Baking by Hand (22 page)

Take each rectangle of dough and lay one stick at the bottom of each piece closest to you. Do this for each croissant, then egg wash a 1-inch/2.5-cm band at the top. Roll the croissant from the bottom up, wrapping the first baton in the dough. Put a little tension in that first roll. Take a second baton and lay it on the seam you have created and roll the croissant the rest of the way up. The croissant should sit on top of the seam, with it positioned in the middle of the croissant to anchor it down and seal it. Once you have shaped all the croissants and laid them on a parchment-lined sheet pan, egg wash all the croissants. Lightly spray a piece of plastic wrap with pan spray and loosely cover the croissants so that they do not dry out.

Proof the croissants for 2 ½ to 3 hours at 74°F/20°C. You want them to grow to about double in size and take on a warm marshmallowy texture. Egg wash them just before baking as well.

Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C. Bake for 12 minutes, and then turn the tray for even browning and bake for another 12 minutes or so, until a deep reddish brown color is achieved.

5 lbs/2.2 kg laminated Croissant Dough (see
here
), excess flour brushed off

56 ham batons, approximately 3 in × ¼ in × ¼ in/7 cm × 5 mm × 5 mm (about 1 lb 4 oz/550 g)

1 lb 2 oz/500 g Gruyere cheese, grated

Cracked black pepper (optional)

Egg wash, consisting of 1 beaten egg and a splash of water

¼ cup/40 g sesame seeds (optional)

Remove the chilled croissant dough from the refrigerator. The dough will be quite cold and stiff, and if it rested overnight, it might be a bit proofed or filled with gas bubbles. This is fine. Gently pop those gas bubbles with a sharp object and push out the gas.

Lightly dust your work surface, and flip your dough out onto the table. Dust the surface with just enough flour to prevent your pin from sticking. When you start to roll the dough, do so gently. Start to nudge the dough with the rolling pin until it starts to give way as it warms and stretches a bit. Then you can start to stretch it a bit more vigorously. Doing so before it’s ready could cause the dough to rip and the layers to compact. Roll the dough out to 21 inches × 25 inches/50 × 60 cm. Then, cut that whole rectangle in half at around the 10 ½-inch/26-cm mark. This will leave you with two 10-inch × 25-inch/25 × 60-cm pieces. Gently relax the dough with your hands by lifting it slightly off the table and allowing it to shrink back a little bit.

Using a bench knife or a pizza wheel, trim ½ inch/1 cm off the left side of each strip. Each rectangle should be 3 ½ inches to 4 inches/9 to 10-cm long. Make a vertical cut from the bottom of each strip all the way through to the top of each strip. You now have seven long rectangles in each strip. Take the midpoint of the entire strip, which will be around 5 inches/12 cm, and cut across the rectangles in order to create 14 pieces per strip. You now have 14 smaller rectangles, or 28 all together.

Each croissant will get two ham batons and about 0.65 ounces/18 g cheese, or roughly 2 tablespoons. Place one ham baton at the end of the unrolled croissant closest to you. Sprinkle the cheese on top of the croissant (and, if you like, cracked black pepper), leaving approximately ¼ inch/5 mm on either side and about 1 inch/2.5 cm at the top. Egg wash the band at the top.

Roll the croissant from the bottom up, wrapping the first ham baton and almost all of the cheese in your first roll (some of the cheese will fall out, which is okay). After the ham and cheese are completely covered, put your second ham baton snugly against the rolled section, and finish rolling it up over the rest of the ham. Make sure that the finished croissant is sitting directly on its seam anchored in the middle of the croissant. Place them all on parchment-lined sheet trays. Lightly spray pieces of plastic wrap with pan spray and loosely cover the croissants so that they do not dry out.

Proof the croissants for 2 ½ to 3 hours at 74°F/20°C. You want them to grow to about double in size and take on a warm marshmallowy texture. Egg wash them just before baking as well and garnish with sesame seeds, if you like.

Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C. Bake for 12 minutes, and then turn the tray for even browning and bake for another 12 minutes or so, until a deep reddish brown color is achieved.

5 lbs/2.2 kg laminated Croissant Dough (see
here
), excess flour brushed off

Filling of choice (recipes follow)

Egg wash, consisting of 1 beaten egg and a splash of water

Take the chilled laminated dough out of the refrigerator. The dough will be quite cold and stiff, and if it rested overnight, it might be a bit proofed or filled with gas bubbles. This is fine. Gently pop those gas bubbles with a sharp object and push out the gas.

Lightly dust your work surface, and flip your dough out onto the table. Dust the surface with just enough flour to prevent your pin from sticking. When you start to roll the dough, do so gently. Start to nudge the dough with the rolling pin until it starts to give way as it warms and stretches a bit. Then you can start to stretch it a bit more vigorously. Doing so before it’s ready could cause the dough to rip and the layers to compact. Roll the dough out to 21 inches × 25 inches/50 × 60 cm. Then, cut that whole rectangle in half across the whole piece at around the 10 ½-inch/26-cm mark. This will leave you with two 10-inch × 25-inch/25 × 60-cm pieces. Gently relax the dough with your hands by lifting it slightly off the table and allowing it to shrink back a little bit. You are now ready to shape the Danish.

Using a bench knife or a pizza wheel, trim ½ inch/1 cm off the left side of each strip. Each rectangle should be 4 ½ inches to 5 inches/11 to 12 cm wide. Remember, the dough may shrink when you cut it, so estimate a little high and the dough will settle back to the proper dimension after cutting. Make a vertical cut from the bottom of each strip all the way through to the top of each strip. You now have five long rectangles in each strip. You will now take the midpoint of the entire strip, which will be around 5 inches/12 cm, and cut across the rectangles in order to create 10 squares per strip. It’s important that they be square, more so than that the exact 5-inch × 5-inch/12 × 12-cm dimension be achieved, though they should be close to that. Trim the pieces as needed to make sure they will be square.

Take each square and fold it in half diagonally to form a triangle. Then, with your bench knife make a cut through the seam almost to the end of the point of the triangle. This cut should be about ½ inch/1 cm wide. Do not cut all the way through the tip! Leave about ¼ inch/5 mm. Do the same on the other side. Now, unfold the triangle back into a square. Take each of the opposite points and cross them over each other. There will be a well in the center and two points at the top and bottom.

Put the shapes on a parchment-lined sheet pan, egg wash the surfaces, but not inside the well, and then fill. You will be able to fit about 1 tablespoon/20 g of filling in the well. If the jam is loose, don’t fill them until they are proofed and ready to go in the oven or the jam will start to leak out. You will have to prod your way into the well a little bit after it is proofed, but they will rebound just fine in the oven. If the jam is good and stiff, go ahead and fill them before proofing. Lightly spray a piece of plastic wrap with pan spray and loosely cover the croissants so that they do not dry out.

Proof the Danish for 2 to 2 ½ hours at 74°F/20°C. You want them to grow to about double in size and take on a warm marshmallowy texture. These proof faster than all the other shapes because they are less hindered by their shaping.