain au chocolat so we need to make sure the dough is at least 2x17cm = 34cm tall. You want to go a little bigger than this so you can trim off any rough edges.

32. Once you have rolled the dough to around 36cm wide, turn it 90 degrees so the open seam is now facing you. Roll the dough into a long rectangle until it is as close to 1cm thick (0.39”) as possible.

33. Next, take a tape measure or a large ruler and trim off any rough edges so you are left with a rectangle that is exactly 34cm tall.

34. Take a pastry wheel and cut the dough in half, so that you are left with two very long strips of dough, each 17cm tall.

35. Then take a multi pastry wheel cutter or a knife, and cut the dough every 8cm. This will form a rectangle for your pain au chocolat that is 8x17cm.

36. With the chocolate side of the dough still facing you, take a razor blade and score thin lines in the top half of the dough (like below). Don’t use a knife to score the dough as it could tug the dough and damage it. A razor blade is much better.

37. Once you have sliced the chocolate side of the dough, flip it over, so the chocolate dough is now on the table surface, and make sure the “scores” are at the bottom.

38. Place two chocolate batons at the top. Carefully fold the top edge of the dough over the batons, then seal this dough that has overlapped the batons, by adding a third chocolate baton.

39. Continue to roll the dough down, into a log like shape.

40. Once you have a log, ensure the seam of the dough is on the underside, and gently press the bi-color pain au chocolat down, sealing the seam to the dough.

41. Take a large baking tray lined with a sheet of parchment paper and place the pain au chocolat on to it.

42. Repeat this process with all of the remaining dough.

43. Ensure the bi-color pain au chocolat have enough room to proof (I put about 6 per tray)

44. Once you have all the trays filled, boil the kettle and place the trays into your oven (not switched on!)

45. Place the trays into the oven, then place a small dish at the bottom.

46. Pour in a small amount of boiling water into the dish, around 150ml / ½ Cup – not too much. The steam from the water is going to help create a nice environment for the bi-color pain au chocolat to proof, but also prevent a skin from forming. Ensure you do not add too much hot water otherwise the temperature inside the oven will become too hot and the butter will leak from the bi-color pain au chocolat.

47. Change the water EVERY 30 minutes, and proof the pain au chocolat for around 2.5 – 3 hours.

The proofing time can vary greatly depending on your yeast, and how hot your oven becomes and several other factors. Without a professional proofer it can be hard to predict the exact time. Sometimes it can take 2.5 hours, sometimes it can take 5!

48. While the dough is proofing, make the sugar syrup glaze. We cannot egg wash the croissants as the egg will stain the chocolate dough yellow.

49. Add the sugar and water to a pan and bring it to a gentle simmer, until the sugar has dissolved. Don’t cook it for too long or the syrup will thicken and be difficult to paint on the pain au chocolat later. Set it to one side to cool to room temperature.

• • 100g Caster Sugar
  • 100g Water

50. Proof the pain au chocolat until they have at least doubled in volume and look puffy and jiggly.

51. If you are using the same oven you need to proof the bi-color pain au chocolat, as you need to bake it (!) once they are proofed, quickly remove them from the oven and pre-heat the oven.

52. Preheat the oven to 180C/355F Non Fan Assisted.

53. Once the oven is hot, place the bi-color pain au chocolat in. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the croissant dough is a nice golden colour.

54. Remove the bi-color pain au chocolat from the oven, allow them to cool for 5-10 minutes before applying the sugar syrup glaze. This will give the pain au chocolat a beautiful shine.

Timings

Making pain au chocolat & croissants is an intensive process and something you really need to dedicate 16-24 hours to! Make sure you don’t have any plans on the day you need to laminate! Here is a rough guide on timings to follow:

Day 1:

9:00pm – Weigh the ingredients + mix the croissant dough. Cut the chocolate dough and wrap both doughs in cling film. Refrigerate overnight (ideally 12 hours)

9:30pm – Beat the butter until it is soft and shape into a rectangle. Chill overnight.

Day 2:

9:00am – Remove the butter from the fridge. Allow it to come to temperature.

9:20am – Remove the dough from the fridge, roll it out, then add the butter and perform your first lamination. Chill for 10 minutes in the freezer + 5 minutes in the fridge.

9:45am – Remove the dough from the fridge and laminate again. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes + fridge for 10 minutes.

10:15am – Remove the dough from the fridge and perform the final lamination. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

10:50am – Roll the dough to its final shape and cut into bi-color pain au chocolat rectangles. Roll the bi-color pain au chocolat up and then place them in the oven to proof.

11:10am – 2:10pm – Proof – changing the hot water every 30 minutes (Roughly 3 hours proofing time – could be slightly less, could be more!)

2:10pm – Remove the proofed bi-color PAC, and preheat the oven.

2:20pm – Bake for 25-30m or until golden. Glaze with the sugar syrup.

Desired Dough Temperature Formula (DDT)

As people are working in different environments – the temperature required for ideal fermentation will be affected by the temperature of your flour, water, milk. For fermentation, you want to finish kneading the dough and to have a final temperature of around 24-26C. The temperature of your flour will most likely be determined by the temperature of your room, which means as a result, you need to follow the formula below to calculate the temperature of the liquids in the recipe. This is very helpful especially if you are working in a particularly hot or particularly cold environment as it means you can simply adjust the temperature of your ingredients and still achieve perfect fermentation.

*note you can test the flour temperature by sticking a digital thermometer in the bag of flour!

(Desired Dough Temperature x 2) – Flour Temperature = Liquid Temperature

Example to achieve a 25C dough temperature where your room/flour temperature is 20C.

(25 x 2) – Flour Temperature = Liquid Temperature

50℃ – Flour Temperature = Liquid Temperature

50℃ – 20℃ = Liquid Temperature

50℃ – 20℃ = 30℃

Therefore if your flour temperature is 20℃ – then you need to make sure the milk + water are at 30℃ when you add them to your recipe. In which case, you can pour your milk and water into a pan, and VERY gently heat them until they reach around 29/30℃ then immediately pour them into your mix.