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This is the theme for this month's Daring Bakers' Challenge. One look at the original recipe (see here), I knew it wouldn't produce the croissants I want. Don't get me wrong, I worship Julia Child, but I think she made some compromises here so that it's less daunting for the home bakers, however, the quality suffers as the result. All the changes I made were based on the lessons I learned over the last few months of croissant marathon, you may find that they correspond closely to the tips I gave in this original croissant post.

1. Reduced the water amount by A LOT
2. Reduced the oil amount by A LOT. The original recipe yields incredibly wet doughs, while it's easier to roll out, it affects crumb negatively. The first 2 changes mean to make the dough drier, and crumb more crisp. Note that this recipe uses oil rather than butter in the dough, which makes the dough more extensible(i.e. easier to roll out). It would make the dough stronger if I replace it with butter, but I kept oil to stay somewhat true to the original recipe - I can get the dough strength in other ways.
3. Reduced salt. The original recipe yields VERY salty croissants.
4. The original recipe soften the roll-in butter then "smear" it onto the rolled out dough. It may see easier than making a butter block then enclose it, but softened butter is warmer butter, which means it's easier to melt, a big NO NO if you want clear flaky layers. In addition, smearing doesn't produce even butter layers either. I still used my usual method to enclose butter: make a butter block, fridge, enclose into dough. (picture below with recipe)
5. Used bread flour rather than AP flour.
6. Kneaded the dough much longer than what the recipe required. Both 5 and 6 aim to increase dough strength. Stronger dough rises higher during baking, creating clear layers and open honeycomb crumb. Yes, stronger dough is also harder to roll out, but it's worthwhile.
7. The original recipes requires 4 bookfolds, which IMO, is way too much for such small croissants (much smaller than the standard size I made before). More folds == more layers, good in theory, easy to have leaky butter in practice. Even if the butter doesn't leak, more layers in such a small roll would just make the crumb less "open". I only made 3 bookfolds as usual.
8. The original recipe doesn't produce a lot of dough, yet still makes 12 croissants, so each one is tiny-mini. On top of that, the shaping process has unusal sizes (bottom and sides are of the same length for each triangle, which means each croissant is very long, but doesn't have a lot of layers), and too much stretching (easy to melt the butter). I changed the sizes to make 8 croissants (still much smaller than standard size, but at least each croissant is rolled up enough times to create a layered crumb).
9. Extended proofing time from 1.5 hr to 3.5 hr. Croissants MUST be fully proofed for a good crumb.

Note: this recipe requires a builk rise , which is different from all the other croissant recipes I tried before. Bulk rise made the dough extra strong - again, harder to roll out, but crumb is better.

Croissants (majorly adapted from Julia Child)
Note: Makes 8 small croissants
Note: for details and tips, please see this post
Note: for more tips on making croissants in warm weather, see here

Bread Flour, 228g
Milk, 120g
Water, 13g
Sugar, 14g
Salt, 5g
Instant Yeast, 2.7g (a scant tsp)
Oil, 15g
Roll-in Butter, 125g

1. Mix everything together but the roll-in butter. Knead @ low speed for 3min, @medium speed for 7min, the dough should be very smooth, relatively strong, a relatively weak windowpane.
2. Bulk rise at room temp (24C) for 3 hours until doubled, mine even tripled. Knead to get rid of air, press flat, put in fridge for 2 hours or overnight.
3. Tap roll-in butter between two sheet s of plastic, roll into 5inch square. Put in fridge for at least one hour.
4. Roll out dough into 7inch square, enclose butter block as following, seal well

5. Roll out to 6X14inch rectangle, do first bookfold along the longer side. Don't forget to trim the edges.

6. Put in fridge and rest for 1 hour. Take out dough and repeat the rolling and folding 2 mroe times, which gives 3 folds in total.
7. Put in fridge and rest for at least 120min.Roll out to 8X16inch, 1/8inch thickness. You may need to rest the dough in fridge several times.
8a. For classic croissants: cut into 4 rectangles, each 8X4inch. Then cut each rectangle diagonally into 2 triangles. Trim edges, stretch lightly into skinny long triangles.
8b. For Bear claws, cut into 5X3inch rectangles.
9a. For classic croissants: roll up fairly tight, stretch out the tip with one hand when you roll the bottom with the other hand. Since they are smaller, you won't get as many layers as the standard ones

9b. For bear claws, put a TBSP of almond filling on the dough, fold in half along the longer side. Seal, and make 4 cuts for the "claw" effect.

10. At this point, you can proof right away, fridge overnight and proof next day, or freeze (defrost overnight in fridge before proofing). Brush with egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 TBSP of water), then proof @ about 80F until very soft and jiggly. About 3.5 hours for me. Brush another layer of egg wash after proofing.


12. Bake at 425F for 10min, 375 for 15min.

The very round cross section indicates enough dough strength. The crumb is open with a clear honeycomb effect.

I am fairly happy with the crumb, but there's always room for improvement. The smaller rolls has less layers than standard ones, which means the crumb has less "holes".

The bear claws came out pretty well, with or without powder sugar. And I used the leftover dough from bear claws for some mini chocolate croissants.

Bear claws and chocolate croissants were rolled up in less turns than croissants during shaping, so the layers are very clear and very flaky - easier to make than the standard ones IMO.

With some major overhaul, this recipe produces very good results.

I have been after a good English Muffin since I started baking breads 2 years ago. I tried the BBA recipe, too bread like, crumb is even and soft, good for a dinner roll, not an English muffin. I tried Alton Brown's recipe. Simple, and gives lots of holes. However the crumb is more like a crumpt. In addition, with a very short rise, AB's EM lacks a little flavor.

Recently I tried Wild Yeast's Sourdough English Muffin (here), jackpot! Not only it gives the "PERFECT" crumb (for me), but also complex whole wheat flavor. On top of that, it was easy to make too! I have read that the nooks and crannies in English Muffin crumb can be achieved by a very wet dough, which is ALMOST overkneaded. Sounds odd, but I do think the rough crumb struture of a EM is indeed similar to a dough whose gluten is on the verge of breaking down. "Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book" advices to knead a wet dough to pass windownpane, then KEEP KNEADING until it's over kneaded. I trust her results, but dont' want to spend all the effort to "over knead" a dough. I think Wild Yeast formula accompolishes the same goal with a much easier method: creat a sourdough spong, let it fermentate for a long time until the gluten almost breaking down, add a little bit of flour so that it can take shape, proof for a bit, cook and done!

However I did modify the procedure: the original formula wants me to knead well after adding the flour, then pat the dough out flat and cut out rounds of dough. That is hard to do if the dough is very wet - and the dough simply has to be wet for good results. What I did was to skip kneading all together, we are not after gluten formation here anyway. Simply mix with a spoon, then scoop chunks of dough(I use a scale to make sure of their sizes) on a baking sheet, use WELL OILED hands to shape these little puddles of wet dough into flat disks, let proof, then cook them in English Muffin rings. Easy and prefect. Since I don't have to knead/pat/cut, I can affort to up the hydration even more.

Sourdough English Muffing (Adapted from Wild Yeast)

-Sponge

100% starter, 55g

AP flour, 80g

WW flour, 50g

milk, 140g

1. Mix and let rise for 12 hours. (I let it go longer than the original instruction since I want the gluten to almost break)

-Final dough

AP flour, 35g

salt, 1/2tsp

baking soda, 1/2tsp

agave nectar (or honey, but agave nectar tastes so great), 1t

all of sponge

2. Mix with a spong, then scoop chunks of wet dough onto a baking sheet (wiht bakign mat or parchment paper), each chunk is about 73g, 5 chunks in total. The size matters here, if the dough chunks is too large, it won't cook through/rise well. Well oil/water your hands and nudge the dough chunks into rough disks.

3, cover and let rise for 45min (73F), until very light

4 I don't have a griddle, so I cooked them in a cast iron pan. Preheat for 5min on medium low heat, with muffin rings inside. The pan and rings were all lightly oiled. Lift the parchment paper/baking mat, and flip the dough onto your oiled/watered hand, drop into the ring. Don't pick up the dough, do the lift and flip, it's much less sticky this way, and you can preserve most of the air bubbles.

5. Cook on medium low heat for about 5min before flipping, during that time, the dough would rise to the rim, or even over the rim a bit. Flip and keep cooking until done, about 15min in total, flipping every few minutes.

Let's look at the crumb, it'd my idea of a perfect EM

But of course, I only cut one for the picture, the rest I did the proper way: fork split, look at all that nooks and crannies!

Butter and jam has no way to escape!

Perfect for a breakfast sandwich too, with a lot of sauce of course

Sending this to Yeastspotting.

Background:

David Lebovitz, the celebrated American food blogger based in Paris has raved about Eric Kayser's Pain aux Cereales on numerous occasions, even proclaiming it to be perhaps the Best Bread in the World. A lot of bread aficianados from all over the world have made the pilgrimage to Paris to sample it and have posted photos as well as detailed description of this particular bread on the internet.

  Kayser's Pain aux Cereales from Lebovitz's Blog

I have the Eric Kayser's '100% Pain' bread book and the recipe for his Pain aux Cereales is included. However the photos, the ingredients and the formulation listed do not match the descriptions of the bread sold in his stores. After all, his bread empire is built on the originality and quality of his products, so who can blame him for not divulging all his secrets?

A couple days ago, I decided to formulate my own interpretation of Kayser's Pain aux Cereales based on my compilation of information gathered on the internet and relying loosely on the recipe in his book.

Formulation:

Flour Mix:

- 250 Gms KA Organic Artisan Select AP Flour

- 250 Gms La Milanaise T90 High Extraction Flour

Liquid Levain Build:

- 25 Gms ripe Liquid Levain (100% hydration)

- 50 Gms Flour Mix

- 50 Gms Spring Water

Seed Mix:

- 2 Tbs Golden Flax Seeds

- 2 Tbs Brown Flax Seeds

- 2 Tbs Yellow Sesame Seeds

- 2 Tbs Millet Seeds

- 2 Tbs Poppy Seeds

Final Dough Mix:

- 450 Gms Flour Mix

- 325 Gms Spring Water

- 125 Gms Liquid Levain Build

- 1/4 tsp Instant Yeast

- 10 Gms Grey Atlantic Sea Salt

- 1/3 of Seed Mix (toasted in a non-stick pan)

Procedures:

1- Prepare Final Levain Build and let ferment at room temperature until triple in volume.

2- Mix Flour and Water and autolyse for 30 mins.

3- Add Levain, Yeast and Salt and knead in mixer w/ dough hook on low speed for 4 mins.

4- Add the 1/3 toasted seed mix and incorporate into dough with dough hook for 30 secs.

5- Partially ferment dough at room temperature for 2 1/2 hours with stretch and fold in the bowl every 30 mins.

6- Retard dough in refrigerator for 18-24 hrs.

7- Divide dough into 2, preshape into ball and let rest 1 hr. Shape into batard and proof on couche for 1 hr.

8- Transfer loaves to peel, lightly mist with a vaporizer and sprinkle with remaining untoasted seed mix.

9- Score and bake at 440 degrees F with steam for 12 mins and 20 more mins at 390 degrees F on convection without steam.

I kept the dough hydration higher than normal at about 77% to compensate for the seeds absorbing some of the moisture from the dough during fermentation. The dough was very responsive with just the right amount of elasticity and extensibility. I got good oven spring, the cuts opened up nicely and the crust was thin and crackly and had beautiful caramelization. The roasted seeds on the crust were colorful and fragrant and glistened from their oil.

The crumb was cream colored, translucent, soft and slightly chewy and speckled with crunchy seeds. The flavor was complex from the interplay of the nuttiness of the seeds and the slight tang of the levain.

Was it the Best Bread in the World? I would not say so but a darn good bread nonetheless.

Happy Baking!

Don

I'm rather fond of challah, but my wife isn't. Most challah is too rich and too sweet for her taste. The closer to brioche it tastes, the less she likes it. So, when I made “My Sourdough Challah” from Maggie Glezer's “A Blessing of Bread,” and both my wife and I loved it, I was delighted.

Of course, all challah was made with sourdough before the introduction of commercial yeast. Since then, according to Glezer, challah has tended to be made sweeter and richer. Sourdough challah has a “moister, creamier texture” and stays fresh longer that the yeasted variety. Glezer's version has a delightful sourdough tang which lends it an almost “sweet and sour” flavor. It is wonderful plain, as toast and as French toast.

* I added an additional 3 tablespoons or so of flour during mixing, because the dough seemed too wet. This may have been needed due to my using more starter than Glezer specifies. See below.

+ Glezer says to use only 200 gms of starter, but I used all of it (250 gms)

Procedures

1. The night before baking, mix the starter and ferment it at room temperature for 8-12 hours.

2. In the morning, in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the starter in the water, then mix in the 3 eggs, salt, honey and oil until completely combined.

3. Mix in all the bread flour until it forms a shaggy mass.

4. Knead the dough on the bench or in a stand mixer until it is smooth and there is moderate gluten development. Add small amounts of water or flour to achieve the desired consistency. The dough should be quite firm.

5. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover it tightly. Ferment for about 2 hours. It may not rise much.

6. To make two 1 pound loaves, divide the dough into two equal portions, and divide each portion into the number of pieces needed for the type of braiding you plan to do. (I did 3-strand braids.)

7. Form each piece into a ball and allow them to rest, covered, for 10-20 minutes to relax the gluten.

8. Form each piece into a strand about 14” long. (I like Glezer's technique for this. On an un-floured board, flatten each piece with the palm of your hand. Using a rolling pin, roll out each piece to about ¼ inch thickness. Then roll up each piece into a tight tube. Using the palms of your hands, lengthen each piece by rolling each tube back and forth on the bench with light pressure. Start with your hands together in the middle of the tube and, as you roll

   it, move your hands gradually outward. Taper the ends of the tube by rotating your wrists slightly so that the thumb side of your hand is slightly elevated, as you near the ends of the tube.)



9. 
   

   Braid the loaves.

   
   


10. 
    

    Place each loaf on parchment paper in half-sheet pans (I used a quarter-sheet pan for each loaf.) Cover well with plasti-crap or place the pans in a food grade plastic bag, and proof at room temperature until the loaves have tripled in volume. (Glezer says this will take “about 5 hours.” My kitchen was rather cool. I proofed for 6 hours.)

    
    


11. 
    

    Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF with the rack in the upper third of the oven.

    
    


12. 
    

    Brush each loaf with an egg lightly beaten with a pinch of salt.

    
    


13. 
    

    Optionally, sprinkle the loaves with sesame seeds and/or poppy seeds.

    
    


14. 
    

    Bake until done – 25-35 minutes for 1 pound loaves.

    
    


15. 
    

    Cool completely before slicing.

    
    

David

Submitted to YeastSpotting on SusanFNP's Wildyeastblog.