These look like croissants.
I bet it's because I played Carla Bruni's Comme si de rien n'etait while I rolled out the dough.
Fingers crossed!
Cynthia
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Cynthia McKenna – making Croissants from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking
The croissants are great. I learned a lot and really can't wait to make another batch so I can correct a few mistakes.
I found the "rolling out into the actual croissant shape" part of the recipe to be confusing. In hindsight, I think I rolled wrong and that is why it was such a chore. It took me 45 minutes to roll out 12 croissants – I did roll two of them differently and the difference was remarkable – these two are probably the best croissants out of the batch – really beautiful texture. The others are good , but more like a dinner roll than a flaky croissant.
But they are still good – super buttery taste and remarkable flavor.
I have to teach a class tonight – otherwise I'd probably make the second batch today – but I'll wait until the weekend and see what I can do. Start to finish this took 14 hours and I turned out the lights just after midnight – It'll be quicker next time and I'll start early in the morning.
The bottom line – try making croissants. Even if you don't get it just right, you still end up with a pastry that is delicious.
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Cynthia McKenna – making Croissants from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking
Well, well. Its 9:15 and time for bed, except I just got the croissants rolled out and they have 1.5 hours to rise before baking.
The rolling out and actually forming the rolls was challenging.
First, I couldn't tell if I was doing it right – the directions seemed to say cut a square in half, then roll that long diagonal side into the point – except first you have to roll it really long and thin.
Then they weren't all the same size, probably because in my making of 55 layers, I did not get the dough an even thickness – which caught up with me in the end.
I think the croissants look like aliens made them, but then, I was born in Roswell…
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Cynthia McKenna – making Croissants from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking
Posted in Cooking
Tagged aliens, croissants, Cynthia McKenna, garden blog, garden gate blog, julia child, mastering the art of french cooking, roswell
Here's the little packet of goodness with 55 layers of dough and 54 (?) layers of butter.
Wait 2 hours then we'll cut & roll
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Cynthia McKenna – making Croissants from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking
Posted in Cooking
Tagged croissants, Cynthia McKenna, garden blog, garden gate blog, julia child, mastering the art of french cooking
I have had time to bathe three of the four cats and have now decided that I should make croissants when I have a big "to do" list that I've been avoiding.
So, the dough rose as it was supposed to – which was encouraging.
"Beat butter with a rolling pin to soften it." I had fun softening the butter – any recipe that tells you to whack butter with a rolling pin has got to be a good recipe.
BTW – if you come over for toast, you can expect softened butter – this stuff was dreamy.
Then roll dough to 8 x 14, and schmeer the butter. This was the part I'd been dreading but it was really easy, and pretty to look at, and fun. Unfortunately, Julia says to move quickly and since this is my first try at croissants, I did not stop to take a photo.
Then fold and roll it into another rectangle – we are now at 2 layers of butter with 4 layers of dough
It gets another fold so you have 7 layers of dough and 6 (six) layers of butter. How can anything be wrong with six layers of butter. Now its in the fridge for 1-1.5 hours.
If I am calculating this right – the croissants will be ready around 10:00 tonight. Somehow, when I started at 9:30 this morning, 11-12 hours seemed like it would be around 7:00. My bad.
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Cynthia McKenna – making Croissants from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking
4.5 hours in, here is what the dough looks like:
That's a 5×8 rectangle if you are following along at home 
Rectangle folded in thirds "like a business letter" and back in the bowl to double. Wish I'd washed the bowl so it would take a nice photo – but its cloudy looking so you'll just have to take my word for how cute it looks in there, being folded in thirds and all..
The biggest surprise is how much you don't do. So far, there is nothing to this except the initial mix and that was "just barely" mixed in my book. Note – that does say, "so far."
1.5 hours to relax and do more chores. I am starting to think that making croissants is a meditative exercise.
Cynthia
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Cynthia McKenna – making Croissants from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking
Here is the dough at about 2 hours. I love having the Pampered Chef mixing- measuring. Bowl so I can see how far we have to go – to the 7 cup mark. Thanks to whoever had that Pampered Chef party so long ago.
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Cynthia McKenna – making Croissants from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking
The days are getting shorter and even though our temperatures are still hovering around 100, i'm feeling the urge to bake.
I'm getting more brave in my cooking – maybe having slightly more successes than failures has given me courage. Anyway, I've been hungry for a good croissant and decided that today's the day to try making croissants.
So far, it's shockingly easy. But then we haven't reached the tricky part about the butter being spreadable but not warm enough to be oily, and, not cold enough to be flaky. Luckily that part comes this afternoon. For now I'm heading out to the garden and will return to the sticky dough in about 3 hours.
Cynthia
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Cynthia McKenna – making Croissants from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking
