Croissant Dough Mixing and Laminating

This formula is for a straight dough which means these croissants can be made in the same day, be it a very long day. Before I start with that let me give a few points about breakfast pastries. There are 3 primary laminated doughs, which means that these doughs have lots of layers that are created by folding the dough in on itself: croissants, danish, and puff pastry. Laminated doughs are also referred to as viennoiserie (fr.  in the style of Viennese doughs), essentially this term describes a fusion of bread and pastries.

 This formula is from the Michel Suas Book Advanced Bread and Pastry, A Professional Approach. Pg. 331

Formula: yields 30 kg / portion 2 kg per person
100%  Bread Flour, 16.5 kg
38%  Water, 6.274 kg
23%  Milk, 3.795 kg
13%  Sugar, 2.145 kg
2%  Salt, 330 g
1.2%  Osmotolerant Yeast*, 198 g
0.5%  Malt, 25 g
4%  Butter, chilled, 660 g
Total: 181.7%

Butter for roll-in: 500 g per 2 kg**
*If you do not have OI Yeast on hand you can substitute it with a slightly increased amount of regular yeast
**Butter for roll in is 25% of the total dough recipe, this weight is not derived from the flour weight like the rest of the formula. FOR BUTTER you want to use a dry or European butter, this has a high fat content, 82-85%, so the butter will be more pliable.





MOP: Intensive Mix

• place all ingredients in mixer and mix on low speed until the dough is uniformly hydrated. Increase to a medium speed and mix for 2-3 minutes or until you can pull a window pane with very little gnarls in it.
• Pull off of mixer and place dough in a covered bin for proofing. Let dough (also called the detrempe) ferment in a proof box or at room temperature for 45 - 60 minutes.
• Turn out the detrempe onto a floured surface and divide and portion the dough. Roll out the detrempe to be about 1/2" thick and about the size of a half sheet pan (12"x16"). Place the rolled out detrempe on a parchment lined half sheet pan, cater wrap with plastic and place it in a blast cooler or at least 30 minutes.

• Take your 500g of butter for roll-in. Cut butter up in about 1/2" thick pieces and about 7"x12"in size, place the butter between a folded over guitar sheet (a strong clear plastic sheet). Soften the butter with a rolling pin by hitting the butter. When the block starts to loose its shape use your bench scrapper to cut the excess butter off the sides and place this on top (this also helps distribute the cold and warmer areas). Continue in this manner until the butter block feels like one solid, plastic and elastic, 7"x12" block that is 1/2" thick. If the butter starts to get warm, your finger leaves an impression when you touch it, then put it back in the cooler until its a solid cold block (when the butter is a solid block it is called a beurrage). This is really important because once you do the lock-in step you cant adjust for errors in temperature. Set the butter in the cooler until you have rolled out the detrempe.

• Roll out the detrempe to the size of the half sheet pan. At this stage you can trim the detrempe if necessary to make it a perfect rectangle. 
• Take the beurrage out of the cooler and place this in the middle of the detrempe. You want the detrempe to be the same width as the beurrage. If its too wide you can use your hands to re shape the detrempe. Fold the sides over into the middle of the beurrage. If you have a gap in the middle thats okay, you'll next want to use your bench scraper and cut the edges that feel that there is no butter. You can place these cut portions on top over the gap/seem. 
• Use your rolling pin to press the detrempe, making it and the beurrage feel like a uniform shape. The beurrage is locked-in.
• You are going to next begin tourage, laminating the dough. Turn the dough 90 degrees so that the seem is facing you. Roll out the dough so it is the length of your half sheet pan. Imagine the dough in thirds, fold the end thirds in overlapping each other. You should now have a rolled up blanket look to the dough. Cover the dough with plastic and label: 1st turn: time finished. Put the dough into the blast chiller (70 degrees) or refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.
• Repeat this step two more times. You want to have a total of three turns. After your last turn refrigerate the dough and let it rest before it can be sheeted out for product make up.