Look at all the thin layers on this baby. This croissant dough will be used in my next two posts. I thought this was going to be a real project, and I psyched myself up for it. It wasn't so difficult after
making puff pastry, which is very similar. If you can just set aside a block of time -- there are resting periods (both for the dough and yourself) -- it's very doable. The timing was an intimidation factor. The recipe from
Sarabeth's Bakery says the dough must be frozen for a minimum of 24 hours and thawed for at least 8 hours, but cannot be frozen for more than 4 days. So you'll have to choose two days: one in which you have time to make the dough, and another to bake it that comes at least 36 hours later but not more than 4 days.
Croissant dough is made much like puff pastry dough. I was surprised not to see weight measurements for a bread recipe from a bakery book, but it worked out fine with volume measurements. Clockwise from top left: The yeasted dough is made and then slashed with an X to represent four sections later; butter and flour are beat together and them formed into a square; the dough with the X is rolled out into four sections, and the butter is placed on the raised square in the middle; the dough flaps are wrapped all around the butter and flipped over.
Clockwise from top left: The second "book" turn of dough is folded slightly to the right, and then the left is brought over; then the entire piece of dough is folded in half; the third and final turn of dough is done (both the first and third turns are simply folded into thirds like a letter); and the dough is sliced in half before being wrapped in the freezer.
There are lots of steps, but don't be intimidated. I wish I could include the illustrations that came with the book as a guide, but you can refer to some of mine.
