Six months of bench work finally paid off on my croissants

I started baking croissants back in January and the first few batches were just dense, greasy blobs. Layer separation was nonexistent and they looked like sad dinner rolls. I kept at it, adjusting the butter temperature and lamination technique each time. Yesterday's batch had that honeycomb interior I see in bakery photos. The layers actually popped and flaked apart when I broke one open. Anyone else have a specific recipe or method that finally clicked after lots of failed tries?

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jennifer_fisher4mo ago

Got a friend who spent a whole year trying to get sourdough starter to work. Kept feeding it, throwing it out, starting over. One day she just left it on the counter for an extra day by accident and it finally took off. Now she's giving away loaves to everyone.

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wyatt_fox684mo ago

Three weeks of throwing out moldy starter finally taught me to just use a food scale instead of cups. The tangzhong method with scalded flour and milk was the game changer for my croissants though. It kept the dough way more pliable during lamination so I didnt get those butter blowouts. I did 6 folds instead of the usual 4 and the layers got way more defined.

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