We've just taken our 3rd try at home made croissants out of the oven.
The plain ones are our best effort in both appearance and taste. The
almond ones have actually been going downhill, especially in the way
they look.


We decided to go with Julia Child's recipe this time. We started with
the recipe posted here. Then I got out an old paperback of _The French
Chef Cookbook_ and realized that there were differences. It was hard
getting started as Jim and I were arguing. I wanted to choose a recipe
and follow it as closely as possible. Then, if we didn't like it, we
could change one variable at a time. His idea is to change everything
at once, but he doesn't put it in those terms. He insists that we are
following the recipe except that we're just changing ...


Anyway, trying to keep this about food and not my relationship, one big
difference between Child's recipe and the Baking Illustrated one is that
Child has you let the dough rise before rolling it out for the butter
square and the 1st turn. She says it makes for a better tasting dough,
and I agree. The slight bitterness from tries #1 and #2 is now gone.


We're still trying to figure out how much butter to use. This is one of
those things that will probably be a while before we get right. If you
use too much, you run the risk of incorporating the butter into the
dough when you want layers of flakiness. If you use too little, you
don't get that wonderful buttery taste. Trouble is, in addition to your
personal taste, how much is the right amount also depends on your skill
in rolling out the dough and making the turns. How much the dough rises
depends on how warm the kitchen is. How humid the day is affects the
stickiness of the dough. You have to get good at gauging everything by
look and feel.


The good news is that no matter how much you screw up, you're still
likely to end up with good tasting rolls. As long as you don't burn
them to a crisp, everything is edible.


The simplest way to make the almond croissants is with a simple tri-fold
shape, but the first time we made them, we experimented with a braid,
and they came out well. Then the 2nd time, Jim tried the braid (that
was the night I was zonked on antihistamines), and it all mooshed
together into one great tasting pan sized pastry. This time I was
making them again, but I must have lost my touch. They didn't moosh
together, but they don't have that pretty look about them either.


_The French Chef_ recipe is pretty interesting. She doesn't assume you
have a mixer and gives instructions on hand kneading. Since today was
our first time of trying our new one, we were incorporating a bit of
both recipes there. She doesn't assume you have parchment paper either.
Her instructions are to butter the pan.


Also, we're still using our original bag of King Arthur all-purpose
flour despite instructions to use Gold Medal or exactly the right
proportions of bread flour and cake flour. We'll stick with it until
it's time to buy more. As it is, flour doesn't cost much, but we can't
see having a cupboard full of 3 different kinds.


Oh, and I also picked so many raspberries today that I had to run them
through the blender, press through a sieve to remove the seeds, then
pour them into ice cube trays. We're laying in stores for the winter.


--Lia

Julia Altshuler wrote:

> We've just taken our 3rd try at home made croissants out of the oven.
> The plain ones are our best effort in both appearance and taste. The
> almond ones have actually been going downhill, especially in the way
> they look.

Great story. You describe so well how much fun croissants are
to make and what a juggling act it is to get them right.

I heartily agree that a first rise before rolling works out to
a better tasting dough. No matter what recipe I'm using, I always
do a cool rise in the fridge for a day before rolling.

Reg

On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:09:52 -0700, RegForte > wrote:

> No matter what recipe I'm using, I always
>do a cool rise in the fridge for a day before rolling.
>
A whole day? You're patient!



--
I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number of carats in a diamond.

Mae West

"Julia Altshuler" > wrote in message
...
> We've just taken our 3rd try at home made croissants out of the oven. The
> plain ones are our best effort in both appearance and taste. The almond
> ones have actually been going downhill, especially in the way they look.
>
>
> We decided to go with Julia Child's recipe this time. We started with the
> recipe posted here. Then I got out an old paperback of _The French Chef
> Cookbook_ and realized that there were differences. It was hard getting
> started as Jim and I were arguing. I wanted to choose a recipe and follow
> it as closely as possible. Then, if we didn't like it, we could change
> one variable at a time. His idea is to change everything at once, but he
> doesn't put it in those terms. He insists that we are following the
> recipe except that we're just changing ...
>
>
> Anyway, trying to keep this about food and not my relationship, one big
> difference between Child's recipe and the Baking Illustrated one is that
> Child has you let the dough rise before rolling it out for the butter
> square and the 1st turn. She says it makes for a better tasting dough,
> and I agree. The slight bitterness from tries #1 and #2 is now gone.
>
>
> We're still trying to figure out how much butter to use. This is one of
> those things that will probably be a while before we get right. If you
> use too much, you run the risk of incorporating the butter into the dough
> when you want layers of flakiness. If you use too little, you don't get
> that wonderful buttery taste. Trouble is, in addition to your personal
> taste, how much is the right amount also depends on your skill in rolling
> out the dough and making the turns. How much the dough rises depends on
> how warm the kitchen is. How humid the day is affects the stickiness of
> the dough. You have to get good at gauging everything by look and feel.
>
>
> The good news is that no matter how much you screw up, you're still likely
> to end up with good tasting rolls. As long as you don't burn them to a
> crisp, everything is edible.
>
>
> The simplest way to make the almond croissants is with a simple tri-fold
> shape, but the first time we made them, we experimented with a braid, and
> they came out well. Then the 2nd time, Jim tried the braid (that was the
> night I was zonked on antihistamines), and it all mooshed together into
> one great tasting pan sized pastry. This time I was making them again,
> but I must have lost my touch. They didn't moosh together, but they don't
> have that pretty look about them either.
>
>
> _The French Chef_ recipe is pretty interesting. She doesn't assume you
> have a mixer and gives instructions on hand kneading. Since today was our
> first time of trying our new one, we were incorporating a bit of both
> recipes there. She doesn't assume you have parchment paper either. Her
> instructions are to butter the pan.
>
>
> Also, we're still using our original bag of King Arthur all-purpose flour
> despite instructions to use Gold Medal or exactly the right proportions of
> bread flour and cake flour. We'll stick with it until it's time to buy
> more. As it is, flour doesn't cost much, but we can't see having a
> cupboard full of 3 different kinds.
>
>
> Oh, and I also picked so many raspberries today that I had to run them
> through the blender, press through a sieve to remove the seeds, then pour
> them into ice cube trays. We're laying in stores for the winter.
>
>
> --Lia
>
I'm a Julia Child junkie. We have most of her books including the French
Chef, Mastering the Art of French Cooking and on. My favorite of all is her
books is "The Way to Cook" published in 1989. It's kind of a refined
synthesis of all that preceeded it. It's still in print.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/...Cook&x=21&y=14
Mastering the Art of French Cooking is also in print. I bought a new one
after the original completely fell apart.
Cheers,
Hugh

Julia Altshuler wrote:
> We've just taken our 3rd try at home made croissants out of the oven.
> The plain ones are our best effort in both appearance and taste. The
> almond ones have actually been going downhill, especially in the way
> they look.
>

<snipped>
Lia,

I'm really enjoying your sage.
--
Janet Wilder
Bad spelling. Bad punctuation
Good Friends. Good Life

Hugh wrote:
>
> I'm a Julia Child junkie. We have most of her books including the French
> Chef, Mastering the Art of French Cooking and on. My favorite of all is her
> books is "The Way to Cook" published in 1989. It's kind of a refined
> synthesis of all that preceeded it. It's still in print.
> http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/...Cook&x=21&y=14
> Mastering the Art of French Cooking is also in print. I bought a new one
> after the original completely fell apart.


Here's the recipe we started with for yesterday's croissants.
http://www.recipesource.com/baked-go...1/rec0174.html


It asks for 1 ounce of fresh yeast for 3.5 cups of flour. It seemed
like way too much.


That's what made us get out the paperback _The French Chef Cookbook_.
In it, Child asks for 1 package (1/4 ounce) dry active yeast for 2 cups
of flour.


Since we were using packaged dry yeast, we switched to the 2nd recipe
while trying to incorporate the techniques from the first. (The first
recipe assumes you have a stand-up mixer, and since we have a new one,
we wanted to use it.)


Is there a difference between fresh yeast and active dry?
That's where we ran into trouble yesterday. We were trying to combine
the 2 Julia Child recipes when they're not quite the same.
Does anyone with croissant experience recommend one sort of yeast over
the other?
Is it worth it to seek out fresh yeast? The active dry is convenient
and available in the supermarkets around here.
In order to use the first recipe with no substitutions except using
active dry instead of fresh yeast, how much active dry would we use?


--Lia

Here's what I know about yeast from some bread baking classes.

Fresh yeast is more commonly used in commercial settings. Supply and
ability to use it up quickly (as well as, "that's the way we've done it
for 40 year") have much to do with the why of that. I am able to find
fresh yeast at my local supermarket tucked in the butter section but
often it is expired because not too many people must buy it. Some
bakers like Nancy Silverton swear they can taste the difference. I am
not so gifted.

Dry now comes in more than one form. What Julia calls for is probably
Active Dry yeast (because of when her book was written) while the hot
yeast these days is the Instant Dry yeast because it doesn't have to be
wet first.

When subbing for fresh yeast in a recipe.... Active Dry can be used at
50% of the weight of fresh yeast. Instant Dry can be used at 40% of the
weight of fresh yeast.

The recipes you have aren't so far in disagreement - 1 ounce of fresh
for 3.5 cups v. 1/2 ounce active dry for 4 cups.

hope this helps some
marcella

In article >,
Julia Altshuler > wrote:

> It asks for 1 ounce of fresh yeast for 3.5 cups of flour. It seemed
> like way too much.
>
>
> That's what made us get out the paperback _The French Chef Cookbook_.
> In it, Child asks for 1 package (1/4 ounce) dry active yeast for 2 cups
> of flour.
>
>
> Since we were using packaged dry yeast, we switched to the 2nd recipe
> while trying to incorporate the techniques from the first. (The first
> recipe assumes you have a stand-up mixer, and since we have a new one,
> we wanted to use it.)
>
>
> Is there a difference between fresh yeast and active dry?
> That's where we ran into trouble yesterday. We were trying to combine
> the 2 Julia Child recipes when they're not quite the same.
> Does anyone with croissant experience recommend one sort of yeast over
> the other?
> Is it worth it to seek out fresh yeast? The active dry is convenient
> and available in the supermarkets around here.
> In order to use the first recipe with no substitutions except using
> active dry instead of fresh yeast, how much active dry would we use?
>
>
> --Lia

"RegForte" > wrote in message
...
> Julia Altshuler wrote:
>
>> We've just taken our 3rd try at home made croissants out of the oven. The
>> plain ones are our best effort in both appearance and taste. The almond
>> ones have actually been going downhill, especially in the way they look.
>
> Great story. You describe so well how much fun croissants are
> to make and what a juggling act it is to get them right.
>
> I heartily agree that a first rise before rolling works out to
> a better tasting dough. No matter what recipe I'm using, I always
> do a cool rise in the fridge for a day before rolling.
>
> Reg

Julia, listen to Reg's advice! I've had his croissants and they are to die
for.

TammyM

Janet Wilder wrote:

> Julia Altshuler wrote:
>> We've just taken our 3rd try at home made croissants out of the oven.
>> The plain ones are our best effort in both appearance and taste. The
>> almond ones have actually been going downhill, especially in the way
>> they look.
>>
>
> <snipped>
> Lia,
>
> I'm really enjoying your sage.

Me three. But Lia is a more talented (and probably braver) woman than I. I'm
no baker, so I just buy croissants for DH from a particular place that
makes the ones he really likes; he loves them, I can take them or leave
them. It keeps my (kitchen) frustration level manageable, and I think it
keeps us out of the divorce courts too... <veg>.
--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

Egg tastes better when it's not on your face...

Marcella Peek wrote:

> When subbing for fresh yeast in a recipe.... Active Dry can be used at
> 50% of the weight of fresh yeast. Instant Dry can be used at 40% of the
> weight of fresh yeast.
>
> The recipes you have aren't so far in disagreement - 1 ounce of fresh
> for 3.5 cups v. 1/2 ounce active dry for 4 cups.


Thanks. That's the information I was looking for. When it comes time
for Croissants IV, we'll follow Child's recipe from RecipeSource using
half the amount of active dry yeast instead of the fresh.


I'm glad y'all are enjoying the write-ups. It helps me by giving me a
place to remember what we've tried and how we liked it. There are an
awful lot of variables to keep track of.


As for following Reg's advice, I'd love to, but other than agreeing that
an initial rise helps the flavor, he hasn't given any. Reg, if you're
out there, I'm listening. Anything you have to say, I'll consider.


--Lia

On Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:09:36 -0400, Julia Altshuler
> wrote:

>for Croissants IV, we'll follow Child's recipe from RecipeSource

Well, I'll be darned. James Beard turned up a lot at recipesource
too. Live and learn!

Off to google recipesource for The Frugal Gourmet, The Galloping
Gourmet and Lidia Bastianich now....


--
I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number of carats in a diamond.

Mae West

sf wrote:

> On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:09:52 -0700, RegForte > wrote:
>
>
>>No matter what recipe I'm using, I always
>>do a cool rise in the fridge for a day before rolling.
>>
>
> A whole day? You're patient!
>
>
>

Well, it wouldn't surprise me to hear that croissants is French
for 'patience'

Reg