Be it summer time or winter, there’s nothing that warms your coronary heart greater than a freshly baked croissant.
However reaching these flaky, crunchy layers simply cannot be executed in a single day; it takes days of preparation and butter — a lot of butter.
We go to Frédéric Roy in his bakery in Good, on the French Riviera, the place he exhibits us how true artisanal croissants are made.

Following is a transcript of the video.

Claudia Romeo: Flaky layers, a lot of butter, and a fragile crunch. These are what makes a freshly baked croissant completely irresistible. It is a ravishing morning in Good, on the French Riviera, and I am unable to think about a greater method to begin my day than having a croissant. I personally can not think about something extra French than a superbly laminated dough and, if you recognize this sequence properly, butter. Plenty of butter. We will discover out extra.

I do know we promised you butter, and we’ll get to that in a bit, however aren’t you curious to find out how croissants get their excellent flaky layers? Sit tight, as a result of it will take three days. Not less than, that is what occurs in actual life. Fortunately for you, we’re right here to hurry issues up. Day one is the day of the dough. We’d like sugar, salt, water, yeast, leftover dough, and flour.

Frédéric Roy: Right here we have now two forms of flour. The one we name French custom, which does not include any components. And right here I’ve some gruau flour. It’s constituted of wheat that may give extra power to the dough, what we name sturdy wheat. It is what is going to permit the dough to be extra elastic, to have higher stability throughout the kneading.

Claudia: Are you able to clarify to me the distinction between croissant dough and all the opposite forms of dough? What’s the peculiarity of the croissant dough?

Frédéric: The croissant dough is a part of what we name the household of fermented laminated doughs. It is a dough that, on one hand, goes to present layers, crispness to the product we would make with it. And then again, we’ll have development, fermentation, like bread.

Claudia: This dough comprises 8 kilos of flour and can make about 240 croissants. And that is solely one-third of the every day manufacturing right here at Boulangerie Roy Le Capitole, the place over 1,000 croissants a day are churned out throughout the weekend. Frédéric even provides essentially the most prestigious lodge in Good: the Negresco. The dough kneads for 12 to 14 minutes, simply sufficient to achieve elasticity, however not an excessive amount of to warmth up and kick-start the fermentation course of too quickly. This, in baker phrases, is known as preserving the gluten community. It is what Frédéric is exhibiting me right here: The dough shouldn’t be breaking nor stretching. As soon as it has been divided into patons, which accurately means “pieces of dough,” it’s positioned within the fridge and left till tomorrow. Day two is the day of the butter. Our favourite ingredient will take up as a lot as 30% of the croissant pastry, however butter shouldn’t be combined with the dough. The 2 should be completely layered.

Frédéric: A layer of butter, a layer of dough, a layer of butter. So if the butter is just too tender, it will combine with the dough. Quite the opposite, whether it is too onerous and the dough is tender, we would have the identical phenomenon, the reverse phenomenon, however all the things mixes collectively. Claudia: OK. Frédéric: So if we have now a dough with a comparatively agency consistency and the butter is agency, nothing goes to combine and we’ll be capable of hold the lamination layers as we progress with the work.

Claudia: That is how lamination works. The layers are achieved by, you guessed it, folding the dough and butter time and again. To do this, there are two sorts of folds or turns. A single fold, the place the dough is folded in thirds, like an envelope, offers three layers, whereas a double fold, the place each ends meet within the center after which are folded once more, like a e book, offers 4 layers. A baker can select whichever approach they like. Frédéric begins with a single fold, single once more, after which double.

Frédéric: So, there, if in case you have noticed, once I began, I folded the dough with the butter on the heart, which created three layers. There, I’ve simply folded it in three. So 3 times three, it offers us 9. It signifies that there we have already got 9 layers. Dough, butter, dough, butter, dough, butter. We’re already at 9. Right here, I’ve simply added two. And there I am including one other one, two, three, 4. We now have 4 layers. So I beforehand had 9, now 4 instances 9, 36. We now have 36 layers.

Cinematographer: What number of layers does a great croissant should have?

Frédéric: Between three and 4.

Claudia: OK. So 36 is –

Frédéric: There are some who give it 50. It relies upon. Me, I give a double fold and a single fold. Others would give three single folds. I’ve colleagues who do two double folds, and we do not have the identical variety of layers on the finish. The less layers we give, the thicker the layers of the croissants will likely be. Me, I need that after we chunk it, it is simple to eat. That the crust shouldn’t be too onerous. That the totally different layers aren’t too thick. That is why I work this manner.

Claudia: Because the lamination course of heats it up, Frédéric places the dough within the fridge for half an hour to maintain it chilly. Retaining the dough chilly and agency is important for what comes subsequent: reducing it within the tiny triangles that will likely be our croissants. Is there a exact thickness?

Frédéric: Sure, completely. It signifies that after we make croissants, if I went too skinny, there could be the chance of crushing the totally different layers of butter and dough. So it would be much less laminated. Right here, for the croissants, I cross it at 4.5 millimeters two instances.

Claudia: And this lets you stretch the croissant with out breaking it.

Frédéric: Completely.

Claudia: You do not have a mould?

Frédéric: No, my eyes are the mould.

Claudia: Have you learnt why croissants have this half-crescent form?

Frédéric: Sure, in fact. It comes from Austria, when there was an assault from the Ottomans. It was a baker who was working throughout the night time who sounded the alarm and prevented the invasion. To have fun this, they created some form of bread with the form of a moon. The form appears like a croissant, however then again, it is under no circumstances the croissant we all know immediately. It is the French who created this laminated dough with the butter that has develop into the croissant that we all know immediately.

Claudia: It is solely the form that stayed, however the laminated dough, the butter – so that you imagine it, the story that the croissant comes from Austria. You don’t have any downside saying it on digicam.

Frédéric: No, under no circumstances.

Claudia: Is there a specific approach to roll a croissant?

Frédéric: There are two methods. Both you roll it like I am about to, like this. Or the opposite approach, some would take it this manner and would roll it out. There is just one essential factor: the outcome.

Claudia: In fact.

Frédéric: The result’s essential.

Claudia: I take one from right here?

Frédéric: Sure, wherever you want. You need to pull it like this to stretch it, happening with the hand like this. That is it. After which we lay it, we separate it, and we roll.

Claudia: Eh! It is fairly. It has some ears. I’ve butter on my fingers.

Frédéric: Sure, it is regular.

Claudia: You need to be quick, in any other case the croissant —

Frédéric: The warmth of the fingers melts the butter.

Claudia: And also you at all times wish to hold the dough chilly. Really, it’s extremely chilly.

It’s possible you’ll suppose the croissants are able to be baked, however we really need to attend one other 15 hours for that to occur. Following Frédéric’s step-by-step course of actually made me recognize how a lot time and vitality goes into producing the right product. Do you bear in mind the baguette custom? Such a baguette, by French legislation, needs to be made on-site with easy components. Properly, for the final 4 years, Frédéric has been campaigning to get croissants the identical safety.

Frédéric: As a result of in France, we have now a legislation on bread. If you’re labeled as a bakery, bread should be kneaded, formed, and baked on the spot. Alternatively, nothing exists for pastry making. I known as out the French prime minister on the necessity to create a “traditional” designation for artisanal croissants. The croissant is the French emblem of pastry making. If we had the identical factor [as the baguette], it would be a method to acknowledge artisans and a assure of high quality for purchasers. We completely should determine actual artisans and make individuals discuss them.

Claudia: It is day three of our croissants. Three, like how they develop 3 times their dimension after they’re baked.

Frédéric: There, they’re now able to be baked. However earlier than placing them within the oven, we will glaze them. It is a mixture of egg yolks and water that may permit the croissants to have a bit extra crispness, however particularly a golden crust. This permits them to shine.

Claudia: In order that they rested at heat temperatures. Not likely within the oven, however at heat temperatures, as a result of we see a little bit of the butter that —

Frédéric: That melted barely, completely. As a result of for 10, 11 hours they have been saved chilly at 4.5 levels, after which we went as much as 25, 26 levels. As a result of the yeast goes to react to the motion of warmth. It is the yeast that’s going to eat the sugar and all of the candy our bodies contained in the croissants and produce carbon dioxide. It is the little holes that we then see inside, be it in bread or croissants. It is the pure mechanism of fermentation.

Claudia: So you need to wait a very long time and progress the temperature slowly.

Frédéric: As quickly as we work with yeast, it is time that may make the standard of a product.

Claudia: It is a pizza peel!

Frédéric: Ah, it is a baker’s paddle. Frédéric: Ah, it is a baker’s paddle. That is used to place the trays proper to the again of the oven. We are able to put 4 trays.

Claudia: 4 trays, that is it. What number of croissants are there on a tray?

Frédéric: 15, so there we’ll put 60.

Claudia: At what temperature are you setting the oven?

Frédéric: We’re at 215 levels, and we will allow them to cook dinner between 15 and 17 minutes.

Claudia: It is for much longer than a pizza, truly.

Frédéric: For much longer. However the pizza oven is way hotter.

Claudia: Sure, it is true. However the approach is identical.

Frédéric: Sure, a paddle push.

Claudia: Right here, we’re in Good. It is near Italy, so we share a bit.

Frédéric: Completely, they’re our neighbors.

Claudia: They’re very, very fairly.

Frédéric: Right here, I am fairly glad.

Claudia: Fairly.

Frédéric: If we take a croissant, what we have now to search for is crispness on the surface and softness on the within. So if we glance and we pay attention —

Claudia: Wow.

Frédéric: We now have a great lamination and in addition superb softness. It is crispy, it is tender, so we have now a butter croissant that the client is admittedly going to deal with themselves with. As a result of, there, we have now a great crumb, good and yellow, properly buttered. I am joyful.

Claudia: Can I attempt the opposite aspect?

Frédéric: You wish to attempt the opposite aspect? Go on.

Claudia: In fact.

Frédéric: It is good when it is heat.

Claudia: It is true, it is heat. It is recent.

Frédéric: That is royal, simply out of the oven.

Claudia: Mmm. Improbable. So, it is 9 a.m., however you have not actually began your day with a croissant.

Frédéric: These are completed, so now it is time to begin those for tomorrow. As a result of tomorrow’s will likely be made immediately to have at the least 15 hours of manufacturing earlier than baking them. They are going to have rested for at the least 15 hours. And it is the benefit that artisans have on industrial producers, who haven’t any time. So they’d by no means equal the style of an artisanal croissant, nor the dietary values, be it bread, croissants, or pastries that we make. As a result of we take the time to make issues actually as they need to be made. That is essential: time. It is all a matter of time.

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