Croissants ... with bacon & cheese p.164/165

We have been here before and WOW - they were so good - didn't get to many tasters - nearly hogged the lot but helped by my sister and stalwarts Sarah & Wyn.

To these I shall be adding bacon & cheese.

So I am making a triple quantity to feed the bus of supporters going up to Cardiff on Saturday - imagine a bus full of tasters ... can't wait but several hours to go first.  Tomorrow I will finish making them but will freeze them and then defrost Friday night and then prove and cook Saturday morning.

So to start weigh out your strong plain flour and on one side weigh the salt and sugar and on the other side the quick yeast.  Then add the 300ml of cool water and using the dough hook on the mixer mix ona slow speed for 2 minutes then on a medium speed for 6 minutes.

Tip out the dough onto a lightly floured surface- it will be rather stiff,  shape it into a ball then puit into a plastic bag and into fridge for an hour.

 Having removed it from the fridge  roll the dough into a rectangle to 60 X 20 cms.
Then flatten your butter to a rectangle of 40 X 19 cms - get rid of your bad day at the office -
and bash your butter to flatten it - best cover your butter with flour first.

Position the butter onto the dough so it covers the bottom two thirds - it should be placed so it comes almost to the edges.  Fold the top exposed part down over the middle third, then carefully cut the portion of buter still exposed, but not cutting the dough, and place on top of  of the part just folded down.  Then turn up the bottom third of dough - pinch the edges. 

Place it back into the plastic bag and chill for another hour.

Remove the beg of dough from the fridge after an hour and using a rolling pin rill out so you have a rectangle measuring 60X20 cms.  This time fold up the bottom third then fold down the top third to make a neat square.

This called a single turn and you need to do this two more times placing it in the fridge after each turn.

And that is as far as I have got .. oops no - need to do another turn !
Be right back :)

OK ... Back after the two turns the dough then needs to be placed into its plastic bag again. The bag and dough then placed into your fridge for at least 8 hours - better still overnight as I did.

The next day I rolled out the dough into a rectangle measuring 30cms X 42cms. Neaten the edges then cut into two strips.

 

 

 

From each you should get 6 triangles measuring 12cms at the base and 15cms tall at the mid-point. After cutting your triangles hold them at the base and tug at the mid point so you create a sort of tension. You need to make sure your cheese is grated, then tmix it with your pre- cooked bacon. Take a desert spoon of this mix and place it at the thicker/ wider end - then roll up the dough. Do this for all the croissants - you may freeze them at this point, as I did, or put on a baking tray into clean plastic bags to prove for two hours - or at least until they have doubled in size. Then bake them in the oven at 200 degrees for 15-20 minutes until a crispy golden brown.




  Take out of the oven and place onto a cooling rack.








At this point I had to taste one- warm and so not too hot - well, so crispy, buttery moreish. Of you so decide to to freeze them - makes sure you thorougy defrost then .

These are a must make 😀.

And the feedback from the bus - gorgeous ...
When I make them again shall have to try pain au chocolate xx