french

chocolate mousse comparison

03/18/2011 By bridget 12 Comments

I realized something potentially important with this comparison. When Dave and I and whoever else participate in comparisons, we just dive in and start throwing out adjectives. That’s never been a problem before, but this time, Dave and I had some confusion over what we each wanted in a mousse. Perhaps my tasters and I should clarify beforehand what we’re looking for. I know I wanted an exceptionally chocolately flavor and an exceptionally light texture. I don’t think Dave knew what he wanted…or even what chocolate mousse is supposed to be.

I compared David Lebovitz’s recipe from A Sweet Life in Paris (DL), Cooks Illustrated’s Premium Chocolate Mousse recipe from 2006 (CI Premium), and Cooks Illustrated’s older Chocolate Mousse recipe (found in The New Best Recipe) (CI). It drives me crazy when Cooks Illustrated publishes multiple recipes for the same thing without referencing the previous recipe. I’m always left wondering which is the better version. What better way to find out than to make them both?

DL – This recipe is simple: chocolate melted with water, egg yolks added, beaten egg whites folded in. I haven’t read A Sweet Life and couldn’t find this recipe on David’s blog, but according to Annie, he explains in his book that this is the most traditional version of chocolate mousse.

CI Premium – This recipe is designed specifically for fancy schmancy chocolate. (I was using Valrhona.) The recipe contains the chocolate, water, and eggs called for in Lebovitz’s recipe, but spices things up with cocoa (balanced by the addition of sugar), brandy, and espresso powder. Folding in whipped cream lightens the mixture.

CI – Unlike the other two recipes, this one contains butter and no water. In addition to the requisite chocolate and eggs, it includes coffee (or alcohol), vanilla, sugar and whipped cream.

DL – Lightened by only beaten egg whites and not whipped cream, this was the heaviest mousse of the three. It was thicker, grainy, and more solid, with a cocoa-like flavor (despite containing no cocoa) and a bitter aftertaste. For Dave, it was too much – too rich and too dense. For me, it just wasn’t as light as I want my mousse.

CI Premium – This was softer and sweeter than the other mousses. Dave thought it was the most balanced.

CI – This was light and airy and chocolately, and for me, perfect in every way. I love its bittersweetness, I love the meringue bubbles that pop in my mouth, I love how it’s firm but light.

The confusion came when Dave said that none of them were as good as my standard recipe – but I hadn’t made chocolate mousse in nearly four years, and CI’s recipe from The New Best Recipe was what I used then. Furthermore, Dave’s favorite of the three was CI’s Premium recipe, because it was “puddinglike”. But a mousse shouldn’t be puddinglike (and I confess it probably hadn’t chilled long enough).

It looks like for this comparison, there is only one opinion that matters, and that is mine, of course. Good thing Cooks Illustrated’s Chocolate Mousse was so clearly the winner. Well, I was the winner too, because I got to eat three delicious chocolate mousses – and one perfect mousse – in one sitting.

left to right: CI Premium, CI, DL

One year ago: Chicken Mushroom Spinach Lasagna
Two years ago: Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits
Three years ago: Spaghetti and Meatballs

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Chocolate Mousse (from Cooks Illustrated’s The New Best Recipe)

6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped coarse
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons strong coffee or 4 teaspoons brandy, orange-flavored liqueur, or light rum
4 large eggs, separated
2 tablespoons sugar
½ cup chilled heavy cream, plus more for serving

1. Melt the chocolate in a medium bowl set over a large saucepan of barely simmering water or in an uncovered Pyrex measuring cup microwaved at 50 percent power for 3 minutes, stirring once at the 2-minute mark. Whisk the butter into the melted chocolate, 1 tablespoon at a time. Stir in the salt, vanilla, and coffee until completely incorporated. Whisk in the yolks, one at a time, making sure that each is fully incorporated before adding the next; set the mixture aside.

2. Stir the egg whites in a clean mixing bowl set over a saucepan of hot water until slightly warm, 1 to 2 minutes; remove the bowl from the saucepan. Beat with an electric mixer set at medium speed until soft peaks form. Raise the mixer speed to high and slowly add the sugar; beat to soft peaks. Whisk a quarter of the beaten whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it, then gently fold in the remaining whites.

3. Whip the cream to soft peaks. Gently fold the whipped cream into the mousse. Spoon portions of the mousse into 6 or 8 individual serving dishes or goblets. Cover and refrigerate to allow the flavors to blend, at least 2 hours. (The mousse may be covered and refrigerated for up to 24 hours.) Serve with additional whipped cream.

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Dark Chocolate Mousse (from Cooks Illustrated)

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, 62 to 70 percent cacao, chopped fine
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-processed
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
7 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon brandy
3 large eggs, separated
⅛ teaspoon table salt
1 cup heavy cream, plus 2 more tablespoons (chilled)

1. Melt the chocolate, 2 tablespoons sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, water, and brandy in a medium heatproof bowl set over a saucepan filled with 1 inch of barely simmering water, stirring frequently until smooth. Remove from the heat.

2. Whisk the egg yolks, 1½ teaspoons sugar, and salt in a medium bowl until the mixture lightens in color and thickens slightly, about 30 seconds. Pour the melted chocolate into the egg mixture and whisk until thoroughly combined. Let cool until slightly warmer than room temperature, 3 to 5 minutes.

3. In the clean bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites at medium-low speed until frothy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the remaining 1½ teaspoons sugar, increase the mixer speed to medium-high, and beat until soft peaks form when the whisk is lifted, about 1 minute. Detach the whisk and bowl from the mixer and whisk the last few strokes by hand, making sure to scrape any unbeaten whites from the bottom of the bowl. Using the whisk, stir about one-quarter of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it; gently fold in the remaining egg whites with a rubber spatula until a few white streaks remain.

4. Whip the heavy cream at medium speed until it begins to thicken, about 30 seconds. Increase the speed to high and whip until soft peaks form when the whisk is lifted, about 15 seconds longer. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the whipped cream into the mousse until no white streaks remain. Spoon the mousse into 6 to 8 individual serving dishes or goblets. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set and firm, at least 2 hours. (The mousse may be covered and refrigerated for up to 24 hours.)

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Chocolate Mousse (from David Lebovitz via Annie’s Eats)

I just got David Lebovitz’s The Sweet Life in Paris, which contains this original recipe, in the mail. I’ve copied the recipe in his words. I also noticed that he calls for 2 tablespoons brandy or coffee, which I didn’t use.

7 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
3 tablespoons water
4 large eggs, at room temperature, separated
Pinch of coarse salt

1. In a medium-sized bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, begin melting the chocolate with the water, making sure not to let it get too hot. Take the bowl off the heat when the chocolate is almost completely melted, then stir gently until smooth. Set aside.

2. In a clean, dry bowl, whip the egg whites with the salt until they form stiff peaks when you lift the whip. They should still be smooth and creamy, not grainy.

3. Stir the egg yolks into the chocolate, then fold one-third of the whites into the chocolate to lighten it up.

4. Fold the remaining egg whites into the chocolate just until there are no visible streaks of whites. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for at least 3 hours. (You can also divide the mousse into individual custard cups, ramekins, or goblets before serving.)

Filed Under: alcohol, chocolate, custard, dessert, french, gluten free, recipe comparisons

chocolate pots de creme

03/01/2011 By bridget 11 Comments

I optimistically bought a container of fancy full-fat yogurt to replace dessert this week, thinking that a few days without cookies and cake would do me good. I didn’t plan for the extra couple of chocolate pots de crème that would need to get eaten, and I forgot that I wanted to bake cookies to bring to work one day this week. I have good intentions of skipping dessert, but my love of baking is always my undoing.

Inasmuch as a tiny espresso mug of chocolate pot de crème can be anyone’s undoing. This simple mixture of chocolate, milk, cream, and egg yolks is rich and certainly best served in tiny servings if you want to retain any bit of those good intentions. But where’s the fun in that?

Christine chose this for Tuesdays with Dorie, and she has the recipe posted. I love how rich and creamy it is but wish the chocolate flavor was more intense.

One year ago: Toasted-Coconut Custard Tart
Two years ago: Chocolate Whiskey Cake.

Filed Under: chocolate, custard, dessert, french, gluten free, tuesdays with dorie

chocolate madeleines

01/11/2011 By bridget 13 Comments

These madeleines made me crave chocolate mousse. If you aren’t a batter eater, you probably don’t know what I’m talking about. You wouldn’t know how chocolately and fluffy and rich this batter was. And if you aren’t a batter eater, I’m jealous, truly. I’d be a size smaller if I didn’t love cookie dough.

But I’m glad they were baked, because it gave me a chance to finally use the madeleine pan I got for Christmas – two years ago. I do feel silly having a pan I’ve never used for so long, but at least it’s easy to store and relatively cheap. And honestly, seeing it in the cabinet every time I reached for my mini-muffin pan has made me happy.

And now I’m using it. For chocolate! You just can’t go wrong with little clam-shaped chocolate cakes, and dipping them in ganache is even better. Probably I should use the pan again a little sooner than two years from now. But first I need to make chocolate mousse.

Margo chose this recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie, and she has it posted on her site. I halved the recipe (and ate about 2 madeleines worth of batter). I “filled” the madeleines with strained cherry jam instead of marshmallow fluff; however, I found that the amount of jam I was able to stuff into each little cake was negligible.

One year ago: Mrs. Vogel’s Sherben
Two years ago: Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins

Filed Under: cake, chocolate, cookies, dessert, french, tuesdays with dorie

translucent maple tuiles

12/07/2010 By bridget 10 Comments

Sometimes I’m really on my game, and other times I am just not at all. For example, last month, I made a big turkey dinner feast for me and Dave, just for fun, and it went flawlessly except for the oven getting turned off in the middle of the day and no one noticing until an hour after I put the turkey in. Every recipe impressed me, I got the food to the table while it was still hot, the kitchen was mostly clean before we sat down to eat. That was me on my game.

These tuiles are a simple little recipe. They only have four ingredients. The dough can be made days in advance. They don’t spend long in the oven. It shouldn’t have been complicated.

But I made mistakes at every step. First I added too little flour, which was solved easily enough by softening my chilled dough, working in more flour, and re-chilling. My tuiles baked up well and I only broke one during the transfer from baking pan to cooling rack (or beer bottle, in this case). But they were chewy, and I assumed they were supposed to be crisp, so I put them back in the oven for a few minutes, draped over the rungs of a cooling rack. You, being smarter than me, can probably tell where this went wrong – the tuiles dripped off of the cooling rack in pieces. And they didn’t get any crisper.

From there, it was just breaking the pieces every time I moved them and adding a ridiculous amount of brandy to the whipped cream filling. So. Tuiles. That was interesting.

Hindy chose this recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie, and she has it posted. I added a bit of salt to my dough. Dorie says to bake the tuiles on an unlined baking pan, but mine is really dark and burns things when it’s unlined, so I used parchment paper, which worked great.

One year ago: Rosy Pear and Pistachio Tart
Two years ago: Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

Filed Under: cookies, dessert, french, tuesdays with dorie

almost-fudge gateau

11/23/2010 By bridget 5 Comments

If I’m not careful, my sister is going to start to associate visiting me with having to find time for extra workouts after she gets back, and then she won’t visit. Or maybe she’ll associate her visits down here with exceptionally rich desserts, and she’ll bring my nephews here more often. These are things I need to consider.

After the cheesecake extravaganza of her last visit, I resisted my very strong desire to make pumpkin cheesecake this time. Instead, I considered my brother-in-law’s preferences, which are chocolate chocolate chocolate.

So, after the park, after dinner, after bath time, after stories, it was time for grown-up dessert. And it’s just possible that almost-fudge gateau – topped with ganache one evening and raspberry coulis the next – might draw them back here soon. And not just because the kids want to climb on the rocket ship in the playground.

One year ago: Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies
Two years ago: Thanksgiving Twofer Pie

Almost-Fudge Gateau (adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours)

5 large eggs
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
5 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into chunks
2 tablespoons coffee or water
⅓ cup (1.6 ounces) all-purpose flour
pinch salt

Glaze:
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons light corn syrup

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan, line the bottom with parchment paper, butter the paper, dust the inside of the pan with flour, and tap out the excess. Place the pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

2. Separate the eggs, putting the whites in a large bowl and the yolks in a small bowl.

3. Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, and add the chocolate, sugar, butter and coffee. Stir occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are melted. Transfer the bowl to the counter, and let the mixture sit for 3 minutes.

4. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the yolks, one by one, then fold in the flour.

5. Using a mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites with the pinch of salt until they hold firm, glossy peaks. Using the spatula, stir about one quarter of the beaten whites into the batter, then gently fold in the rest. Scrape the butter into the pan, and jiggle the pan from side to side to even the batter.

6. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the cake has risen evenly (it might rise around the edges, and you’ll think it’s done, but give it a few minutes, and the center will puff, too) and the top has firmed (it will probably be cracked) and doesn’t shimmy when tapped; a thin knife inserted into the center should come out just slightly streaked with chocolate. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack, and let the cake rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

7. Run a blunt knife gently around the edges of the cake, and remove the sides of the pan. Carefully turn the cake over onto a rack, and remove the pan bottom and the parchment paper. Invert the cake onto another rack, and cool to room temperature right side up. As the cake cools, it may sink.

8. For the Glaze: First, turn the cooled cake over onto another rack, so you’ll be glazing the flat bottom, and place the rack over a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper to catch any drips.

9. Put the chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. Melt the chocolate in a microwave or over a pan of simmering water.

10. Meanwhile, bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, and stir very gently with a rubber spatula until the mixture is smooth and shiny. Stir in the corn syrup.

11. Pour the glaze over the cake, and smooth the top with a long metal icing spatula. Allow the glaze to set at room temperature, or slip the cake into the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. If the glaze dulls in the fridge, give it a little gentle heat from a hairdryer.

Filed Under: cake, chocolate, dessert, french, tuesdays with dorie

cranberry apple galette

11/16/2010 By bridget 12 Comments

I used to have a friend who always served steamed broccoli with her lasagna. “Everyone does salad with their lasagna”, she scoffed. But it seems to me that everyone does it because it works so well.

Cranberry and orange are another combination that is classic simply because it’s good. Cranberry and lime…well, I don’t know, because I wasn’t brave enough to try it. I do love tart foods, but since I knew I’d be sharing these, I took the safe and familiar route with cranberry and orange.

And it tasted just as good as I expected. I’m almost positive the cranberry-lime variation would have been wonderful too. Of course I can’t be sure, having taken the safe route.

The sisters of Celestial Confections chose this galette for Tuesdays with Dorie, and they have the recipe posted. Make minis at your own time-consuming risk, by cutting 3-inch circles from the rolled dough and stuffing them in muffin cups before filling. Don’t bother trying to fold the sides in. Bake until bubbling and browned, 18-20 minutes. Also, I used this galette dough, because I already had some in the freezer. I suspect its malleability helps with maneuvering the dough circles into muffin cups.

One year ago: Cran-Apple Crisps
Two years ago: Rice Pudding

Filed Under: citrus, dessert, fall, french, fruit, pie, tuesdays with dorie, winter/holidays

palmiers

10/03/2010 By bridget 19 Comments

If you watch the Food Network regularly, you’ve probably heard that the correct Italian pronunciation of bruschetta is “brusketta”. That’s all well and good, but most of us in the US pronounce it ‘brushetta’. And no matter how much you insist that it’s supposed to be brusketta, I’m going to consider you an insufferable know-it-all who needs to just go along with the flow. You can do as the Romans do when you’re in Rome; when you’re here, just say brushetta like the rest of us.

So how do you pronounce ‘palmiers’, anyway? The all-knowing Google says PALM-yeh, but I’m not sure if that’s the I’m-saying-it-the-French-way-even-though-we’re-not-in-France-and-no-one-here-talks-like-that way, or if Americans do actually say it like that. Maybe I don’t watch enough Food Network.

Fortunately, they’re easier to make than they are to figure out how to pronounce. All you do is roll out puff pastry, coat it in sugar and maybe spices, fold up the sides, slice, and bake. I actually did it before work, although I was late for work that day. But I’m late for work everyday, so I can’t blame the cookies.

My coworker described them as cinnamon rolls in cookie form, which is exactly what I was going for. Several people asked me what they were, to which I had no good answer. “Um…I don’t know how to pronounce it…some French word that means palm…” Someone please make me smarter. Palm-yay? Palm-yers?

One year ago: Pumpkin Cupcake Comparison
Two years ago: Pain Ordinaire

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Palmiers (adapted from Ina Garten and About.com)

Makes about 30 cookies

1 cup sugar
pinch table salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional; or other spices of your choice)
8 ounces puff pastry

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. Mix the sugar, cinnamon, and salt.

2. Spread an even coating of the sugar mixture onto a pastry cloth or clean section of countertop. Coat more sugar over the top of the dough. Roll the dough out to a 15- by 12-inch rectangle, adding more sugar as necessary to prevent sticking. Starting at each long end, tightly roll the edges toward the center until they meet. Slice the dough into 3/8-inch cookies, transferring them to the prepared pans. Leave plenty of space between the cookies.

3. Bake one sheet at a time for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies puff and turn golden brown. Immediately (before the molten sugar hardens and glues the cookies to the pan!) transfer them to a wire rack to cool.

Filed Under: cookies, dessert, french

tarte fine

09/28/2010 By bridget 12 Comments

My boss and I both teach a course at the local community college, in addition to our day job. It keeps us busy. Yesterday he said that he’s considered taking semesters off from teaching, but then he wonders what he would do with the extra time.

I’m taking next semester off, and I can tell you all sorts of things I’m going to do with that time. I’m going to work out more. I’m going to brew beer. I’m going to pay attention to my husband in the evenings. I’m going to keep in closer touch with my friends. I’m going to make petits fours again. I’m going to go to bed earlier and buy birthday presents on time and keep my house cleaner. (Okay probably none of that last stuff will happen, because I’ll be too busy making petits fours and brewing beer.)

Until then, thank goodness for easy apple tarts that can be made after a Sunday evening faculty meeting; whose flaky crust and softened apples make for a just reward for going to a work meeting on the weekend, while softening the blow of another rushed week ahead.

Leslie chose this tart for Tuesdays with Dorie, and she has the recipe posted. In between grading exams and writing blog entries on Sunday, I managed to make my own puff pastry. I’d forgotten how easy it is.

One year ago: Flaky Apple Turnovers
Two years ago: Crème Brulée

Filed Under: dessert, fall, french, fruit, tuesdays with dorie

raspberry lemon petits fours

09/26/2010 By bridget 12 Comments

Making petits fours is like giving birth. Right afterwards, you’re convinced, NEVER AGAIN, because that freaking sucked. As time passes, you start thinking, well, maybe I could do that again. It’s worth it in the end, right?

It all seemed so simple at first. I baked the cake in advance and froze it. I wasn’t going to brush the cakes with syrup, and the filling I was using was storebought jam – how hard could this be? You smear your cake with jam and frosting, cut it into cubes, drizzle pourable fondant over everything, and slap on some decorations. Clearly every blog entry I’d read on petits fours, in which the person swore that they would never be doing that again, was an exaggeration.

It’s the fondant that complicates things. Pourable fondant, made of warmed powdered sugar and water and corn syrup, is, quite frankly, a big pain in the ass. You’re lucky if ten percent of it stays on the squares of cake; the remainder drips onto a pan below. The lost fondant repeatably needs to be scraped off the pan back into a double boiler to reheat. It doesn’t coat very thickly, so multiple coats are necessary, and it doesn’t dry very solid, so the finished petits fours are sticky.

Okay, so they’re not perfect, and the process was frustrating and made me late for work. (This was back in those days when “work” was teaching one course in the evenings, which now I do in addition to my full-time day job.) On the other hand, they’re so cute! And completely delicious, since they are really nothing more than cake, filling, and frosting. Yes, I will definitely be trying again. If you’d asked me four months ago, when I made these, I don’t think I would have been so certain.

One year ago: Green Chile Huevos Rancheros
Two years ago: Pan-Seared Steak with Red Wine Pan Sauce

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Raspberry Lemon Petits Fours

Makes about 30 petits fours

This is what I did, which is not the same as what I’ll do next time. Next time I’ll use Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake, because it isn’t as moist, and regular, rolled, fondant, probably a marshmallow version.

For decorations, consider fresh fruit to match your flavors; royal icing flowers (purchased or homemade); piped royal icing; or something more interesting that I’m not creative enough to come up with.

½ recipe White Cake (my adaptation), baked in a 9×13-inch pan for 16-22 minutes
¼ cup raspberry jam
½ recipe of Dorie Greenspan’s Buttercream
1 recipe Pourable Lemon Fondant (recipe follows)
decorations

Cut cake in half crosswise. Spread jam over one cake half. Spread buttercream over jam; you might not use it all. Top with remaining cake half. With a serrated knife, trim cake edges; cut cake into 1¼-inch squares. Arrange the squares on a cooling rack set over a baking sheet. Use a squeeze bottle, pastry bag, or ziploc bag with a hole cut from a corner to cover cake squares with fondant. As necessary, scrape fondant from baking sheet back into double boiler; rewarm. Allow fondant to dry before adding decorations.

Pourable Lemon Fondant: (from Use Real Butter)
2¼ cups (10 ounces) confectioner’s sugar
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
¼ teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon lemon extract
drop of yellow food coloring (optional)

Combine all ingredients except coloring in double boiler. Heat until lukewarm. Remove from heat and stir in food coloring.

Filed Under: cake, citrus, dessert, french, fruit

croissants 3 (martha stewart)

06/13/2010 By bridget 20 Comments

I worked in a lab for years, but I never absolutely loved it. You’d think I would have, considering that I basically mixed up ingredients and baked them, but I guess without that crucial eating-the-batter – sorry, of course I mean that eating-the-result step, it just wasn’t as fun.

Plus I could never get the hang of keeping good records in the lab. My notebook seemed to be both unorganized and lacking crucial information. I took detailed notes on the amount and type of ingredients used and the baking temperature and time, but whenever I needed to look up details of the result, I was left with a few marginally descriptive words.

In the kitchen, it’s the opposite. The result, now that’s memorable, especially in this case – slightly sweet, intensely flaky, dark golden brown, impossible to resist, always leaving me wanting another.

The path to that result isn’t as memorable, particularly in the amount of instant dry yeast I used. Probably I should have written that down somewhere. I’m going to hypothesize – remember, hypothesizing is not the same thing as guessing! It’s an educated guess, which is to say, don’t skip out on this recipe just because the fresh yeast called for in the original recipe is dumb and I’m bad at note-taking, because the chances are very good that my estimate of the amount of yeast I used isn’t too terribly terrible, and anyway, it’s yeast and yeast always does its job eventually.

Anyway. I’m going to hypothesize that I used about one packet of yeast. Please accept my apologies for not taking thirty seconds to write it down. This must be why I now have an office job instead of a lab job.

One year ago: Anadama Bread
Two years ago: Baba Ghanoush and Falafel

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Croissants (adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook)

Makes 12

1 cup cold milk
1 tablespoon honey
14 ounces (about 3 cups) all-purpose flour
¼ cup (1.75 ounces) sugar
2¼ teaspoons salt
2¼ teaspoons (1 packet) instant yeast
20 tablespoons (2½ sticks) unsalted butter, cold
1 large egg, lightly beaten with a pinch of salt and a dribble of water or milk

1. Make the dough package: Pour the milk and honey into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup, and stir to combine; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook, stir together 12 ounces (about 2¾ cups) of the flour, the sugar, yeast, and salt; stir to combine. Add the milk mixture and mix on low speed until the dough just comes together, 2 to 3 minutes.

2. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface; gently knead to form a smooth ball, about 45 seconds. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.

3. Make the butter package: Lay the butter sticks side by side on a piece of plastic wrap, and sprinkle with the remaining 1 ounce (about 2 tablespoons) flour. Pound with a rolling pin until the flour is incorporated; roll into a 4- by 3-inch rectangle. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.

4. Remove the dough package from the refrigerator; place on a lightly floured work surface. Roll out to an 8-by-10-inch rectangle, about ½ inch thick, with a short side facing you. Remove the butter package from the refrigerator; place on the bottom half of the dough; fold the top half of the dough over the butter, and pinch the edges to seal.

5. Roll out the dough to a 10-by-10-inch square about ½ inch thick; keep the corners as square as possible. Remove any excess flour with a dry pastry brush. Starting at the far end, fold the square in thirds, as you would a business letter. This completes the first of three turns. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.

6. Repeat rolling and folding as above two more times, starting with the flap opening on the right, as if it were a book, and refrigerate at least 1 hour between turns. To help you remember how many turns have been completed, mark the dough after each: Make one mark for the first turn, two for the second, and three for the third. After the third, wrap the dough in plastic, and refrigerate 6 to 8 hours, or overnight.

7. Turn out the chilled dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll out the dough to a 30-by-8-inch rectangle. (If the dough becomes too elastic, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.) Using a pizza wheel, cut the dough into triangles, each with a 4-inch base (you will have scraps of dough at both ends). Cut a 1-inch slit in the center of the base of each triangle. Place triangles in a single layer on a clean work surface.

8. To shape the croissants, stretch the two lower points of each triangle to enlarge the slit slightly. Fold the inner corners formed by the slit toward the outer sides of the triangles, and press down to seal. Using your fingertips, roll the base of each triangle up and away from you, stretching the dough slightly outward as you roll; the tip should be tucked under the croissant. Pull the two ends toward you to form a crescent. Transfer the crescents to a parchment-lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until very spongy and doubled in bulk, 45 to 60 minutes.

9. Preheat the oven to 400ºF, with a rack in the middle position. Lightly brush the crescents with the beaten egg. Bake until the croissants are puffed and golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer the sheet to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Filed Under: bread, breakfast, freezer friendly, french, recipe comparisons, yeast bread