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Croissant Help, please

1071 Views 9 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  shawnbaker, 
C
Hope someone will be able to help me with my croissant problem. I am just a common home baker that loves a challenge so have been making croissants through trial and error for over 1.75 years.....in Hawaii so had to experiment with temp and humidity of the islands. I think I have control of all of that now and am in the last place where I cannot seem to get that beautiful honeycomb structure that is often pictured. I am after the typical French croissant with a crisp exterior and a soft pillow-ly interior. Finally got the crisp outside, but even reading gobs of problem solver suggestions and watching a lot of u-tube videos I am still stymied by what I can do better. I am achieving a lighter croissant (for awhile mine were heavy), but still not the structure I would like interior. Am using a 50-50 bread : APF mixture in the dough and Danish Creamery butter. I have a marble rolling pin ( have also tried others, but this seems to work well for me); and am rolling on a cold surface. When the dough seems to resist stretching, I return it to the refrig for a short 1-15 minute chill and continue. Also doing a very fine water spritz as I fold and then roll the final shapes. Doing a book fold and then a letter fold. Food Sliced bread Ingredient Staple food Baked goods Food Ingredient Staple food White bread Bun
If anyone can make a constructive suggestion, I would really appreciate your assistance!!
Attached is a photo of my last batch made Easter week-end:
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C
Okay, thanks this is a start...I might be kneading it too much before I put it in the refrig to rest....maybe I should work straight through without the overnight rest. I thought the overnight fermentation would give me more flavor??

However, early on in my many trials, I tried to find fresh yeast....none available anywhere. Even Whole Foods does not have it. We only have dry active yeast.

I am using King Authur 11.7% protein flours. Isn't this high enough gluten?

Thanks for responding....I am planning on making my 36th batch tomorrow. Have a great week-end. :)
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C
Thanks so much! I only kneaded this last batch for 3 minutes....better result, but still not quite what I want....beginning to get more honeycomb.

What do you mean by 'cogent' dough. Will this be a rough dough, and no visible smooth elasticity? Wanting to confirm before I do my next batch....that I just want the dry and wet ingredients to come together in a ball?

I did find the General Mills 14.2% flour....but need to figure out how to keep so much (50#) flour before the pantry moths get to and spoil it.

Have a great week ahead!
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C
Okay maybe am trying to get mine to look like that....can you share a photo of what a french croissant should look like? What should be my goal?
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Thank you! Beautiful, but what does the inside cross section look like? Would appreciate a photo of that. :)
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