Viennoiserie Pastry Dough
Making croissants or pain aux raisins from scratch is very rewarding but it does involve some preparation, patience and time. This recipe doesn’t give you too many shortcuts as it is the time that creates this lovely flakes, very refined and light in texture pastry.
….. a little theory:😎
Viennoiserie (vee en whaz ree), meaning "Viennese" in French, refers to a category of pastries that originated in Vienna, Austria. The art of making Viennoiserie dough was brought to France in the early 19th century by Austrian bakers, where it was further refined and transformed into a culinary masterpiece.
The magic of Viennoiserie pastry dough lies in the perfect harmony of four simple ingredients—flour, butter, sugar, and yeast. The high-quality butter, preferably unsalted, provides the dough with its characteristic richness and flakiness. Blended perfectly with the flour, which gives structure and stability, the dough becomes a canvas for creativity of heavenly layers. The Lamination Process or Rolling-in dough creates the flakiness of the dough. It involves folding butter into the dough, creating numerous thin layers.
Viennoiserie dough is a versatile culinary treasure, allowing bakers to craft an array of mouthwatering pastries. Some of the most beloved viennoiserie creations include:
1. Croissant: Perhaps the most iconic viennoiserie pastry, the croissant boasts a crescent shape and a beautifully golden exterior. Its soft, fluffy interior and buttery flavor make it a breakfast staple around the world.
2. Pain aux Raisins: made with croissant dough made with a crème pâtissière filling and raisins shaped in a spiral, often called escargot or snail shape.
The origin of the croissant is one of the great food legends of all time. The name means “crescent moon”. At the end of the 17th century the Turks laid siege to the city of Budapest and, in order to subjugate the city, tunneled under the city walls. As their Hungarian bakers practiced their trade in early hours of the morning, they were able to raise the alarm in time and enemy failed in their attempt to capture the city. As a symbol of the victory, the bakers baked the emblem of the Turkish Empire, the crescent moon., out of the puff pastry. It caused a sensation in Budapest as well as Vienna. It was the Austrian born Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France, who brought it with her to Paris in the 18th century.
Viennoiserie Pastry Dough Recipe:
By Zosia Culinary Adventures | Date: November 04, 2023
Preparation Time: the night before: dough starter: 15 minutes; resting overnight or at least 14 hours; Rolling-in Butter: 2 hours
Yield: 1.7 kg croissant dough (makes approximately 24 large or 48 small croissants)
Ingredients:
1 kg bread flour or all purpose flour
50 g fresh yeast
20 g sea salt
90 g sugar
2 large eggs, lukewarm
250 g 3.25% milk, lukewarm
250 g filtered water, lukewarm
450 g butter, unsalted and cultured if possible
Instructions:
Rub the fresh yeast into the flour with your fingertips until well distributed.
Mix together milk, water, eggs, sugar and salt. Add the mixture into the flour and using danish whisk until everything comes well together.
Place the dough on the floured workbench and work dough for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Divide into two equal pieces and place each in the floured glass bowls. Slash the dough in the middle to mark a cross. Cover with clear food grade plastic bags and secure with and elastic loop. Place in the fridge overnight or at least for 14 hours.
On the same day, divide butter into 2x225 g pieces. Place each piece of butter on the top waxed paper and then cover with a ziploc bag.
Plasticize the butter with the rolling pin until is flattened and formed into a 1 cm thick square. Wrap each square in a waxed paper and refrigerate until ready to use.
The next morning, flour the workbench, turn out the dough from the glass bowl, and with the rolling pan starting from the centre form a square.
Place the flattened butter diagonally in the centre of the dough and fold over each corner to meet in the centre, which means completely enveloping the butter.
Roll out each piece with the rolling pin into a rectangular approximately 40 cm x 60 cm, keeping hands as much as possible at the ends of the rolling pin to avoid touching the dough. Now, fold the piece into three by taking one of the shorter sides of the dough, fold it in, toward the center, about 1/3 of the way across the dough. Repeat with the other side, overlapping the folds. Place the dough in the ziploc bag and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Put a sticky note for yourself that the dough has been folded the first time. Repeat the same routine with the second piece.
Take the dough out of the fridge and place on well floured table with the short end facing you. Repeat rolling and resting process another 2 times so that three turns have been given to the dough in complete succession. It is advisable then to leave the dough again to rest in the fridge at least 20 minutes each time it has been folded.
Now the dough is ready to make croissants, pain au chocolat, pain aux raisins or chausson aux pommes.
Nutrition Facts as per One Large Croissant: 🧡
Calories 319 | Fat 16.5 g \ Saturated Fat 10.2 g\ Cholesterol 57mg\ Sodium 444 mg\ Total Carbohydrate 36.9 g\ Dietary Fiber 1.6 g\Total Sugars 4.5 g\ Protein 6.1 g \ Vitamin D 16 mcg\ Calcium 26 mg\ Iron 2 mg\ Potassium 111 mg