Sourdough Croissants

[adm 418]

On the Kamado, because...why not?

 

They do take a while though. And apologies in advance as this is quite a long and pic heavy post....

 

First up, make sure the sourdough starter is properly active. Then make up a thick starter sponge and leave to ferment overnight:

 

Then incorporate that into a dough, knead well and leave that to ferment cold in the fridge for 24 hours.

 

Make up a butter sheet - this is a pound of butter, mixed with an ounce of flour and then spread into a sheet about a quarter inch thick. This is the hardest part as it's sticky as hell. Wrap it in cling film and chill in the fridge with the dough.

 

 

The next day, take the dough out of the fridge, roll it out to twice the size of the butter sheet (which you also should have taken out of the fridge earlier, so it's about as pliant as the dough is.

 

 

Fold the dough around the butter sheet, seal the edges, then roll it out to an aspect ratio of about 3:1. Then fold 1/3 over the middle, and the other 1/3 over that. 

 

 

Rotate it 90 degrees, Roll it out again to a 3:1 aspect. Fold it again.

 

Then do that again. Now you have your laminated block of butter and dough. When this is rolled out, you should have 81 alternate layers of dough and butter - and that what makes the croissant so flaky and light.

 

Now chuck that back in the fridge for another 8 hours to rest.

 

When that's done, roll it out again to about 1/4 inch, trim it nicely and cut into long triangles:

 

 

Roll these up into the traditional croissant shape (apparently, they are meant to be straight if made with butter, and crescent shaped if made with margarine).

 

 

Now let them proof overnight in a cool place until they are puffing up. You can see the layers from the side:

 

 

Now to cook them. Brush with an egg yolk wash first. I didn't want to go mad and ruin them all at once, so started with three. Kamado set to 400F and after about 20 mins, check and turn them around so they are getting even heat in case the Kamado has hot spots.

 

After 40 minutes, they looked perfect:

 

 

BUT: Burned bottoms. Oops. And damn!

 

 

So....next attempt with a pizza stone as heat deflector:

 

 

 

Much better - no burnt bottoms.

 

And for the final attempt, I decided to elevate the baking tray above the pizza stone just to see what would happen:

 

 

40 minutes later, I think we've nailed how to bake croissants in a Kamado!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Brick Pig 501]

Beautiful. 

[Ron5850 1,046]

Simply wonderful. Just wonderful.

[KismetKamado 4,795]

Wowzers!  I’m in awe of those beautiful croissants. 

[Nnank76 164]

A total labour of love! Look amazing

[ckreef 19,930]

Looks light and flakey. Excellent cook. 

 

[Chris Topher 468]

Whoa!! Those look really, really good. Even the "burnt" bottoms look good enough to eat. Just a little crunchy.

[KJKiley 100]

Those look great...and agree on the slightly more toasted bottom...just a little extra texture.   

[GRIMGOR 13]

Nice, they look great.

[len440 426]

ADM They look great we learn from our mistakes. What's next?

[skreef 3,740]

Great croissants. They look great. Great Entry

[daninpd 2,087]

Wow!  A swing and a miss, then a home run.  

[TKOBBQ 5,798]

Those look soooooo delicious. 

[gotzero 1,004]

I had no idea what does into this. Wow! Great job!

[In2Fish 2,694]

What they said above ...wow