Snow Baking

I ended my last post with a plan to bake croissants and yes, indeed I did. Perhaps I should look into my recipe book a bit more in depth before becoming so verbally cavalier in the future. Val and I had a wonderful time following the complicated directions; we had flour everywhere, got a terrific workout with the rolling pin and French boulangeries have nothing to fear. After letting the dough chill overnight, re-roll, cut, awkwardly form into crescents and rise, we baked this evening. The smell was glorious and the croissants looked pretty, although somewhat bigger than I expected. The flaky, layered, tenderness of Parisian croissants was missing in the "breadier" centers of ours. Not that this critique kept us from eating quite a few smeared with an assortment of jams and honey which we set out with our afternoon tea! I do think I will try them again and definitely roll the dough much thinner than our recipe suggested, experimenting to improve the flakiness outcome. Very satisfying fun for a snowy afternoon.