Ok... well first of all, let's talk some horoscope. I am a Taurus. The bull. To be stubborn is thus innate in me, even though we may fight it, we all know it is sometimes useless to escape our fate.
So when I made
these croissants in 2012, it was a semi failure because I failed to follow directions :( This time, my result was more successful, but admittedly still a semi failure because I failed to follow directions, yet again. I'm not usually this block-headed but I guess it's just something about these particular pastries that dooms me to be stubborn time after time.
So everything was going pretty smoothly and I actually reached the point where I was cutting out my triangles and rolling my laminated dough into croissant shapes. Mind you this is after two days of preparation and processing. This is when things took a turn for the worst. I made two separate batches, apparently anticipating that I would have two separate disasters.
First batch. So while leaving me dough to rise I did the unthinkable, I wanted to cover it with plastic wrap but did not feel like dusting the plastic wrap with flour first, so I didn't. After 2hours of rising, I endeavoured to uncover my dough and lo and behold, the entire top surface of the croissants had stuck to the wrap :'( So the top was completely damaged, all my lovely layers destroyed, siggghhhhhh, not good. But I forged through, and still stuck them in the oven.
- RESULT: Did not look anything much like a croissant. Due to the top being damaged they all sort of sagged and did not puff up :( BUT all things considered, it still tasted croissant-ish, but not quite there yet.
The
second batch which I stored in the freezer for safe keeping fared much better, despite my apparent will to do otherwise. So I removed the batch from the freezer, intending to let it defrost for a 2-3 hours. This was at night after school and even though my body insisted I was too tired to do it, my mind pushed right on through and Obama'd me into thinking I could. Of course, I shortly proceeded to fall dead asleep. Oh yes. I fell asleep, And those poor croissants stayed out on the counter for the entire night, we're talking 10+ hours here. So by the time I woke up, they were just smooshey buttery messes :( But again, as I spent a lot of energy on making them, they were gonna get done one way or another. I plopped them in the freezer for half hour, took them out and put the straight in the oven.
- RESULT:
Surprisingly, they still looked sort of croissant shaped, if you squint your left eye and tilt your head to the right, yep, then they look like croissants. But, they tasted so much more amazing than the first batch. Outside was nice and crispy while inside was soft and buttery, I loved it. I guess because they stayed rising in the fridge longer than the first batch, the flavours came in better, I dunno, but whatever happened, worked in my favour.
Summary: Croissant making definitely requires a lot of focus, and clearly no stubborn attitude. I am in no way deterred (yet) as there was much improvement. Attempt #2 will present itself when I get some extra cash, which *fingers crossed* will be some time in the near future.... hopefully.... =)
