CHAPTER NINE

CROISSANT PASTRIES

And so to viennoiserie… croissants and danishes and other lovely leavened goods. Though often simple in appearance, they are very difficult to master. Let our three magic mantras help guide you.

MANTRA #1: Use the best possible ingredients. French Lescure butter or European-style cultured butter will result in superb results. Splurge on the finest chocolate, make your custard fillings from fresh eggs, milk and real vanilla beans; poach the best seasonal fruit for your danishes, rather than using tinned.

MANTRA #2: Good things take time. Allow your dough to prove slowly. This also applies when ‘laminating’ pastry — careful, precise folding of the dough will create layers of perfectly thin, flaky pastry. Adding a tiny amount of ferment or day-old dough also produces a deeper and more complex flavour.

MANTRA #3: Bake it well. After all your hard work, you want your pastries to be a beautiful deep-copper colour, which also enriches their flavour, adding a subtle hint of caramel. We always know our customers have eaten a good croissant because of all the flaky caramel-coloured pastry we need to sweep off the floor.