Ben’s Message:

 If you are looking for a challenging thing to bake, this is it!  Precision and timing is very important to get it just right.  I was thrilled with the outcome, being an extremely new baker when I tried this.  I added a little chocolate drizzle in the end, well because I have a sweet tooth like no one’s business and felt it needed it.  The next time I try this I may put a filling inside the croissant for a little surprise in your first bite!! 

 GAVIN WREN MARCH 20, 2016

The schedule

Here’s a schedule for you to use if you wanted fresh spelt croissant on Sunday, mid morning. None of these timings are set in stone, the importance is that the dough has long periods of rest, and kept well chilled. The rest periods could be longer or shorter than suggested without disastrous results.

Friday 8pm Make the dough, wrap it and refrigerate (Takes 20 mins)
Saturday 10am Add the butter to the dough, 1st fold (Takes 15 mins)
Saturday 12pm Roll out and 2nd fold (Takes 10 mins)
Saturday 2pm Roll out and 3rd fold (Takes 10 mins)
Sunday 8am Roll out, cut, roll up croissant, egg wash (Takes 20 mins), leave to rise for 2 hours
Sunday 10.30am Cook in oven for 15 minutes
Sunday 10.45am Eat

By Gavin Wren, adapted from a recipe by Bread Ahead.

 Makes 12 croissant
 Takes 36 hours

 PDF RECIPE CARD TO DOWNLOAD OR PRINT

 PDF CROISSANT FOLDING GUIDE

Ingredients

Part 1:
250g white spelt flour
250g wholemeal spelt flour
55g sugar
125ml water
125ml full fat milk
40g softened butter
10g instant yeast or 30g fresh yeast

Part 2:
280g unsalted cold butter

Part 3:
1 egg (any size)

Directions

Sift the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix them all up. Make a well in the centre, add the liquid and softened butter and combine using one hand, keeping the other clean to hold the bowl. It’s worth having a bowl scraper or spatula to hand to periodically scrape the dough off your ‘mixing’ hand.

Once all combined, place onto a lightly floured work surface and knead just a couple of times. The key is to ensure you have an even, well mixed dough which has been worked as little as possible.

Flatten the dough into a thick square, wrap in baking paper and place in the fridge for 8 to 12 hours.

From now on it is important to keep the dough and your butter cold at all times. Avoid working it in the middle of a hot summer day, do it first thing in the morning. Don’t get it out of the fridge until you absolutely need to and never leave it sitting on the side. You can even keep your rolling pin in the fridge to help.

Take your butter and place it between two pieces of baking paper, then bash it with a rolling pin until you have a square about 5-10mm thick. Wrap with the baking paper and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Place your dough on a lightly floured surface, then roll out to make a square that your butter can fit within if you rotate the dough 45º, so it’s like a diamond shape in front of you (figure 1). Now, roll each corner of your dough square out, so they are long and thin, like four pointed star, leaving you with a raised, square centre area, the size of your butter (figure 2).

Place your butter on this raised centre section, then fold all four of the rolled out points of your star over the top, making sure they all overlap to completely encase the butter. Now roll this combined dough out to a long, rectangular shape (figure 3), brush off any excess flour and fold the ends of your rectangle back over the centre, so they all overlap, giving you three layers (figure 3).

Wrap in baking paper and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour, until it’s chilled and well rested. Remove, roll out to a rectangle and fold the ends over again (figure 3). Wrap, chill for 1 hour then repeat the rolling and folding once more, so that you’ve rolled and folded three times. Now wrap well and refrigerate for at least 12 hours.

Take your dough from the fridge and place on a lightly floured surface.

Roll out to a long rectangle about 5-6mm in thickness. Using a sharp knife, cut across your dough in a zig-zag to make 12 triangles (figure 4)

Place a triangle in front of you, with the thick end away to you. Make a small cut, about 10mm long, in the centre of the piece (figure 5a). Now roll it up, starting from the cut you made, pushing the corners out as you start to roll (figure 5b). Stretch the dough slightly as you roll to lengthen it, until you have a fully rolled croissant.

Place each finished croissant on baking paper lined baking sheet, keeping them well spaced so they have room to grow as they rise. Whisk your egg and brush all over the croissant, making sure you get into all the corners. Place the tray in a warm place, around 24ºC for about 2 hours. They should puff up increasing in size by about 50% and you’ll be able to see the layers develop, if they haven’t risen much, either wait longer or see if you can check the temperature.

Pre heat your oven to Gas mark 6, 400ºF, 204ºC, 184ºC fan and bake for 15-18 minutes, by which point they should have taken on a rich, golden colour and become crispy and flaky on the outside. Serve and enjoy!