Croissants

This dough and method produce light and airy pastries, with just enough crisp on the outside. I initially tried using the danish dough from a previous entry, but the results were mediocre. There are a lot of steps to go wrong on, so attention to detail throughout the process is essential.
Ingredients:
94g cream + 10g cream
30g buttermilk
5g salt
3g yeast
30g sugar
45g egg + 1 whole egg
25g yolks
21g olive oil
280g flour (extra for dusting and such)
150g butter

Method:

Mix everything, except for the butter, the extra egg, and extra cream, in a bowl until it forms a loose dough. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature for 3 hours. Shape the dough into a tight ball, cover in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge. Once cold, roll out the dough into a rectangle, being sure not to make the dough thinner than 1/4 of an inch. Pound out the butter, with some extra flour, to fit over half of the rectangle. Fold the other half of the rectangle over the butter and close the butter into the dough. Place in the fridge until cold. Roll out the dough to the length of the original rectangle and fold in half. Let rest for 30 minutes under refrigeration. Turn the dough 90 degrees from the last roll, and again make the same rectangle as before. Following this roll, rest, rotate 90 degree principle, make a 3-fold, a half-fold and a final 3-fold. For more detailed information about laminating doughs, check out the danish entry and this picasa page. Now you have a dough with 36 layers.

Roll out a rectangle with a thickness of 3/8th of an inch and cut triangles with alternating bases and tips. Cut a slit in the base of the triangle, stretch the dough slightly and roll up from base to tip tightly. Curve the roll into a crescent and place on a tray to rise. I cover mine with a big plastic box that I fill with steam from a small pot. It keeps the humidity and temperature in the box just right for the yeast. Let them rise for 2 hours, or until they have doubled in size.

Wash with the extra eggs and cream and bake at 400F for about 20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes. However, when you place them into the oven, toss a few large ice cubes into the base of the oven to steam them for the first 4-5 minutes.

Here is how they baked up.

And the interior.

   Homemade croissant

No plate, just eat that thing, although I have been known to make a sandwich...

Toasted croissant with avocado, lemon, firecracker mayo, bacon, pickled ramps, and chicken leg sausage patty.

Clumsily,

Adam