I don't have the patience to make laminated dough, mashing three sticks of butter into a sheet and then folding the dough over it like an envelope before starting the whole into/out of fridge/cooling/turns process was a no-go for me.
I decided to see if a little hack could help me.
I do the normal process to make the dough. Pour one cup of warm whole milk into a bowl, toss in an envelope of active dry yeast, and a tablespoon of sugar into a bowl. Wait 5 minutes for the yeast to dissolve/begin bubbling, then add in 2 tablespoons of melted butter, a teaspoon of salt, and 2 3/4 cups of flour. Begin mixing everything together with a fork, then knead into a soft dough. I topped the dough lightly with some melted butter, wrapped the dough ball in saran wrap, and let it chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Here is the hack:
After 30 minutes, take the dough out, cut off a fourth of the dough ball, wrap the rest. I shape the fourth into a flat piece of dough, then put it into a manual pasta machine on the widest setting, Put it through twice, then put it to a lower setting. Put it in again, lower setting, again, lower setting, it becomes a long thin pasta sheet of yeasted dough. You can see your fingers through it. Using a pizza slicer, I slice the sheet in half so I have two sheets of equal length. I used my fingers (you can use a brush), I dipped into a tin of room temperature butter, and slathered it all over the first sheet. I topped that sheet with the second sheet, then went back and rolled out two more sheets. Top second sheet with butter, then put on third sheet, top that with butter, then put on fourth sheet. You want four sheets of dough with three layers of butter between.
I had enough dough for 12 sheets total, so three different four-layers sheets. I then used a measuring tape and sliced off each sheet at four inches. Since the sheets were roughly a foot long, this gave me three sections per sheet. Take each section, top with semi-sweet chocolate chips, then roll over into a roll, pinching the ends.
I did take one square and cut it diagonally, making two triangles. I rolled these into croissants, but they were thin and kinda sad. The rest, I filled with chocolate chips, rolled, and pinched the ends.
I let them rise for an hour, covering them with saran wrap, so they had time to double in size.
Baked in an oven at 375 for 20 minutes. Let it cool for 10 minutes. They came out delicious.
My croissants look like dead crawfish.
For anyone who has a Kitchenaid stand mixer, this is an even easier process. Mix the dough, let it rest for 30, then put it through the pasta attachment for the sheets. Brush with butter, pile, cut, fill, roll, pinch. Let rise for an hour, then bake.
You can fill these with anything, including ham and cheese, almonds, jellies or preserve, the possibilities are endless.
So for those who don't want to go through the whole process of worrying about the temp of a sheet of butter in the fridge, using a pasta machine to make your layers is a quick hack.
If you don't have a pasta machine, you can always roll it out using a rolling pin. I like the pasta machine because it means you have a uniform size and thickness.
I decided to see if a little hack could help me.
I do the normal process to make the dough. Pour one cup of warm whole milk into a bowl, toss in an envelope of active dry yeast, and a tablespoon of sugar into a bowl. Wait 5 minutes for the yeast to dissolve/begin bubbling, then add in 2 tablespoons of melted butter, a teaspoon of salt, and 2 3/4 cups of flour. Begin mixing everything together with a fork, then knead into a soft dough. I topped the dough lightly with some melted butter, wrapped the dough ball in saran wrap, and let it chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Here is the hack:
After 30 minutes, take the dough out, cut off a fourth of the dough ball, wrap the rest. I shape the fourth into a flat piece of dough, then put it into a manual pasta machine on the widest setting, Put it through twice, then put it to a lower setting. Put it in again, lower setting, again, lower setting, it becomes a long thin pasta sheet of yeasted dough. You can see your fingers through it. Using a pizza slicer, I slice the sheet in half so I have two sheets of equal length. I used my fingers (you can use a brush), I dipped into a tin of room temperature butter, and slathered it all over the first sheet. I topped that sheet with the second sheet, then went back and rolled out two more sheets. Top second sheet with butter, then put on third sheet, top that with butter, then put on fourth sheet. You want four sheets of dough with three layers of butter between.
I had enough dough for 12 sheets total, so three different four-layers sheets. I then used a measuring tape and sliced off each sheet at four inches. Since the sheets were roughly a foot long, this gave me three sections per sheet. Take each section, top with semi-sweet chocolate chips, then roll over into a roll, pinching the ends.
I did take one square and cut it diagonally, making two triangles. I rolled these into croissants, but they were thin and kinda sad. The rest, I filled with chocolate chips, rolled, and pinched the ends.
I let them rise for an hour, covering them with saran wrap, so they had time to double in size.
Baked in an oven at 375 for 20 minutes. Let it cool for 10 minutes. They came out delicious.
My croissants look like dead crawfish.
For anyone who has a Kitchenaid stand mixer, this is an even easier process. Mix the dough, let it rest for 30, then put it through the pasta attachment for the sheets. Brush with butter, pile, cut, fill, roll, pinch. Let rise for an hour, then bake.
You can fill these with anything, including ham and cheese, almonds, jellies or preserve, the possibilities are endless.
So for those who don't want to go through the whole process of worrying about the temp of a sheet of butter in the fridge, using a pasta machine to make your layers is a quick hack.
If you don't have a pasta machine, you can always roll it out using a rolling pin. I like the pasta machine because it means you have a uniform size and thickness.
