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Prep Time: 0 Minutes Cook Time: 0 Minutes |
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These golden, crunchy croissants that we permit ourselves to enjoy without the slightest remorse on Sunday mornings are not as French as you might think. These pastries, known in French as viennoiserie, indeed originated from seventeenth-century Vienna. In 1683, the inhabitants of the Austrian capital suffered an attack led by the forces of the Ottoman Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa. After months of a terrible siege, they were liberated by Charles V of Lorraine and Jan Sobieski, King of Poland. This victory enabled the Hapsburgs to recover their territories of Hungary and Croatia, and the bakers made a commemorative pastry in the form of a crescent moon, the symbol of the Ottoman Empire. Folk history even accords the bakers a crucial role in reversing the battle situation. As they worked during the night, they heard the sound of the Turkish soldiers preparing a new assault and sounded the alarm. Their version of the croissant was nevertheless closer to the brioche than the croissant that we know today. A century later, Marie-Antoinette is said to have brought this delicacy from her native city to introduce it to the French court. Giles MacDonogh, however, author of a biography of Brillat-Savarin, offers a version that corresponds more closely with the dates when the croissant appeared in France (around 1900). He mentions the arrival in Paris, in 1838, of an Austrian named Auguste Zang, who opened a Viennese bakery at 92 rue Richelieu, only a few numbers away from the Brillat-Savarin building. The business took off slowly, he explains, but eventually his kipferl cookies began to sell, literally like hot cakes. The croissant was born. All of his croissants came out of a brand-new steam oven, above which the inscription was written La main de l'homme n'y a pas touché. (No human hand has touched them.) In those days, industrial processes inspired trust! Nowadays, any croissant untouched by human hand is suspect. The dough needs to be kneaded gently, then vigorously, until it can be detached from marble, and pieces of it shaped into a ball. The surface of each ball is then dried with a sprinkling of flour and covered with a damp cloth. Then the waiting begins. The dough is mixed with worked butter, punched down, then folded, turned, and set to rise again. This craftsmanship is becoming rarer, and the challenge is to live up to the legend, to match the taste of these handmade croissants, with their melting, silky layers of pastry. Ingredients:
1 tbsp (12 g) active dry yeast |
7 tbsp (100 g) whole milk, warmed to 68°f |
2 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour |
1 tbsp (12 g) fleur de sel de guérande (or other fine sea salt) |
6 tbsp (75 g) superfine granulated sugar |
2 1/4 tbsp (35 g) very soft unsalted butter |
1 tbsp (15 g) whole dry milk powder |
2/3 cup (145 g) still mineral water, warmed to 68°f |
3 sticks (325 g) unsalted cold butter |
1 large egg yolk |
2 whole eggs |
dash of fine salt |
Directions:
1. Make the croissant dough. Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk. Sift the all-purpose flour, then incorporate the sea salt, sugar, very soft butter, dry milk powder, two-thirds of the warm still mineral water, and the yeast dissolved in milk. Knead the mixture briefly. Add more of the remaining water if the dough appears to be too firm. Transfer the dough to a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and keep it at room temperature (ideally at 72°F [20°C]) for between 1 and 1 1/2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in volume.
2. Punch down the dough to its initial volume and cover it with plastic wrap again. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Punch it down again and place in the freezer for 30 minutes.
3. Remove the dough from the freezer. Pound half the cold butter with a rolling pin to soften, then knead butter with hands forming a rectangle. Sprinkle a work surface with flour and roll out a long rectangle of dough; it should be three times longer than it is wide. Place the butter against the lower edge of the dough. With the palm of your hand, pull the butter over the dough until it covers two-thirds of it. Wrap the remaining third of the dough over the two-thirds covered in butter. Fold the lowest third of the buttered part over the other third, then wrap the upper third over it. Place the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes, then refrigerate for 1 hour.
4. Roll out the dough as before and proceed in the same way with the other half of the butter. Place the dough in the freezer again for 30 minutes, then refrigerate for 1 hour.
5. Sprinkle a work surface with all-purpose flour, and roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/8 inch (3 mm). Using a sharp knife, cut out isosceles triangles 8 inches (20 cm) high and with a base measuring 4 1/2 (12 cm) inches. Place each triangle on the work surface with the base pointing toward you. Roll it up on itself, then curve the ends into a crescent, or croissant, shape. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. As you finish shaping the croissants, place them on the lined sheets, spacing them 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Set them aside at room temperature to proof for about 1 1/2 hours.
6. Preheat a convection oven to 410°F (210°C).
7. Make the glaze. Whisk together the egg yolk, eggs, and salt in a bowl. Using a pastry brush, coat the croissants with the glaze. Place the croissants in the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (180°C). Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer the croissants to wire racks to cool.
8. From Pierre Hermé Pastries by Pierre Hermé. English translation copyright © 2011 Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang, an imprint of ABRAMS.
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