Menu
Author:
Franco Salzillo
Buttery, flaky, airy, shiny and slightly sweet. These characteristics make croissants the most delicious bakes in the world. The pinnacle of bread making right there — that’s croissants.
The only thing you can do to improve a croissant is using a yeast starter instead of that nasty store-bought instant yeast. That means today I’ll show you how I make sourdough croissants.
What’s the difference between regular croissants and sourdough croissants? You make sourdough bread with wild yeast, with a live starter, giving the bread aromatic and flavor complexity and a richer mouthfeel. Commercial croissants all taste the same; when made with sourdough, they’re unique works of art, each of them!
Make sure you prepare your yeast starter at least two days before attempting to make sourdough; you want a strong and hungry yeast colony.
Also, be patient with this one. Working with the dough and butter sheets and rolling them together can be tricky, especially if this is your first time. You want to have a wide, clean surface to work with the dough. Croissants are all about order and patience, so take it one step at a time, and you’ll end with lovely croissants!
For the butter packet:
In a mixing bowl, add the flour, salt, sugar, water and the dough starter and mix it until incorporated. Cover the mixing bowl with a kitchen towel and let the mixture rise at room temperature for at least 2 hours. Then refrigerate for two more hours.
Make the butter packet mixing the softened butter and flour and roll it thin- between two sheets of parchment paper to prevent it from sticking to the rolling pin.
Refrigerate the butter-flour sheet.
Flour a surface and bring out the dough. Roll it twice the size of the butter sheet. Trim to a perfect square.
Bring out the butter sheet and arrange it over one side of the dough. Fold the dough to sandwich the butter sheet and roll gently to fuse them.
Cut the dough into 4 even rectangles and cut each rectangle from one corner to the opposite corner to form 8 triangles. Roll them starting with the broad side of the triangle to make the croissant shape.
Brush the croissants with the egg wash and place them in the baking tray.
Bake for 20 minutes until golden and let them cool down before enjoying.
