A Boulangerie in France

FRANCE, a country where eating is appreciated at every meal and food is always at its finest. When strolling down a winding cobblestone street in France chances are you'll find a boulangerie somewhere. The scent of just made brioche and croissants is enough to make one step inside a local boulangerie and indulge in baked treats. C'est Magnifique! A course in baking in France? Yes it's possible. Perhaps one day you can have a French "Boulangerie" of your own and please the palates of connoisseurs
               

CROISSANTS on SUNDAY (from a French chef) 

Ingredients:

1 cup milk, 2 teaspoons dry yeast, 3 cups flour (plus 3 tablespoons), 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon salt, 12 tablespoons of (unsalted butter) 

Glaze: one egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon milk

Friday Evening (Day 1)

Heat one cup of milk to lukewarm. Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup of the lukewarm milk. Stir in 2 tablespoons of flour and whisk until there are no lumps left. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until doubled in volume. (This takes about 30 minutes)

Mix the sugar and salt into the remaining flour. Heat the remaining milk. Transfer the raised dough that set for 30 minutes and add milk. Use an electric mixer to mix in the milk along with sugar, salt, and remaining flour. Mix at high speed and than lower the speed until dough is sticky and soft.

Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap overnight.

Saturday Morning (Day 2)

Bring butter to room temperature and work with the heel of your hand to incorporate the remaining  3 tablespoons of flour. Shape into a square.

Sprinkle a work surface with flour and shape the cold dough into rectangle form and spread the butter square on the upper top of the rectangle form. Fold the dough like a letter in thirds.Turn the dough counterclockwise and roll out the dough again into a 6 x 15 inch rectangle. Transfer the dough into a baking pan, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for six hours.

Saturday Afternoon (Day 2)

Roll out the dough two more times, wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Sunday Morning (Day 3)

About 2 hours before baking time, remove the dough from refrigerator and sprinkle flour over your work surface. Roll the dough into a 16 inch circle. Cut the dough into quarters and than cut the quarters into 3 triangles.

Roll the base of each triangle toward the remaining corner. Transfer the croissants to a baking sheet and brush with 2 tablespoons of milk. Let stand at room temperature for 45 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Brush the croissants with a glaze made of one egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of milk.

Bake croissants 20 minutes. Croissants are ready when they're lightly browned.

It's Sunday and now you can relax and eat some of your croissants with a cafe au lait.



Bon Appetite!


French Cooking Classes:

http://coulissesduchef.com/site/en/