Answer: You pack layers of it between the dough! Welcome to the wonderful world of dough lamination, the topic for this week's viennoiserie classes. Seriously, if I thought last week's baking needed a health warning, this week's was a one way ticket to an early grave, but worth every mouthful!
For those interested in the mechanics of lamination in a commercial bakery, it all gets done with one of these massive sheeters pictured below. You mix your dough, then roll it out with the sheeter, cover it with a thick layer of butter, fold it, roll it out, fold it, roll it out.......you get the picture. Basically that's what creates that amazing flakiness. And if you want to tell me your Grandma uses an old fashioned rolling pin instead of a sheeter, let me tell you that Granny's won't be as flaky as the croissants and danishes we churned out here this week! They were magic.
I took over 300 photos in class this week, here are some of my favourites....
Plain croissants - we made so many different variations: straight, PFD, poolish, sponge, liquid levain, whole wheat, mini, large. I have learned that the success of a croissant is defined by the honeycomb cell structure. It's the equivalent of holes in your baguette.
Filled croissants - almond, pain au chocolat, ham and cheese
Danishes - filled with pastry cream, lemon curd, cream cheese filling, apple filling and topped with fruits and streusel
And other spiffy laminated creations - lemon morning buns, lunettes, twisted-S's, cherry pie, kouign amam and bienenstich (beesting) cake filled with diplomat cream to die for.
To give you an idea of the volume of goods we have been churning out, here is just one day's baking, and just for my group. Multiply that by four each day for the class! I am the new favourite hotel guest when I deliver a box of giveaways to reception every day on my way home.
So, that's a wrap for this update. I'm going on a sugar detox this weekend, well maybe not for the whole weekend but there's eight hours until breakfast.
