Croissant Attempt 2

Let’s face it, making croissant in 31°C Singapore weather is tantamous to sticking up a rolling pin up a certain rear orifice. When the recipe called for me to beat and soften the butter, I was close to making some kind of silent prayer that the butter is not boiling in my hands. It’s moments like this that I really really want an airconditioned kitchen, or at least a workroom. Alas, that can only remain a kitchen fantasy.

Since I titled this “Croissant Attempt 2″ it implies the existence of an attempt 1 that I did not blog about. Yes, it was nothing short of a failure. An utter failure. Leaking butter, crappy dough, you name it. The end product looked nothing like crossiant, tasted nothing like croissant. Not even a cousin twice removed. I was so ashamed of myself. Come on, I’m the prodigy who made cookies in a microwave (using the fried chicken mode, no less), surely I can make croissants?

So I persist with croissant Attempt 2. At this moment sometimes I wish I were one of those “we” food bloggers – those who have a live-in partner who can work a camera like a charm and capture them mid-rolling dough, documenting the process step-by-step. Obviously I can’t do that myself without getting flour into my camera and getting camera into my flour. The sad life of a single girl with only one pair of hands.

Hence I only caught this shot of my croissant babies proofing themselves before being sent into the oven.

Up to this step, I couldn’t believe I would actually achieve semi-success with my croissants. See, even though I’m usually a first-hit-wonder, French baking has given me a lot of headache. Like the macaron. I have still not gotten anywhere near sucess. French baking is always a hit on my confidence, however deluded it is.

This time my croissant still leaked butter in the oven. I think I didn’t leave it to proof enough between shaping and baking. I should have had more patience. Nevertheless, I showcase their glorious buttery goodness:

The outer skin is flakey, I think that’s due to the leaking butter effectively shallow-frying my croissant in the oven. That’s a big no-no to French boulangers, by the way.

An inside shot to show you how fluffy and divine this croissant is. Do I hear a “yum” from you?

I am trying to count how many layers my croissant has. Not from the physical bread, but from remembering the number of folds I made. Oh well. That’s not important.

And I leave you one last parting shot of my croissants.

You are now welcomed to call me la boulanger extraordinaire.  *wink*

Oh just in case you want the recipe, I got it from Best Recipe Croissant. You can also refer to this video for Chef Pino’s demonstration on how to handle the dough.