dinsdag 20 januari 2009

It's smelling French here...


Picture this:
Early in the morning , sun just rised . Open your window in your authentic little hotel in Paris ( or anywhere else in France ).Hear the noises of a city waking up and smell.......
The little "Boulangerie" on the corner just made them...



...... FRESH CROISSANTS

Well ,wrong place ,but the smell was there and just the same when they came out of my oven.
Katie of time for cooking made me bake them in this month Bread Baking Babes challenge.
Scary things to make , I tried once but they turned out to be just normal breads in a croissants shape. But Katie made me do it again and she had a great recipe. I'm really greatfull, Katie , thanks .
Although at the end the amounts of milk were very different between us Babes ( different countries, different wheats and flours ) they came out fine.
The only thing I changed was the way of folding-in the butter , now according to Bernard Claytons " the Breads of France ". His recipe for Flaky Croissants was more or less the same as Katie's from Michelinstar-winner Michel Roux.Except for this.
Here's what I did with that butter ,it was very easy to do:
When you roll out the dough ( see the full recipe at Katies) into a rectangle (60-30 cm or 24x12")you spread out the butter on the lower 2/3 of the dough. Fold the top 1/3 over half the butter and lift the bottom 1/3 up and fold over as for a letter.The layers now will be dough , butter , dough , butter , dough.Wrap and refrigerate.
After 4 of that foldings you have 55 layers, the book told . I didn't count them. Maybe you will , because they are really worth making !
Beware ,it takes you 9-13 hours to make them, resting time included.
In that same time I can drive to Paris, wake up in that little hotel and open my window....



But that's not the Bread Baking Babes spirit , is it ? !



If you want to bake your own " morning in France " yourselve and post your results at Katies before febr. 2 , she'll send you your Bread Baking Babes Buddie "button".
And don't forget to peak at the other Babes blogs , list on the top on the right site.They show you what you can do more with this great-to-work-with-dough.

7 opmerkingen:

Karen Baking Soda zei

Great story Monique... especially the time to bake compared to driving to Paris. I know what I like to do!
They look great! Let's have another bake day and you can teach me how to make these

NKP zei

They look great! Golden and delicious.. why choose? Eat homemade croissants on the way to Paris!

Lien zei

Wonderful croissants! and whole wheat too if I see that right? I can almost smell and hear the noises in Paris...Ah if only we were there eating your croissants....

Anoniem zei

Lovely job with these. I realized after I was done that I would have liked to do the butter this way instead of just in the middle.

Ilva zei

they look incredibly flaky and nice!

Sara zei

I think somehow I did something wrong in my roll and turning, there's no way I got 55 layers! Good job.

Cookie baker Lynn zei

Drive to Paris in 12 hours? Ooh, that would be tempting. Good thing that's not an option for me and I have to make my croissants if I want them warm and fresh.