Two roads to a croissant this Saturday. 🛣️

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🔥

Pick yours now, because the prep starts before the bake does.

I get the same question every time we laminate: "Am I ready for this?" Here's the honest answer. There are two versions in the Pantry, and one of them is built for exactly the baker who's never done this.

𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝟭: 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻-𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗽.

350g of flour, 113g of frozen butter you grate right in on a box grater. No butter block. It's one loaf in a 9x5 pan, and it bakes low and slow at 375. This is lamination for the rest of us. If you've never folded butter into dough in your life, this is the one. You'll still get real flaky layers, plus sourdough tang as the bonus.

👉 https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/sourdough-croissant-bread

𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝟮: 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸-𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝘂𝗻.

500g of flour, a 250g butter block, three letter folds that build 27 layers, spread across three days. That's 50% butter to flour. That ratio is why they shatter when you bite them, and it's also why they'll test your patience. If you want the real Parisian croissant, this is it. Go in knowing it's a project.

👉 https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/classic-french-croissants

Nobody here loses points for picking the loaf. Finishing a bake you can actually finish beats quitting on one that scared you off. Pick the road that fits your weekend.

Now the one thing both roads live or die on: the butter.

🧈Cold butter makes layers. When solid butter hits the oven, the water in it flashes to steam and pushes the dough apart into sheets. Warm butter just melts into the dough and you get a dense, greasy loaf with no layers. That's the whole game.

🎯The target is butter that bends without cracking. On the French recipe I give you the window: 13 to 16°C, about 55 to 60°F. Too cold and it cracks and tears your dough. Too warm and it leaves easy fingerprints and smears. You want it cool, firm, and pliable, same firmness as your dough.

🥵And I know it's hot right now, so three tactics for a warm kitchen:

Chill everything. The dough, the butter, even your rolling pin. Run the pin under cold water and dry it.
Work in short bursts. The second the butter starts to smear or soften, stop and put it back in the fridge for 20 minutes. There's no prize for rushing.
Match before you start. Press the butter and press the dough. If one's a lot firmer than the other, wait. They laminate clean when they feel the same.

Do that and you're most of the way there before you've made a single fold.

💬So tell me below: which road are you taking Saturday, the loaf or the full French? I want to know who I'm baking with.

Perfection is not required. Progress is.

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Two roads to a croissant this Saturday. 🛣️