croissant dough

I'm attempting to make croissant dough today. Why I chose to do that when it's so hot out is beyond me, but I've got the thermostat turned way down.

Has anyone here made croissant before? Any helpful hints?

Yes I did try zataar,.. years ago and I swore I would never do it again. I think it is the HARDEST recipe to do. It took hours of work, kneading,  and waiting and they did not come out nice and fluffy.  Good luck, I hope you have a good recipe, you should post it.

I have tried making them too.  Hours of work and they certainly did not turn out like the flaky croissants that I was  hoping for.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Zataar,

I know it's a little late, but the recipe in Julia's book "Baking with Julia" (I've forgotten the guest Chef, she was a beautiful French woman) is easy to follow. Allot of work but it's an easy recipe so far as ingredients and so forth.

The actual PBS TV show with Julia and the Chef is an absolute joy to watch!

I will scan the recipe and post it here in this thread tomorrow, maybe you could give it a try next time.

I have Baking with Julia. What a wonderful book. Nancy Silverton's brioche recipe is the best.
I missed the croissant episode, but looked at the recipe. I ended up using  a recipe from King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion. It was much easier than I thought it would be. The active work time was less than a hour for the dough, the butter filling and the turning and layering. It was fun.

Today is the hard part, I'm going to attempt to make better looking croissant than I have in the past, hopefully with the center being flakier than my previous attempts.  From the other two posts, I see I'm not alone in my previous results!

Excellent...I think everyone should have a copy! I cherish mine.

I believe I was mistaken though on the book, I believe it may have been "Cooking With master Chef's" The chef's name I think was Esther McManus....

The Esther McManus recipe is also in Baking with Julia. It has great photo illustrations on how to shape them. I'm going to tackle it this morning. I'll let you know this afternoon how they turn out :-)

Well, these croissant were more successful than most I've made. I haven't made them in a number of years, so I'm pretty pleased. They smell wonderful, but need to cool for at least an hour before I taste one.

If I can figure out how to post a photo, I will.

Geez, I meant to add some text.

These are about 5 1/2  - 6 inches long and about 2 1/2 inches high. I wish the points of the croissant would have stayed tucked under, but they didn't. What the heck, I hope they taste good.

zataar-i am completely impressed!!!

They look WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I do all kinds of breads, but I have never felt the urge, until now, to even attempt something like a layered dough. Guess I will have to pull out my Julia books and maybe- when it is cooler out, give these a try.

I rmemeber agonizing over puff patse!  The tradional method is time consuming and requires great patience!  Then I met a chef who knew the short cuts.  The first I mad was ina buffalo choper.  It was done in 6 hours.  Most of that was resting time.  That was for a big batch.  He also showed me the food processor method.  Great for small batches and a no brainer.

Wow!  Those are gorgeous!  What a fine job! I am so impressed!

Stunning, absolutely stunning!!!

Your crossiants came out looking just wonderful.  Where they nixe and flaky ?

zataar, they look terrific. Hope they are all you expected.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. The croissant turned out better than I hoped for, given my past attempts. Next time, I want to work on keeping that point tucked under where it should be. They tasted very good, though, so we aren't complaining at all.