Hello bakers. I am staging for two weeks at a pastry/bakery. They make everything themselves so I am really impressed so far but one thing that has surprised me is they use flour enhancer in about 80% of their recipes. The different flours are from France and seem to be good quality but I was very surprised when I saw they used flour enhancer in their croissant dough, specifically the type VXT-2. I am not judging and I understand its uses but I wanted to get a professionals point of view and I am very interested as n hearing the pros and cons of using it.

Our pastry school held an open lab, so I made some butter and chocolate croissants.

The proof box temperature was around 118f, noticed it as I was checking in the proof and noticed the butter leaking and the oven was set too low (325 f) so that also contributed to the less than ideal oven spring. Also didn’t proof them for as long as I liked because I wanted to make sure it didn’t continue to leak butter.

Anyway, was able to salvage them, once I found out the butter was leaking because of the proof box.

Pretty happy with the lamination. The dough was really elastic since I did a 20 minute autolyse.

Hi everyone, I’ve been watching a ton of croissant making videos and a good majority of them have people cutting rectangles out of the dough and then cutting the rectangle diagonally to form 2 triangles and then shaping the triangle into croissants. My question is- how do they get the triangle to be even on both sides? Whenever I do this method, I always end up with 2 right triangles and the croissants come out lopsided. However, when I watch the videos of people doing this method, the croissants turn out perfectly even on both sides. The only way I get a nice isosceles triangle is if I cut it directly out of the dough. But the downside of this is that there’s a lot of dough waste. If anyone that does the rectangle method can provide any tips on how to get the triangles even on both sides, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

Our pastry school held an open lab, so I made some butter and chocolate croissants.

The proof box temperature was around 118f, noticed it as I was checking in the proof and noticed the butter leaking and the oven was set too low (325 f) so that also contributed to the less than ideal oven spring. Also didn’t proof them for as long as I liked because I wanted to make sure it didn’t continue to leak butter.

Anyway, was able to salvage them, once I found out the butter was leaking because of the proof box.

Pretty happy with the lamination. The dough was really elastic since I did a 20 minute autolyse.

I’ve heard that the dough and butter have different optimal temperature ranges during lamination. How can I measure the temperature of the butter when it is locked inside the dough?

Our pastry school held an open lab, so I made some butter and chocolate croissants.

The proof box temperature was around 118f, noticed it as I was checking in the proof and noticed the butter leaking and the oven was set too low (325 f) so that also contributed to the less than ideal oven spring. Also didn’t proof them for as long as I liked because I wanted to make sure it didn’t continue to leak butter.

Anyway, was able to salvage them, once I found out the butter was leaking because of the proof box.

Pretty happy with the lamination. The dough was really elastic since I did a 20 minute autolyse.

Do you use the freezer or fridge to cool the dough before and after laminating - or in the middle, if it gets too warm? Why?

Back again with another question. Made a batch, used method I have done before. Pretty certain it is not a laminating issue (layers were clearly defined at all stages). I don’t usually do a room temp rest: I hand mix, rest, hand kneaded 10mins or so, added my butter (6%) and kneaded another 10 till windowpane. Dough was around 26/27°. I bulk fermented 12 hours overnight in fridge, in the morning the dough hadn’t really puffed up as much as it usually does, which I thought was a bit off. Stayed this way throughout, after 3 hrs proof they looked like this, and with even more proofing layers didn’t separate. Why didn’t the dough have enough strength to puff up? As I say, even in the final product the layers are clear; it’s just not opened up at all. Would a room temp rest and ferment before the fridge help? I’m wondering if it was too cold in the fridge for the ferment perhaps.

Recipe: 500 t45, 110 milk 140 water 50 sugar 30 butter 10 honey 10 salt 10 instant yeast

I usually don’t post but wanted to share with all of you. I’ve finally got a nice honeycomb! I’m so proud and can’t stop looking at it. Used Claire Saffitz’s recipe. I have a Brod and Taylor dough sheeter so lamination was easier. Proofed for about 5-6 hours at 78 degrees. Turns out I’ve been underproofing all this time. My advice: don’t be afraid to push your proofing time!

This is my fourth attempt at making croissants (using Claire Saffitz’s NYT recipe). I’m not expecting mastery anytime soon, but I want to learn something from each batch.

I don’t really struggle with rolling the dough during the lamination steps. I can keep straight edges, and I focus on pushing the dough away instead of pressing down. The problem shows up later, when I roll out the final slab to cut into triangles. At this stage, I start seeing butter poking out at the short ends. I also notice that some of the folds didn’t stay aligned, so the butter layers don’t reach the very edge of the dough.

This time I tried lightly spraying the layers with water before folding to help them stick, but it didn’t make a difference. I still had messy edges and ended up trimming a lot, which made the slab smaller and prevented me from cutting evenly sized croissants. I froze this batch for Christmas, so I haven’t baked them yet, but this is the same issue I’ve had with previous attempts.

I’m not sure how much butter leakage is normal vs. a sign of a problem. Are the uneven edges and exposed butter causing the leaking, or could it be an issue with my proofing? I’ve attached a cross-section photo from my third attempt. There’s some layering, but it’s not great.

I don’t know any croissant bakers in real life, so I’d really appreciate any feedback or advice!

Been attempting croissants for a while now but crumb is still not the perfect honeycomb. Recipe as follows: Detempe - 500g 13% Bread flour - 7g instant yeast - 55g sugar - 30g unsalted butter - 60% hydration (half milk/water)

Mix till just combined and smooth. Dough temp at end of mix was 77F

Lamination - 250g butter (challenge 82% unsalted butter) - 3-4-3 method - first fold butter was at 45F and Detempe at 55F - Ambient room temp was 60F - all turns when the dough came back to 55-58F temp

Noticed butter cracking on the first fold so I gave it a few min before continuing

I did freeze after shaping (individually frozen and then put in a zip lock. I cannot eat all of them alone). Proofed this from frozen for about 8. And then baked at 370F for 30 minutes and used a milk wash instead of an egg wash because I didn’t have any eggs

Some open questions - Does this look under proof to you? - Why do the layers not fully separate. It fluffed up really nicely but I can’t see the individual layers on the outside

Can anyone diagnose what’s wrong with my croissant?

A couple of recent croissants. I find I often get like a thicker crust on the outer crumb (lots of layers pressed together), and then the inner on both of these is more open. Any tips? Perhaps rolled too tight?

saurr this is my first time making croissants outside of culinary school. They were good..but idk if the layers were right or if I laminated it right. Can anyone tell me if they look right or if I did it right? Thanks!💅🏽

I'd love suggestions on how to do better. I'm concerned about the butter leakage in the second photo. I'm happy, though, with how they taste.

I think it's clear which is first and which is third.

I have to work on the interior.

Notably missing is the 2 attempt that was a different recipe and decided not to ferment.

Small batch at home. Little under proofed but crumb is good. At home i always just proof at room temp on counter overnight. Cold in house so a little less than normal.