Homemade Croissants - Revisited

A number of months ago, the Daring Baker's challenge was to make croissants ala Julia Child. Mine were ok at best, never that flaky goodness I expect croissants to be. I got it in my head that I needed to try again, but using a different flour blend (per Julia's suggestion ... like how we're on a first name basis now??)

I closely followed an episode from her TV show, during which she detailed the croissant-making procedure. and I went to work. Mind you, making croissants isn't a difficult task, but it takes A LONG TIME to complete. Rising and chilling time alone equals about 8 hours.

The final result from the time and effort? Still not 100% what I was hoping for, but MUCH closer to it than my previous attempts. Definitely getting closer to what I'm looking for. These croissants had a great flavor, lovely exterior, and fluffier/flakier interior than past attempts, but still a bit more dense than what I ultimately want. I think I need to find white pastry flour instead of the whole wheat pastry flour I used. Just means I get to keep trying!

Yum!

Daring Bakers Challenge Revealed: CROISSANTS!

I am so excited to announce this month’s Daring Bakers challenge! Croissants ala Julia Child. I have wanted to make homemade croissants for years, but was too intimidated by the idea to try. Well, the Daring Baker’s challenge made me face my croissant fears and look ‘em square in the flaky eyes.I’m officially addicted to baking croissants now. In fact, I’ve made 4-5 different batches of them this month and plan on doing more (once my knee heals!). I even ventured into making chocolate-filled croissants. There was definitely a learning curve and I had a few flops (especially when using the pre-corrected recipe that called for WAY too much flour), but also enough successes to make it worthwhile. This is not a fast process; it takes about 12 hours to make a batch of croissants, but it sure seems to pay off once you take a bite of the warm, flaky goodness.The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non-blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child!