Homemade Croissants

• Vegetarian

• Refrigerated

  • 1 Egg

• Baking & Spices

  • 1 1/8 tbsp Active dry yeast
  • 3 1/4 cups All-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup Brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp Salt

• Dairy

  • 3 sticks Butter, unsalted
  • 1 1/2 cups Milk

Found on jocooks.com

Description

Directions

• In the bowl of a mixer, add the warm milk, brown sugar and yeast and stir it with a fork slightly. Let it stand for about 5 minutes. If the yeast is good, the mixture will get all foamy, otherwise throw it out and start all over again. Next, add the flour and salt. Using the dough hook, mix on low speed for about 5 to 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and very soft. I used about 3 1/2 cups of flour, but if you need more than just add more. You might want to start with 3 cups and add as needed. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and knead for a couple more minutes on your working surface. The dough needs to be soft and slightly sticky. Form the dough into a rectangle thats about 1 1/2 inch in thickness, wrap it up in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for about an hour.
• Before you take out the dough, prepare the butter. Arrange the sticks of butter horizontally on a piece of plastic wrap. Cover the butter with another piece of plastic wrap. Pound and roll out on both sides until the butter forms a nice 8 by 5 inch rectangle. Take the dough from the fridge and unwrap it from the plastic wrap. Keep the plastic wrap because you will reuse it over and over again. You may need to dust some flour over your work surface. Roll out the dough into a big rectangle thats about 16 by 10 inches. Place the butter directly in the center of the dough and fold the dough as you would a letter, bottom third of dough over butter, then top third down over the dough. If you have any excess flour, make sure you brush that off.
• Next turn the dough so that the short side is nearest you and start rolling it another 16 by 10 inch rectangle. Fold in thirds like a letter again. This was the first fold. Wrap it up again in plastic wrap and chill it for another hour.
• After another hour, repeat as above. With the short side near you, start rolling until you get another 16 by 10 inch rectangle. Fold it in thirds again, wrap and chill for another hour. Repeat this 3 more times so that it will make a total of 5 folds. After the last fold, refrigerate it over night or at least for 8 hours.
• Cut the dough in half, freeze half if youre only going to use half of it. Roll out each piece of dough into a long rectangle, so that its about 1/4 of an inch in thickness. I found it easier if I cut the piece into 3 pieces, so that I work with 3 squares. Using a pizza cutter, cut each square into 4 triangles.
• Using one triangle at a time, start rolling from the wide side, at the same time, stretching the end of the triangle. Continue rolling the croissant, and as youll notice because you stretched into a long piece, youll be able to roll the croissant a few times.
• Repeat this with remaining dough and place the croissants on an ungreased baking sheet, with about 1 to 2 inches in between them.
• Let the croissants sit for another hour, youll notice theyll rise a bit, and brush them with egg wash. You can make the croissants ahead of time and refrigerate them for up to 18 hours before baking. To bake them, you need to preheat your oven to 400 F degrees. Bake the croissants for 8 to 12 minutes at 400 F degrees then turn down the heat to 375 F degrees and bake them for another 8 to 12 minutes. You want to make sure they are nice and golden brown.

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