English Muffins

I was discussing with a friend our mutual affinity towards English muffins.  We both admitted that we like them better than bagels.  Personally, I like them because they are generally a little less substantial and offer up a bunch of nooks and crannies for your butter to melt into.  That's pretty amazing. 

Plus, the dough for them is a little spongier which lends the butter another way to get soaked up even when it isn't falling into some crevice along the surface.  That's just the magic of an English muffin I guess.

So I went about trying to make them.  I used the recipe from Bouchon Bakery which was different than most recipes I found online.  The biggest difference was that these were baked in the oven versus cooked over a skillet.

Also, I had to use a starter which meant I had to make a starter--which meant I couldn't actually make the muffins for at least a week more--which was kind of a drag. Nevertheless, I made the starter and eventually set to task.

The thing with baking them versus frying them over a skillet is that they tend to look more like actual muffins in that they had a stump and a muffin top.  I've never seen an English muffin look like that and the recipe didn't mention it.

So I assumed I made a misstep at some point.  What I did was place each portion of dough into a three inch pastry ring to proof.  And--yay--they proved really well but were rising out of the pastry rings in a mega way.

So I tried to contain them within the confines of the rings--i.e. getting rid of the muffin top--which concluded in me deflating them a little. It kind of worked but I think that may have stunted the formation of all of those nooks and crannies we are so used to seeing in a normal English muffin.

On the flip side, they were still light and the texture seemed spot on.  That said, overall it was a good recipe but I think that I might try and cook them on the stovetop next time just for kicks.

Recipe via Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller

274g all-purpose flour
25g granulated sugar
11g instant yeast
1/2 tsp sea salt
247g of your favorite starter
274g whole milk warmed to 75 F
22g vegetable oil
22g coarse corn meal

First, set a baking stone on the middle rack of your oven and then preheat your oven to 425 F.  Next, in the bowl of a stand mixer combine the flour, sugar, yeast and salt.  Using the paddle attachment mix the dry ingredients on low until they are evenly distributed.  Then add the starter and mix on low speed for 2 minutes.  After that 2 minutes is up, slowly add the milk and the oil to the bowl while the mixer is still running for another 2 minutes or just until everything is fully moistened and the mixture is smooth.  Stop the mixer, scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl and then mix on medium speed for 2 more minutes.  Then, cover the bowl and let the dough rise for an hour at room temperature.

Once the hour is up,  get your molds ready.  I didn't have the suggested molds referenced in the cookbook (Flexipan cylinder molds from JB Prince) so I used eight 3 1/4 inch pastry rings.  I greased the insides of them and placed them on top of a silicone lined baking sheet.  Then I sprinkled the corn meal on the bottom of each pastry ring.  Next I divided the dough evenly between each pastry ring, covered it with a tea towel and let it proof for about a half hour.  After they proved really really well, I tried to push the dough that was flowing outside of the edges back into the safe confines of the pastry rings--which may have been a mistake...  Anyway, once you think the muffins have proved enough, smooth the tops out with a wet finger if you like.  Get a water bottle ready and then place the baking sheet on the baking stone in the hot oven, quickly spray water in the oven and close the door fast.  Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes or until they are golden brown.  Remove the freshly baked muffins from the oven and let them cool.

Sourdough Bread

When it comes to baking, bread has never been my forte.  It has always come out heavy, dense and hard as a rock.  In part, I put the onus on yeast which never seems to want to reside happily within the confines of my kitchen.  But honestly, I can't blame the yeast completely.  My apartment as a whole seems to lack good thermal regulation--it's too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer.

And since yeast is very particular about the temperature in which it inclines itself to flourish, I don't always have much luck.  However, it's spring now and the heat is off, the air conditioner has yet to be called to duty and it just so happens that the temperature in my kitchen has been consistent.  It has consistently been at just the right temperature for my diva-like yeast to strut its stuff. Thus it's bread making season for me.

With the help of an even keel temperature in my kitchen and King Arthur, lately I've been making some pretty good breads.  So I feel that my latest project should not go unmentioned.  As all of you who have ever made a sourdough know, it requires a starter.  And a sourdough starter is created by capturing wild yeast in your own home.

Basically, if you set out a bowl of flour and water mixed together, it will attract yeast.  By nurturing it--feeding it more flour and water--you encourage the yeast to grow and thrive.  It will double in size, it will effuse a fruity and tangy aroma and it will be bubbly.

It's important that you grow a good starter because when you go to actually make your bread, you don't add any additional pre-packaged yeast to the dough.  You are relying solely on the wild yeast you have caught as the leavening agent.  So you have to be good to your starter--feed it, keep it warm (but not too warm) and safe, love it, maybe even sing to it.  It's basically your child or--if you prefer--your pet.

After a week, I felt like I had raised a good starter.  It doubled in size after I fed it, it smelled fruity and tangy and it had some bubbling goin on. I've never been prouder.  The rest of the process--as far as the actual making of the bread--was fairly straightforward.  The one thing about this dough is that it's pretty sticky.  But luckily you don't spend a lot of time kneading it.  However, you do have to form it into tight boules and due to its sticky nature, it's a little difficult to handle.  Yet with some lightly floured hands and some perseverance, it is manageable.

Another thing about this bread was that you need to provide some steam in the oven for the first five minutes into baking. Apparently this helps create a good crust.  Since I don't have an oven that creates steam, I did what my King Arthur cookbook suggested.  Before I preheated the oven, I placed an empty cast iron skillet in it on the rack directly below the rack that I used to bake the bread on. Once the oven was preheated--and right after I placed the unbaked dough in it--I poured about a half of a cup of already very hot water into the cast iron skillet and poof, there was my steam. It was almost magical.

Anyway....for my first sourdough I think it came out well.  It was kind of spongy (which I think is the right texture) and had that tang that you'll find in most breads of that nature.  The crust was crusty as it should be--I'm not sure what else to say about that.  Although, I may have over-baked one of the boules a bit so part of its crust was a little darker than I would have liked but I wouldn't say it was burnt.

I have to admit that I have always been a little intimidated by bread baking.  I  suppose it has something to do with the fact that there's a lot of history behind it--I mean that it has been around a really long time.  And in that time people have had time to perfect it and make it a true craft.  And that is what gives me a little pause when I think about baking some bread--there's a lot to learn in both technique and the different mediums used to make it which seems overwhelming.  Nevertheless, I think I'm off to a good start.


Recipe ever so slightly adapted from Whole Grain Baking by King Arthur Flour

1c (9oz) ripe whole wheat sourdough starter
1 2/3c (6 5/8oz) white whole wheat flour
2 2/3c (11 1/4oz) white unbleached bread flour
1 1/2c (12oz) water at room temp.
1 T honey
2 tsp kosher salt

Using the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the starter, flours and water together on the lowest possible speed until the flours are moistened.  Then, let the dough rest for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes are up, add the salt and honey to the bowl.  Replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook and--on low speed--run the mixer for 2-3 minutes.  Turn the mixer off, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a tea towel and let the dough proof for 45 minutes.  After the 45 minutes is up, flour your work surface well.  Scrape the dough out of the bowl onto the work surface.  Flour your hands and lightly pat the dough into a rectangle--maybe 12 inches long by 6 inches wide (there wasn't any specified dimensions in the cookbook so I think that's about the size I patted the dough out to). Next, using a bench scraper fold the rectangle of dough into thirds like a letter--at the short sides. Then, fold it again--like a letter--at the short sides.  So now you have a rather bulbous rectangular prism of dough.  Place it back in the bowl, cover the bowl and let the dough proof again for another 45 minutes.  FYI, apparently this folding of the dough between proofs is a sort of substitution for punching down dough that has already proofed once.  After this second 45 minutes of proofing is up, you're going to do the same thing you did after the first one.  Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a well floured surface, pat it into a rectangle and then fold it into thirds twice.  Place the dough back into the bowl, cover the bowl and let it proof for another 45 minutes.  At the end of the 45 minutes, place a baking stone or pizza stone in the middle rack of your oven.  Then place an empty cast iron skillet on the rack below the one where the stone is sitting.  Preheat the oven to 450 F.  Next, take two bowls that are close in size and line them each with a tea towel--or some sort of linen towel--and then sprinkle some flour over the towels.  No, pull the dough out of the bowl and place it on a well-floured surface.  Divide the dough in half, flour your hands and shape each half into a boule.  Place each boule into a prepared bowl, cover them and let them proof for 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile--your oven is preheating and your dough is in its final proof--heat at least a half of cup of water on the stove and bring it almost to a boil.  Then, line a rimless baking sheet with parchment paper--or turn a rimmed baking sheet over so the bottom is the top and line it with parchment paper. When the oven is preheated and the boules are done proofing, turn the bowls (I know it's confusing--the whole boule/bowl thing--I'm sorry!) upside down onto the parchment paper so that the boules fall out of the bowls and are sitting atop the parchment paper.  Remove the tea towels and dust away any excess flour sitting on the dough. Open the oven door and quickly transfer/slide the parchment paper with the boules from the baking sheet to the hot baking stone. Right after they are safely on the stone, take the hot water and carefully pour it in the hot cast iron skillet (it will sizzle and steam up). Quickly close the door and let the dough bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, reduce the temperature of the oven to 425 F and let the bread bake for another 20-30 minutes--or until the internal temperature of the bread reads 210 F. Remove the bread from the oven and let cool before slicing into.

Kouign Amann

I haven't posted in a while.  It's not as though I haven't been baking.  I have.  Like tons.  The truth of the matter is that I've been obsessed with making two particular things that I just can't seem to get right.  The infamously finicky Parisian macaron and laminated dough.

I don't even want to discuss the former of the two because I'm still irritated about it.  And plus, how many more posts about macarons do we need in the food blogging world?  Macarons are easy, they're not easy, blah blah blah.  Instead, this post is dedicated to laminated dough--and moreover one of the wonders that can arise from it, the kouign amann.

Kouign amann is almost like a candied croissant. It's quite buttery but also sweet because the dough has been sprinkled with sugar so it caramelizes when baked. Because of my extreme sweet tooth, I think I enjoy them more than actual croissants.  In the past month I've made them twice using two different recipes.

The first batch had some successful aspects but I was convinced that its flaws could be traced back to a problem I consistently have with laminated doughs which is that the dough tends to tear at certain points when I'm rolling it out.  It's a really annoying.  I've read all about why this may happen--the dough gets too warm maybe because the room is too warm so you have to let it chill.

Or, maybe everything is too cold.  I've tried to make sure my butter block and my dough are the same temperature and all that but I still get some tearing.  However, this last batch of laminated dough that I used to make the kouign amann started tearing at first but fortunately--maybe because I learned how to better roll out the dough--seemed to cease tearing.

And so most of those oh so delicate layers seemed to have remained in tact.  Which is what I like to see.  At least I think.  I know that the purpose of laminated dough is to create those layers and for pastries, like croissants and mille feuille, it's usually clearly visible if you're successful at it.

But I'm not sure I'm convinced that it's equally as important with kougin amann.  And I only question this because for one thing, you usually don't turn the dough as much as you would for something like croissants.  And, I've been doing some...uhm..."research" from some trusted bakeries that make kouign amann and I've noticed that perhaps their laminated doughs that they use to make them aren't quite as layered.

They're delicious no doubt but comparatively not layered like a croissant.  So I don't know what the deal is with all that but as long as my kouign amann come out light, buttery and caramelized--I'm ok with it.

Recipe slightly adapted from The Kitchn

1c water at room temp.
2 tsp instant yeast
2 3/4c all-purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt
8 oz (2 sticks) cold salted butter
1 1/2c granulated sugar--divided

The first thing that needs to be done is making the dough.  Mix the water, yeast, flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Using the dough hook, mix everything together on medium speed until a tacky, not sticky, smooth dough forms.  If the dough is too sticky after mixing it, add 1 tablespoon of flour at a time until it's tacky feeling.  Alternatively, if it's too dry then you can add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until the reverse occurs.  After you've got a nice smooth tacky feeling dough, let the dough rest and rise until it has doubled in size at room temp.  Once it has doubled in size, place the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to chill.

Meanwhile, you can make the butter block.  Lay a piece of plastic wrap on a cool/cold work surface. Take your 2 sticks of butter and place them atop the plastic wrap.  Now, you want to form a pliable butter block that when folded it won't crack--it should act like modeling clay does when it is folded over on itself.  So, you will go through a series of pounding butter and folding it in an effort to make a more cohesive and pliable butter block.  So, sprinkle some flour on the butter and--using a rolling pin--start pounding the butter so that you have one cohesive piece of butter and then pound it into a rectangular shape that's about a 1/4 inch thick.  Then--preferably using a bench scraper or something other than your warm hands--fold the butter in half and pound it again until you have a rectangle that's about 1/4 inch thick.  Sprinkle some more flour on the butter and fold it in half with the bench scraper, pound it back into a rectangle that's a 1/4 inch thick AND is approximately 6 inches wide by 10 inches long.  Wrap the block in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready for use BUT, ideally you want your dough and butter block to be at the same temperature.  So, if your dough has already been chilling in the refrigerator for a while and you are getting ready to roll it out, you probably only need to chill your butter block for just a little bit--maybe 15 minutes.  You still want your butter block pliable and if it sits in the fridge for too long it will become rigid again and will likely crack when you start making your turns.

To roll out the dough, remove it from the refrigerator.  Sprinkle your work surface with flour.  Roll out the dough over the flour into a 12 inch wide by 20 inch long rectangle.  Place your butter block in the middle of the rolled out dough so that the long side of the butter block is parallel with the short side of the dough.  Fold the top half of the dough over the butter block and then fold the bottom half over it as well--like folding a letter.  Press and seal the edges of the dough together and then fold it into thirds again.  Rotate it so that narrower side is facing you--like a book.  Roll the dough out--using more flour as needed to prevent any sticking--into a 12 inch wide by 20 inch long rectangle. Fold it into thirds again--like a letter.  Rotate the dough 90 degrees so that the narrow end is facing you and roll it out again into a 12 inch wide by 20 inch long rectangle.  Fold it into thirds again, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  After the 30 minutes is up, remove the dough from the fridge, sprinkle more flour on your work surface and roll it out to a 12 inch by 20 inch rectangle. Then, sprinkle half of the sugar over the surface of the dough and lightly press it into the dough.  Fold the dough into thirds, rotate it 90 degrees and then roll it out into another 12 inch by 20 inch rectangle.  Sprinkle the remaining sugar on the dough and lightly press it into the dough. Fold the dough into thirds, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare 12 - 4 inch pastry rings or a muffin baking sheet.  Grease the rings or muffin cups with butter and sprinkle granulated sugar on the insides of them.  Set aside.

Once the dough has chilled, roll it out again onto a well floured work surface into an 8 inch wide by 24 inch long rectangle.  Then, cut the dough in half along the long side so that you now have two 4 inch wide by 24 inch long rectangles.  Then divide each rectangle into 4 inch by 4 inch squares--you'll have 12 total. Next, push each square into its own pastry ring or muffin cup and fold the corners of each square over to the center of the square so that they all meet in the middle and then press lightly to seal.  Then, cover the kouign amann and let rise for 30-40 minutes until they have risen and are puffy.  Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 350 F.  Once you are ready to bake the kouign amann, sprinkle the tops of each one with some more granulated sugar and then place them in the oven to bake for 40-45 minutes, rotating the pan 180 degrees halfway through the baking time.  Once done, remove them from the oven and let them cool slightly before removing from the rings.  Consume.

Croissants

Recently, I was telling a friend about a time when I had food poisoning.  It happened several years ago.  A pizza burger from a greasy diner was the culprit.  I was out of town, staying in a hostel and sharing not only a bedroom, but also a bathroom with multiple strangers.

When I was talking about it, I went into some grave detail about the incident--maybe more than I should have.  It was a pretty horrific experience for me.  Funny enough--and it really isn't all that funny to me--not a couple of days after I was telling him that story it happened again.

But it wasn't a pizza burger from a greasy spoon this time, it was sushi from a supposed reputable establishment.  I don't really even like sushi. I went because my partner loves it and I was trying to be flexible/nice.  Blah.

But now, I have an even bigger aversion to it than ever and what's more--and worse--I have an aversion to pretty much anything I ate or baked the day of said incident.  And sadly I did a hell of a whole lot of baking that day.

I made a king cake for a mardi gras get-together I was planning on having (that never happened because of my food poisoning).  I was in the middle of making homemade twix bars (that are sitting in my freezer half done) that I can't even fathom finishing.  And, I made croissants.

All of these things--as strange as it may be--I associate with the day I ate some bad sushi and have little to no desire to see or taste or touch any of them.  A wave of nausea ensnares my body when the thought of any of them enters my mind.  But, on the plus side, I think this is temporary because as the days go by that aversion seems to weaken.

Which is good because the true subject of this post is clearly one of those normally undetestable but currently semi-detestable baked goods I made on that fateful day.... which was the croissant.  And as difficult as it is, with my waning aversion, I want to share my trials and tribulations with making this pastry--this pastry that can be a real bitch to make successfully.

So croissants begin with another laminated dough--like puff pastry--except different than puff pastry in that it's yeasted and I guess you don't have to make as many turns with it--like three versus five or six.  But it's still a lengthy process.  In addition, the recipe I was using from Bouchon Bakery (their recipes are never easy...) required using something called distatic malt powder.

I had no idea what it was so I had to look it up and found out that it usually is used by breadmakers. In a nutshell, it has enzymes that interact with the yeast to help yield a better rise.  That seemed like a good enough reason for me so I ordered a bag of it online (because I couldn't find it anywhere else). Once it finally got here, I could make my poolish--another thing I had to look up that I found out is basically a starter--which had to sit for 12-14 hours.

Then, finally I could make the actual dough. After you've made the dough--using your distatic malt powder and your poolish--and before you encase your butter block in it, you have to let it sit for a couple of hours.  But I wasn't sure why.  I mean normally for a yeasted item you let it sit in order for it to rise.  But the book didn't state the reason and it didn't really rise?  So I wasn't really sure what that was all about? Maybe it just needed to rest--sometimes dough just needs to rest which is fine but I thought that it would at least rise a bit...I mean my yeast was brand new...

Anyway, after it had sat for a couple of hours it was time to roll it out and encase the butter block. And from there, things sped up a bit because you immediately start your first turn and then--with this particular recipe--you wait at least 20 minutes between turns because you stick the dough in the freezer.  However, this step wasn't without its difficulties.  The same problem I had when I was making my puff pastry arose here--the dough tore and my butter started to smear on the surface. With laminated dough, you're supposed to have alternating layers of butter and dough but now my layers were becoming one in the same and I knew from experience that this was definitely going to fuck with my end product.

I was thinking about it and I was starting to believe that maybe it was happening because I was rolling it out to hard?  I have a nice heavy marble rolling pin and I take advantage of its weight when it comes to rolling dough out--especially if I am rolling out a chilled dough that needs to stay chilled and I need to do it fast.  But maybe I was being a little too rough with this dough and the tearing was my own fault.  I have a lighter wooden rolling pin too--maybe I'll try using that next time.  Anyway, after that I continued to have torn layers with butter smeared all over the place so I just tried to ignore it and muscle through it.

After the final turn I cut everything up, rolled out the croissants and set them aside to proof.  Finally after a couple hours of proofing--which they did do but maybe not as much as I had hoped--I put them in oven and baked them.  The end results were mixed--both physically and emotionally.  First off, every croissant looked completely different from the next one--which at first I was ok with but soon after I walked into a cafe for some coffee and noticed their glass cloche of perfectly identically shaped croissants and I felt defeated (angry) a bit.  Next, my croissants weren't really as "light" as I had hoped.  I mean they weren't rocks but they weren't feathers either.

I suspect it had something to do with either lack of proofing or the layers combining as one...or both. When I opened one up this was fairly evident.  The layers were there but probably not as many layers as could have been if not for the tearing that took place when I was rolling out the dough.  Instead, I feel like a lot of the layers clumped together and thus prevented thinner, more delicate layers to form. But on the upswing, they tasted buttery and were moist.  And I actually did like the way they looked. They had distinct characteristics and you could see how the layers--that did form--played out.  They looked like contours on a map or tiered rice paddy fields. Nevertheless, it was my first attempt so I'll give myself a break here.  And I'm definitely going give it another go--soon--but probably not until the nausea I feel when looking at one fully subsides.

Recipe courtesy of Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel

For the dough:

Start with the poolish:

100g (1/2c + 3T + 1 tsp) all-purpose flour
a pinch of instant yeast
100g (1/4c + 2T + 2 1/2 tsp) water at 75 degrees F

Using a small bowl, mix the yeast and flour together.  Pour the water in and mix together until all of the dry ingredients are completely moistened.  Loosely place a piece of plastic wrap over the bowl and set aside for 12-14 hours to sit at room temperature.  By the end of the 12-14 hours, the mixture should have some bubbles on top as well as some smooth cracks.

At some point before you finish the dough, make the butter block.

330g (11.6oz) unsalted butter

Take your butter--whether it be sticks or one solid piece--and place it all on either a piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper that's sitting on your work surface.  Then, place another piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper on top of the butter.  Using a rolling pin, smash and roll the butter out until it's one continuous piece that is about a 7 1/2 inch by 6 1/2 rectangle.  Wrap the block up in plastic wrap or parchment paper and refrigerate until ready to use.

Now, finish the dough after your poolish has sat for 12-14 hours and your butter block is made

500g (3 1/2c + 1T + 1/4 tsp) all-purpose flour
75g (1/4c + 2T + 1/4 tsp) granulated sugar
10g (1T) instant yeast
3g (1 tsp) distatic malt powder
200g ( 3/4c + 1T + 1 3/4 tsp) water at 75 degrees F
100g (3.5oz) unsalted butter at room temp.
15g (1T + 2 tsp) kosher salt

Using the bowl of a stand mixer, add in the flour, sugar, yeast and malt powder.  With the dough hook attachment, mix the ingredients on low for about 30 seconds just so they are combined.  Then, reserve about 50g (3 1/2T) of the water.  With the remaining water, pour about half of it around the edges of the poolish which apparently is supposed to help release it from the bowl.  After that, add the poolish into the mixer bowl containing the dry ingredients as well as the rest of the water and the butter.  Mix that on low speed just until all of the dry ingredients are fully moistened.  Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl and sprinkle the top of the mixture with the salt.  Turn the mixer back on low and let it go for about 20 minutes.  After the 20 minutes is up, scrape the sides of the dough, form it into a ball and let it sit for 1 hour at room temperature.

Next, roll the dough out into at long 7 1/2 inch wide by 16 inch long rectangle.  Place your butter block in the middle of the rectangle so that the 7 1/2 inch wide side spans the 7 1/2 inch span of the rectangle.  Fold each end over the block so that they meet in the middle and then pinch the two sides together to seal it.  You'll have open butter at the sides.  Now comes the first of three turns.

Rotate the dough so that the short side (side with the open butter) faces you.  Using a rolling pin and on a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to expand the length--turning it over and rotating it and adding flour as necessary to prevent sticking.  Roll your dough out into a 22 inch long by 9 inch wide rectangle. Then, fold it in thirds--like a letter--wrap it in plastic wrap and into the freezer it goes for 20 minutes. The first turn is complete.

For the second turn, remove the dough from the freezer.  Lightly flour your work surface and rotate the block of dough so that the short side faces you.  Roll the dough into another 22 inch long by 9 inch wide rectangle--flouring, rotating and flipping over to make sure the dough doesn't stick to the work surface.  Fold the dough into thirds again, wrap it in plastic wrap and place it back into the freezer for another 20 minutes.  The second turn is complete.

For the third turn, repeat the exact same steps as you did for the second one.

Now, after the dough has sat in the freezer for 20 minutes after the last turn, place it on a lightly floured work surface.  Rotate it so the short side is facing you and roll it out into a 24 inch by 9 inch rectangle--again flouring as necessary and rotating and flipping over to prevent any sticking.  Also, it's important--evidently at this point--to ensure the dough stays cold.  So, if at any point the dough becomes too warm, place it on a parchment paper or silicone mat lined baking sheet and into the freezer until it's cold again.  Once it's been rolled out into the rectangle, cut it in half using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter.  Wrap both pieces in plastic wrap and place them in the freezer for 20 minutes. Now, the dough can be used to make croissants.

For the croissants

The dough you just made
1 egg
1T cold water

Make an egg wash by whisking the egg and water together in a small bowl.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.  Next, remove one of the pieces of dough from the freezer. On a lightly floured surface, roll it out to a 19 inch by 9 inch rectangle--flouring, rotating and flipping the dough just as before.  Trim the long side until it's 18 inches and then rotate it so the long side is facing you.  Starting at the top corner of one side of the rectangle, cut triangles out that have a 3 1/2 inch wide base--you'll get between 6-8 of them depending upon how accurate your measurements are. Take one triangle and stretch it until it's about 12 inches long.  Place it on the work surface so the base is closest to you.  Fold the tip of each corner of the base over and start rolling the triangle up to the tip. Place the rolled croissant, tip side down, on the baking sheet and lightly flatten the croissant so it doesn't roll back over.  Do this for the remaining triangles.  Repeat the entire process for the second piece of dough as well.  Brush each croissant with the egg wash.  Cover them with a tea towel or a box and let them sit at room temperature for 2 hours to proof.  You'll know they are done proofing when you lightly press a finger into one of the croissants and the impression remains.  Once they have proofed, arrange your oven racks so that they are placed at the top and bottom thirds of your oven.  Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Re-brush the croissants with the egg wash and once your oven is ready bake them for 35-40 minutes rotating them halfway into the bake time.  Remove the croissants from the oven and let them cool completely.