Nothing says decadent brunch more then a croissant, the flakey buttery sensation in your mouth.  The crumbs that cascade over the plate, your lap and down your top as you take the first bite.  I prefer mine loaded with brie, fresh tomato and a little sprinkle of salt and pepper… mmmmmm heaven.

Yesterday the chef on station asked if I wanted to help make a batch of fresh croissants for our Saturday morning brunch and I jumped at the chance to learn the recipe.

• 320 mls milk
• 3 eggs
• 20gms dried yeast
• 55gms white sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 680 gms of plain flour
• 740 gms of butter

We made a soft dough from all the ingredients except the butter and then kneaded until it was smooth and the gluten was slightly activated.

Then we started to build the layers by rolling the dough out into a rectangular block about 2cms thick. Spread ¼ of the butter over the dough and then folding the long sides into the middle to make a small package.

Place in fridge for 30 mins then repeat the process until all the butter is used, 3 more times. You should roll the dough in the opposite direction to the previous time each turn, this will ensure that lots of layers develop. Layers = flaky fluffy pastry.

When the last of the butter was incorporated, about 2 hours after you started then we wrapped the pastry in a moist tea towel and left it in the fridge over night.

Saturday morning, I was super excited. After warming the dough to room temperature, it was soft and pliable, we rolled it out to about 1 cm thickness and cut half into triangles and
the other half into diamonds. The size of the triangles and diamonds will dictate the end size of the pastries.  To make croissants we rolled the triangles from the base of the triangle to the points and then formed a crescent shape.  To make the danish’s I just put a big blob of thick custard in the middle of the diamond along with some tinned mandarin segments then brought two sides together.  With the left over pastry we cut rectangles and rolled around chocolate strips to make pain au chocolat.

Into the proofer for about 20 mins just till the butter started to weep from the pastry.

Then into the oven at 200 degrees for 4 – 5 mins.  They were amazing, flaky and light the perfect way to start the day, or for lunch or even a sneaky one after dinner.