Ok folks, so now that you have gone through part I of the adventure in homemade croissants, you’ve got your laminated dough ready to be rolled and shaped and eaten!
This was the scary part for me. How can I possibly roll these little guys out to look the way they do in a real French bakery (well, I’ve still never been to France but I have a very distinct image in my head)?
How big should I make my triangles? Should they be equilateral, isosceles…? Do I pinch my ends together or leave them open?
Stephanie. Calm down. Breathe. You can do this. Lets take it step-by-step, shall we?
To begin, you should have ready a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and a rolling pin and pizza cutter nearby.
Step 1: Take you laminated dough out of the refrigerator. It should look like this:
Step 2: On a lightly floured surface, roll your dough out into a large rectangle about ½ an inch thick and maybe 2 feet wide. Using a pizza cutter, I cut my rectangle in half the long way, so that I had two rectangles, each about 2 feet wide and 6 inches tall.
Step 3: Using your pizza cutter, cut your dough into long isosceles triangles. At the restaurant, we way out each triangle to roughly 3 ¾ oz., but I just eyeball it when I make them at home. Your triangles should look similar to this:
Step 4: Cut a tiny slit at the base of each triangle. Also, I like to stick any extra leftover end pieces of dough inside some of the triangles. Nothing goes to waste!
Step 5: With the base closest to you, begin to roll your croissant outward, your right hand rolling to the right, your left hand rolling to the left. Then, turn your triangle so the tip faces you and simultaneously stretch the dough with your right hand and roll it toward you with your left hand. Tuck the end of the tip underneath and pinch your sides together.
Optional: You can fill your croissants with prosciutto and cheese, with chocolate, with anything you like! Plain are a good place to start, though.
Step 6: Place your croissants on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Either wrap in saran wrap and stick them in the fridge overnight, or let your croissants sit at room temperature until they are nice and springy when you touch them.
**If you stick your croissants in the fridge, just pull them out about 40 minutes before you want to bake them so that they can come to room temperature and proof.
Step 7: When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to about 400-425°F. Crack an egg and beat it with a touch of cream. Brush your croissants with the egg wash. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until golden everywhere.
OMG eat them eat them eat them…yum yum yum, they are so beauuuuttttiiiiifffffullll and delicious and flaky and warm! Gah!!!!
**NOTE: Rolling these out takes a bit of practice. The first time I made these all on my own, I did not pinch my ends together nor did I make sure the tip of my triangle was tucked underneath. Alas, here is what my first batch came out looking like:
Not too shabby, but I like the pinched ends look better!
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