I know many of you are enjoying the summer weather over in
Northern Hemisphere; however for those in South maybe you can relate to what I
am feeling right now. The winter chili has really made me appreciate to slow
down. Not just in terms of food and cooking (pot roast anyone?) but in general
with the way I approach daily task. A much as I hate generalised sayings and
agonies, the ones about taking your time to do a task actually ring true. Let’s
see what pops into my head. “ Good things take time”, “Good comes to those who
wait”, “Rome was not built in a day” etc….
Naturally the winter chili has made me want to stay inside
all day and sleep under my blanket hut while watching re runs on the Ipad. Unfortunately
life and my other fidgety self does not allow for me to sloth off during
winter, boo. My back ground in studying social science at University has
actually come in handy these past few weeks.
As anyone who has done any kind of
arty farty subject in University, one of the main things they tech you is
observational skills. Not the creepy “I am a stalker” kind but the generalised
questioning of people’s routines and why we follow unwritten rules of moral and
social conduct. For example, we all know the feeling we get when someone goes
against the grain; don’t you feel a bit annoyed or uncomfortable when someone
walks in the opposite direction in a crowd of people on the side walk at peak
hour?
Anyway this has now become automatic for me every time I
catch the train, walk through Sydney’s Streets or stroll down to the shops; I
cannot help notice the little things. Are the happiest people, most balanced
people are the ones who take everything slowly? The slightly agitated couple
who is rushing through dinner compared to content lone diner, almost taking twice
as long to finish her pasta and drink. Now I might be wrong with this
observation but if a winter has taught me anything having time to stop, slow
down and savour life, good and bad.
Of course, no one does this better than the French. The
final product of pastries and bread are treasured just as much as the process.
There is air of mystery and horror about attempting such a complex pastry
however be shocked people, it is not scary as it first seems. Yes there are a
lot of steps but all of them are about taking your time, repeating the same
action and measurements over and over again. I find making and blind baking a
custard pie harder.
In croissant it is all about the ingredients you use. Get the best butter you can afford because
you will taste it, but isn’t that the same thing for all simple ingredient
recipes? I cannot wait to attempt this recipe again because you can see I did a
mistake here. Normally croissant have 7 bumps but I accidently rolled it too
tightly and got 9; oh well they are still delicious! The best part is I am so
happy my layering technique is not as bad as I thought it would be.
I also have abundance of sour mandarins at my place due to
my tree has gone gang busters this winter. So in the spirit of French, I made a
compote/jam type thing for these croissants and served them with a bit of left
over unsalted butter. The buttery, flaky goodness is best enjoyed on the day it
is made, however they make a great bread and butter pudding if you have any
left after people have seen our great results. I recommend this recipe from
Nigella Lawson because it is delicious with notes of rum/caramel it pairs well
with citrus fruits. Perfect winter food in my opinion!
Croissants with Sour mandarins compote
Using a number of sources from Top
with Cinnamon’s Awesome GIF post, Michele Roux’s ;Pastry
Recipe from Bourke
Street Bakery; The ultimate baking companion by Paul Allam and David Mcguinness
Croissant ferment ( I got 6 big ones and 8 little mini ones)
50g Strong bread flour, chilled
27ml milk, chilled
2.5g soft brown sugar, chilled
1g salt, chilled
2.5g fresh yeast, chilled
10g unsalted butter, soften
Bulk dough
Croissant ferment, all of it
470g strong bread flour, chilled
275ml milk, chilled
30g soft brown sugar, chilled
7g salt, chilled
17g fresh yeast, chilled
250g, unsalted butter, chilled
2 Days before
Place all the ingredients for croissant ferment into a large
bowl. Rub the ingredients until it becomes a crumbly mix. Turn out on to a
clean steel work surface, knead the dough until it come together and becomes an elastic and smooth ball. This should take
about 10 mintues. Grease a clean bowl and place dough inside it, cover with
cling film and leave to rest for 2 hours at room temperature. After the 2
hours, Transfer to fridge overnight.
1 day before
Place all the ingredients for bulk dough into a large bowl.
Rub the ingredients until it becomes a crumbly mix. Turn out on to a clean
steel work surface, knead the dough until it come together and becomes an elastic
and smooth ball. This should take about 10 minutes. Grease a clean bowl and
place dough inside it, cover with cling film and leave to rest for 2 hours at
room temperature. After the 2 hours.
30 minutes before laminating remove the unsalted butter from
the fridge. Using a box grater, grate the butter over a piece of cling film,
Place another piece of cling film over the top and pat it into a 20cm square about
1cm thick. Transfer to fridge for 20 minutes.
On a clean work surface lightly dust it with plain flour.
Dust a large rolling pin with flour. Remove croissant dough and butter from the
fridge. Roll the dough to a rectangle to 20cm by 40cm. Place the butter in the
middle of the dough; fold the two sides over and push the sides together to
completely enclose the butter. Dust more flour on your pin if you need to.
Roll the dough gently until it reaches a rectangle of 20cm
by 90cm. With the longest side facing you, divide you dough into thirds
mentally. Now fold one of these sides over to make the rectangle 20cm by 60cm.
Fold the other unfolded side over the previously folded side ( this will make
the dough 20cm by 30cm). This is an envelope fold. Place the dough covered in
plastic wrap, transfer to fridge for 20 minutes. Repeat this folding and
resting technique; twice more, turn the dough 90 degrees each time so you are
rolling and laminating in the opposite direction to the pervious turn.
Once dough has been roll out 3 times and had it final rest
of 20 minutes it is ready to be used. You may make an egg wash here too (one
egg with milk)
Take your dough from the fridge; roll it out into a
rectangle, about 25cm by 90cm and about 4mm thick.
Rolling the dough may take a long time as it will spring
back. It helps to transfer to the dough to the fridge to allow it to rest for
20 minutes before rolling it again. You may need to fold the dough over to get
it to fit in the fridge too; just cover it well cling film so it doesn’t stick
were you have folded it.
Cut the roll dough into triangles of 9cm at the base with
sides of 21cm high. Transfer the triangles to a lined baking tray, covered in
cling film to rest for 10 minutes.
Gentle stretch the base of the triangle to 10cm wide. While
holding the tip of the triangle, carefully roll the croissant towards the tip,
pressing it tightly to keep it in shape. Place it on a baking tray lined with
baking paper. Cover with a damp tea towel and rest at room temperature for 2
hours. Until doubled in size and you can see the layers have puffed out.
Spraying the towel with water will help to keep it moist.
Pre heat oven to 240C. Once doubled remove the tea towel and
brush with egg wash. Place tray in the oven. Reduce temperature immediately to
180C and bake for about 15-20 minutes until a deep brown colour. Cool on trays
for 10 minutes before serving
Sour mandarin compote (2 cups of compote)
10 medium mandarins, Save the zest from the fruit before
1 stick of vanilla bean, spilt
200g white sugar
250g verjuice
1 sprig of thyme
Remove the zest from all the fruit before peeling. Segment, peel the mandarin
Heat vanilla, sugar, verjuice, thyme, and zest in a saucepan over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil, turn it to simmer and allow it to simmer for 15 minutes. Strain the mix then place it back into the sauce pan. Place fruit in the syrup and boil it down until is very thick. This may take 30-40 minutes. Transfer to glass jars to cool before chilling over night before use. Last about a week.
Those look incredible! Your croissants are perfect, I wish I could reach through the screen and grab one. :) The mandarin compote sounds good too. :D
ReplyDeleteThank you for such kind words June! I am flattered that you come back every week to comment. It is real motivator
DeleteOMG! you mastered your layered dough, too!! clap clap clap clap!! Send me a whole bag. I really need some right now.....
ReplyDeleteI only got the hang of it now after so many butter puddles... Thanks Mandy!
DeleteI live in Northern California, and our summers are actually pretty foggy and cool - so basically - I totally and completely with your winter chilly feelings.
ReplyDeleteAnd your croissants look like the very best kind - you can tell how flaky and not-heavy they are in the photographs, and they still all golden and gorgeous. YUM!
Wow! Really North California is cool? That is so interesting! I though all America was hot.
DeleteThanks Joyti!