I don’t know about other women, but ever since I got married I just do not know what to do with my time alone when Brandon isn’t around. Usually on Mondays I have my day off and I do all my housework and errands while Brandon goes fly. Weirdly, this past Monday I didn’t have errands or housework to do and I was left with no choice but to…BAKE! Since Brandons last training flight in Corpus Christi was that exact same day, he would be needing some form of lunch he can quickly heat up at home. Otherwise, knowing him he would go the ENTIRE day without eating and not be bothered by it. Wish I could be that way. hahaha.
So I turned to Bo Fribergs The Professional Pastry Chef for the answer to my time alone. The Croissant recipe comes in a large batch and small batch recipe so it helps my brain deteriorate even more than it already has! :-b Obviously, as much I would love to eat all the croissants that a large batch would make but I opted for the small batch. Besides, I was going to put meat and cheese in it and well I would just be in the bathroom for like 3 days with my IBS if I ate that meat. I’m sure you all didn’t need to know that part!
SMALL-BATCH CROISSANTS – By Bo Friberg
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Dash of Lemon Juice (I did not use)
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12 oz bread flour
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10 oz chilled unsalted butter
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1 oz fresh compressed yeast (1/2 oz for dry active yeast)
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1 C cold whole milk (warmed for dry active yeast)
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4 ts granulated sugar
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1 TBS honey
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2 ts salt
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Eggwash/whole milk
1. Bo Friberg mentioned not to use the mixer to mix the cold butter and 1 oz of flour but I did for a brief moments so i do not cream the butter.
2. Shape the butter into a square and wrap it and because of the heat, I had to put it into the refrigerator while I made the dough.
3. I warmed up the milk because I used dry active yeast instead of fresh yeast. Mix sugar, honey, salt and remaining flour to your mixer with dough hook and mix to combine, then add the yeast mixture. If you used fresh compressed yeast, you can add the sugar, honey and salt to the yeast mixture but because I used dry active, I have always been taught that you should never add salt to dry active yeast as this kills it. Mix dough until slightly firm but not rubbery and don’t overmix.
4. Place the dough on a table dusted lightly with flour and roll out to a 7 inch square, place the butter block diagonally onto the doughs center and fold the 4 corners together in the center, pinching the edges to seal tightly.
5. Give the dough 3 single turns and refrigerate wrapped in plastic wrap for at least 2 hours.
6. Now you can roll ou the dough to less than 1/4 in thick.
To enclose the meat and cheese into the croissant, simply cut triangles out of the rolled out dough (make sure it is large enough to hold the meat and cheese completely). First place the deli meat onto the base of the triangle (half of the meat on the dough, and half on the counter) and place the on top of the meat. Take hold of the corners of the base and bring them together into the center, fold the meat and cheese on the counter ontop of the folded corners in the center and continue rolling the croissant along with the meat and cheese to the tip of the triangle. Allow to proof before brushing on egg wash and baking in a 350 degree F for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Brandon really enjoyed it. It’s so easy to just heat up. It’s good if you’re in a hurry you can just pop it in the microwave for 1:45 minutes but you kind of loose that crunch on the top layer so I suggest warming it up in the oven for 10 minutes or so at 350 degrees F. It’s a really easy recipe and holds in the butter flavor extremely well and Brandon LOVES the flakiness of the croissant. After eating this, Brandon asked me to make this for the winging breakfast for his squadron and family and friends but with chocolate instead of meat. 🙂
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