On the hunt for the tantalising and elusive French Croissant

Mutant — Mon, 26 May 2008 06:17:36 -0800

Recommendations for French Cooking courses in London or Paris? I'm taking a year off work, and one of my self improvement goals during this period is to markedly improve my cooking skills. I cooked in a diner while taking my undergraduate degree, make all our meals at home and don't have too much of a problem with a range of baked goods - e.g., breads, cakes, cookies or muffins - but French croissants are (still) frustrating me somewhat.

Thanks to folks taking the time to answer my previous question, I've managed to improve my product somewhat, but my croissants are still noticeably flat compared to bakery offerings, lacking lightness and distinct, multiple layers i.e., some of my layers collapse into each other.

I'm aware there are different styles for learning, and it would appear I'll have to see the process of croissant banking in order to reach my goal. I've watched several videos which were interesting & helpful, but I'm apparently lacking critical feedback on technique which would help me markedly improve my croissants. As my Grandmaw taught me to cook at a very young age, I undoubtedly acquired more basic cooking skills the same way.

Can anyone recommend a French pastry course, preferably lasting one week or less, in London? Paris would be acceptable as well, and while I realise this would sharply increase the range of courses available, would have to be taught in English.

Many thanks!

WARNING: my croissants are the cooking equivalent of "Weapons of Mass Destruction"

Mutant — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 02:29:47 -0800

So, is anyone else out there a frustrated wannabe Croissant Chef? Yeh, well, I don't want to hear from you! Unless, of course, you'd like to commiserate.

But if you used to be a frustrated Croissant Chef, or never were frustrated by the creation of croissants can you please help out? With disastrous results I'm using a fairly basic recipe as follows :

1 oz yeast
3 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup honey (we don't use processed sugar, so I'm subbing for 1/4 cup white sugar)
A teaspoon of salt (reduced from two)
One cup milk (reconstituted from powdered milk, only mention this as sometimes I've made it a little stronger)
One pound unsalted butter
1 egg

More flour used for dusting. Additional egg & milk used for glazing.

I'm trying to master a basic three turn croissant, and chilling the dough overnight. I previously was chilling after each turn anywhere between one and four hours. Pushed this out to overnight since I thought this was the problem but the additional time didn't really help.

Can you help me end up with more than a glump of tasty pastry after I'm done? I do all our cooking at home, and would like to add home made croissants to my repertoire and our diet.

Many thanks for your help!!

Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with croissant

On the hunt for the tantalising and elusive French Croissant

WARNING: my croissants are the cooking equivalent of "Weapons of Mass Destruction"