Croissants & Pain Au Chocolats

How do I cook badly? Let me count the ways.
1. Age 11: The first time I made potato/carrot pancakes, I added way too little oil. Result? No dinner and a super dirty frying pan.
2. Age 18: I thought it'd be smart to make lime pie filling with all aspartame/sucralose and no sugar. Of course, nothing set, and everything tasted metallicky and nauseating.
3. Age 14: I made a red currant tart without a recipe, and I recall only putting in a few teaspoons of sugar (resulting in a tremendously sour tart that everyone else pretended to enjoy).
4. Age 14: Oh, and that apple pie made with semi-rehydrated dried apple.
5. Age 14: Nutella cookies that were as hard as hardtack and as strong as steel. Those days...
6. Age 15(?): Silken tofu chocolate pudding, which turned into a watery drink instead.
7. Age 13: Bread. Everyone else in Food Tech managed to get risen loaves, while SC and I were left with hardtack studded with pistachios, even though we all used the same yeast. This bread problem also came up last week.

The common element in these failures is that after just one or two tries, I succeeded. So, I knew that, at some point or another, I was going to be able to work with yeast, and make croissants. Croissants are just extremely time-consuming and also really time-dependent. It's like performing a Western blot (but more fun)! Unfortunately, out of all dessert items, SP chooses to like pain au chocolats ("chocolate bread", which is a rectangle of croissant dough with a stick or two of chocolate in the middle), and he said he'd do anything for me if I made these for him for his birthday. And who wouldn't be willing to exchange pain au chocolats for an electric broccoli trimmer with detachable non-electric cauliflower trimmer[start at 2:04]?
The recipe I used initially was this French one. After failing with it twice, I did some research and found an English recipe written by a French guy, Louis la Vache, who used tremendous detail and stressed the importance in all these fridge times. However, I also found a really quick croissant recipe that I will try later (if I can find it!) because it looks MUCH less time-consuming than the 12-hour process I finally followed.
Two months ago, I attempted to make croissants with yeast, and the dough wouldn't rise (the dough was in the sun, perhaps 20-30 degrees C for over 4 hours). Despite the fact that the yeast were obviously dead (and I should've just made tortillas instead). I figured I should go ahead and make the croissants with the unleavened dough, and I got cute little croissants whose hardness matched a 7 on the Mohs scale. Heh, at least the layering idea worked - vital for photogenic and flaky croissants.

A few days later, I decided to make them again. Unfortunately, I reduced all the fridge times (seeing as I really didn't understand that the dough actually RISES while in the fridge!). I scaled down the recipe, even though the yeast to flour ratio is probably not linear, and also probably accidentally killed off half my yeast with the too-hot milk. The dough rose a bit, but it was insignificant compared to the dough my mum was using to make Chinese steamed buns - mantou (馒头)! The butter kept oozing out of the too-thin layers, and everything was just messy. Either way, these failures were eaten and enjoyed, slightly (more avidly by my sister, who likes anything buttery).

So, after the past week of buying new yeast, successfully making bread twice, and healing from the failed croissant scars, I set to make croissants and pain au chocolats for SP, this time using une recette de Louis la Vache.

I only used 7 g of yeast (1 package) because not only do I have a small bowl, but I also didn't want to have another failure. I also used a lot more flour than expected! These are just what I did, and I would prefer to go back to the original recipe when making these again.

Ingredients I used:

1 tbsp white flour
1 stick butter

2.5 c white flour (+ more... I might've used 3 - I just kept adding tbsp by tbsp)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp granulated sugar
7 g (1 sachet) yeast
1/8 c 30 degree C water
1 c 30 degree C milk

1 egg yolk
2 tbsp water

Notes on the Method:
1. The dough rises in the fridge! This was the biggest surprise, because I didn't think that yeast would be so active at 4 degrees C. This means that for the least usage of energy, the croissants would be best made in the winter, when I can leave the dough to rise outside in the cold (and after baking, the oven can be let open to keep me warm)! Look at that risen dough!
2. The first dough rise was about 70 minutes. The second was about an hour, and the third was 5 hours. Then, they were rolled out, and that dough was chilled for 15 minutes (just so that rolling it would be easier - so the butter wouldn't melt onto my hands or table). Then, the rolled-up croissants/pains were left at room temperature for 1 hour to rise a bit more. They actually rose (unlike what I had before, pictured below).

I wanted the croissants to be baked by midnight, and I started kind of late in the day, so I was operating on a tight schedule! They actually started baking at 10:00pm, and I was on my way to SP's place at 10:30pm! 12 hours on the dot (or maybe I started at 11am...)!

3. I used a plastic bag instead of plastic wrap because the bag is reusable. I also mixed the butter and flour in a plastic container, which resulted in broken blobs of butter on the dough, which wasn't a huge deterrent, but my technique could definitely be improved.

4. I used a paper towel instead of a tea towel because I don't have clean towels :(. The damp paper towel didn't stick too much to the dough, especially if you pull it off slowly and carefully. Excellent.

5. The butter was generally too warm, and probably fell into chunks while I was rolling. The table got a bit buttery. I used my room's desk (cleaned it beforehand, but I feel like I should've done an ethanol cleaning yesterday) because there is just no space in the kitchen. Next time, I would put way more flour onto the table.

6. The dough was extremely soft and, at times, sticky. Everything must be generously coated with flour!! As I was rolling, I could hear the bubbles popping, and the dough reminded me of marshmallows, mochi, and pillows. Certainly, this is NOT what I saw the last two times I made croissant dough!

7. For the egg wash, I used an egg yolk and 2 tbsp of water. There was probably enough wash leftover for 2 croissants. I painted on the egg wash right before putting the trays in the preheated oven (no skimping for this...). The oven is too small to fit 3 trays on one rack, so the pain au chocolats got the bottom rack. For this particular oven, everything was done between 17 and 20 minutes, and the tops were golden brown and quite close to being burnt.

8. My final yield was 6 pain au chocolats and 10 croissants. I could've made 12-13 pain au chocolats, or 18-19 croissants.


Pictures of Method:

Dough rose in the fridge!! 70 minutes.

Package of butter.

Rolled out package of butter.

Folding like an letter, then folding like a book.

Folded! Fridge time! (1 h)

Covered with damp paper towel while rising - no plastic.

After hour of rising.

500 g of chocolate!

Rolling number 2! Note the bubbles!

5 h in fridge, in damp paper towel and plastic bag.

After the rise.

I saw this idea of cutting a slit online and it seems to help in rolling a more evenly-tall croissant.

There were four Asiago cheese croissants. Those did not rise as well in the next hour, but still baked well.

Rolling pain au chocolats - I used two sticks each.

Before rise.

After rise (and rearrangement). The cheese ones are the top left; they are smaller...

Egg wash! I used the brush I got for $1 at the Penn Moves sale this June!

Taste? Phenomenal! Crispy on the outside, flaky layers on the inside! Not too salty and not too sweet, and perfectly buttery. I've never had a croissant IN France (even though I've been there twice...sad, I know. It's like how I've been to Japan, but only sampled half of a tamagoyaki nigiri on the plane back...no other sushi!), but I'd imagine it's something as fresh and delicious as this (and correctly-sized). It doesn't look like the croissants I've seen in books or on photogenic food sites, with holes the size of ice cubes, but SP assured me that real croissants have layers you can peel and don't have giant holes. He was able to peel his pain au chocolat into layers during his lunch and apparently it made him very happy. So, thank you, Louis la Vache!

This is a quote from him:
Those pains au chocolats were amazing! They're the best ones I've ever had in the US.
[he's lived in France, and he indeed does constantly consume pain au chocolats]

So now, I feel like I can cook ANYTHING.

In other news, in the past few months, my 9 year-old sister made cornbread from a cornbread mix, using the toaster oven, at 7 in the morning for Mother's Day. She even made a glaze from scratch (by herself!!). I am pretty proud of her, especially as she said that I gave her the idea to make glaze (because we've cooked together so many times before). When I was 9, I knew how to fry super oily eggs and make scrumptious buttered toast. Actually, I may not have known how to fry eggs. She also apparently went on a pancake-making spree (from a pancake mix) when I was at school last semester. She also made a cake for Father's day. I suppose I should document her cooking experience here too, every once in a while.

Cheese croissant

Pain au chocolat, the next day.

I didn't have time to take glossy magazine-type photos because SP and I were too busy eating them and watching Adventureland.

"Cows Make Delicious!"

Australian meat pies are, to me, originate from either an inexpensive restaurant, or the freezer. I did make them from scratch two weeks ago, but, ironically, the "real" version to me is the frozen kind I used to stick in the microwave, or the hot, fresh kind I got a Penrith Plaza (or my primary school tuck shop). The Australian meat pies that I knew weren't made with whole-wheat flour or American cows.

So I've decided just to make meat tarts because:

1. I had a pound of minced cow pieces and I didn't feel like making meatballs

2. Tarts use less pastry than pies.

Fortunately, one pound of minced cow filling fit perfectly into 19 pastry shells!

For 19 egg-tart-sized pastry shells:

180 g of butter/1.5 sticks cut into about 320 g whole-wheat flour/2.5 cups and 1 tsp salt, with some water added to make the crumbs stick to each other to form a dough.

The top of the filling hardens/crisps a bit when cooking, while the inside of the tart remains moist and delicious (I'm assuming).

Along with apparently being a good spaghetti sauce...

...INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING:

1 large diced onion

40 ml ketchup

1 tsp Vegemite (optional, since this is not an Australian meat pie, after all)

6 heaping tbsp steak sauce

2 tbsp barbecue sauce

450 g minced beef

1 tsp salt (optional)

1 tbsp cornstarch/cornflour

250 ml water (or tomato juice, if you have any)

METHOD

1. On high heat, cook onions, ketchup, Vegemite, steak sauce, barbecue sauce, and salt for a few minutes.

2. Throw in minced beef and listen to it sizzle for a few minutes.

3. Mix the cornstarch with a little bit of water, then dilute with remaining water. Pour water+cornstarch into saucepan.

4. Simmer on medium heat for around 20 minutes. A little less is fine. Just make sure the mince is cooked. If you are a vegetarian, use your eyes.

5. Scoop about 1.5 heaping tbsp of filling into each pastry shell. The filling will look very liquidy, but the liquid will congeal to a terrifically juicy meat filling thing in the oven.

6. Bake in an un-preheated oven on the lower rack for 15 minutes at 221 degrees C/430 degrees F. Let sit in oven for an hour or so. OR, just let them bake for 20 minutes. Either way, you just want to the crust to be cooked.

Something that's been on my mind recently is Chowder saying "Cuz cows make delicious!" from the episode "The Garage Sale". It goes something like...

Mung: We're going to-

Chowder: gettin' a cow?

Mung: Why do you want a cow?

Chowder: Cuz cows make delicious!

Mung: Delicious what?

Chowder: A garage sale, huh? Why would anyone want to sell their garage?

(this is paraphrased)

Australian Meat Pie...

...sort of.

I highly doubt I could make an authentic Australian meat pie. Even if I did, I wouldn't be able to eat it. Though, I guess if/when I go to Australia (That shop at Penrith Plaza, particularly), I'd probably actually eat (*gasp*) the beefy concoction enclosed in a crusty pastry shell.

The first step towards making a nice Australian meat pie would be to obtain a neat, authentic recipe. I'm not really sure whether this is an authentic recipe, but I chose it because Vegemite was one of the ingredients and everything was in metric units. So, at least I know it's from someone from the other-ish side of the world.

I didn't use prefrozen crust though (I made a whole-wheat short crust instead), and I did use different ingredients...but I don't feel like delving into this subject since HFCS and other random ingredients are involved. The filling smelled just like Australian meat pies (AHHHHH :D) which brought back a shock of nostalgia. When I smell the filling, I think about breezy Saturdays at Penrith Plaza, or at the public library, or walking down the lawn, or running up and down the hills at Nepean River. Carefree days. Unfortunately, I made too little pastry. Unlike the standard sized pies, I made small ones that fit into egg tart shells. Why? Er, I don't have any other containers for these pies...

Although it appeared that my filling was too runny, after baking the pies in the oven (430 degrees F for 10 minutes, 375 degrees F for 7 minutes, and... sit in the oven for half an hour), the texture and moist-ness was perfect!

Fruit-Filled Pastries

I think that my favourite dining hall has to be the one at Kings Court. They frequently have vegetarian foods, occasionally have individual bottles of soymilk, and generally always have amazing dips and cereal. Generally, on Mondays and Tuesdays, there are vegan desserts. These desserts are much different from the typical desserts that Penn Dining chugs out; there are apricot bars, cranberry scones, raisin pinwheel cookies, and even these pastry thingys which are apparently called "Beggar's Purses". I personally really dislike that name (just a preference...) so I'm just going to call them fruit-filled pastries.

I do love pastry. I love savoury pastry for vegetable pies or spanakopita, and I love flaky pastry coating sweet pies. I love chocolate/glazed croissants. However, I seriously dislike plain pastry. I can't have a pastry made solely out of fat and flour. The pastry crust used here was extremely bland. There was a sprinkle of sugar only on the four corners, and each layer, although flaky, offered no taste whatsoever. Okay, I think that fat is a "taste", but it's definitely not enough to elicit a response for me to want to eat more pastry.

The fruit part was basically stewed fruits such as cooked frozen blueberries, apples, and other stuff... It was quite mushy, and its sweetness at least enhanced some of the pastry's blandness.

I disliked this pastry, although it looked extraordinary. Actually, the best things from the vegan desserts section are

1. Corn sandies cookies - the best. thing. ever.

2. Chocolate (or was it carob?) brownies

3. Apricot bars

An Epic Day of FOOD!

I'm finally getting into the swing of things. I'm finally getting used to managing time in college... so now I think that blogging shouldn't be as difficult as it was in September. Everything is finally settling down and I don't really know if I want to blog for PennAppetit. Can I double post? Can I blog here and then copy and paste the same thing onto their blog? Will PennAppetit shrivel up from my seriously bad sense of lack-of-humour and honestly longer-than-necessary sentences?

Anyway today at lunch there were ricotta cheese stuffed pasta shells [They. Are. Gigantic. I don't think I've ever had pasta that was THAT THICK. Yes, the shells were thick.] and a variety of pumpkin/squash stuffed with Buglar. This meal was amazing. It was also a really photogenic dish.

Later, TJ and I went down to the basement of Commons to do some homework. At around 5pm, there was a reception for another Food Week event, and even though TJ and I hadn't signed up for it, we managed to obtain some food [not the ones with animal pieces inside, though, since both she and I are vegetarian]. This Food Week event included the audience and chef of Commons, Donald Stauffer, asking 5 local farmers about gardening and raising animals and meeting the demands of the clientele. It was pretty interesting, I suppose, except I was sitting in the corner trying to do my Comparative Medicine outlining. There was a point, though, where a guy asked one of the farmers a question, and the farmer said something about how he had "two angels on his shoulders" [as opposed to an angel and a devil, I presume]. Of course, this generated some giggles from the audience. Then, as the guy proceeded to ask his question, the farmer cut him off and started saying some random stuff that wasn't really related to the question [which we never actually heard]. The farmer said that "we should get off the computer and unplug everything because we don't need to know about what Britney is wearing" [paraphrased]. A few minutes later, the guy who was asking his question left the forum.

I was pretty surprised, but in retrospect, I would leave a pro-choice forum [but why would I be at one in the first place?!].

I need to stop digressing. The food that I DID eat included a cold pumpkin soup with cute little cubes of pumpkin texture and a candied walnut [amazing], an apple crumble with flaky pastry, and a pumpkin cheesecake. The pumpkin cheesecake itself didn't taste much like cheesecake; the pumpkin flavour was more prominent. The crust was phenomenal, though, since it had this caramelly butter taste, and it also reminded me of Digestives. The crust was honestly the best part of my day, foodwise.

The apple crumble was deliciously textured and clearly resembled stewed apples with seasoning, nuts and oats. It was wonderful. The pastry was icky and tasteless, but that's because I don't really like plain pastry [yes, I ate all the crumble first].

Evidently, Commons food need not be terrible. The other animal-filled stuff seemed good too, judging by the way MA was eating them. He ate a lot of food and appeared to be sincerely enjoying it.

Tea Mooncakes.

Since I'm leaving to college, my grandpa is returning back home, and my dad is going on a business trip by the time the Moon Festival comes around this year, we decided to celebrate it early. We had this huge family conversation thing, which actually sounded very laudatory and respectful, and, I suppose, was truthfully a "family" moment. We sat there talking for 40 minutes. Well, actually, my grandpa did most of the talking, and for someone from a completely different generation, he actually has similar values and beliefs as I do, concerning health, family, and being social. He literally said that there are friends, and then there are fake friends, which I find to be one of the most important pieces of advice ever. My sister didn't listen though... as soon as my grandpa started speaking, she ran away from the table, turned up moments later with neon green earplugs in her ears, and then ran off to mope about how we weren't paying her any attention.

So, my mum had bought these tea mooncakes at a hitched up price just for this, but they were really awesome since they were TEA flavoured! There were 6 different flavours, and they all ranged from sweet to bitter-sweet. They were extremely flavourful, and some were even textured with lotus seed pieces. My sister cut them all up into quarters :) The pastry was normal mooncake pastry, except that the flavours were stamped on top instead of a proverb or a company name. Unfortunately, my Chinese reading skills are quite terrible.

Oh, this is embarrassing. I forgot the name of this one... li[4] zhi[1]? It was mainly sweet, with a nice crunch from the lotus seeds [I think?] It actually tasted quite authentic.

Oolong tea; this one had a nice bitter note to it, and was, in my opinion, the most "tea"-like mooncake in the box.

Jujube berry. I'm not really sure if there is a jujube berry tea, but this one basically tasted like mashed jujube berries with lotus paste. It was very textured, and reminded me of the cherry Larabar, although this had no nuts and had no aftertaste. It was also very rich.

Jasmine tea; mild flavour, easily mixed up with the green tea. Actually, it tasted very similar to the green tea one, but that may just be confirmation bias since they are both green.

Pomelo flavoured; again, I'm not sure if this was supposed to be pomelo "tea" flavoured. This one had a nice texture due to the fact that there were chopped up lotus seeds inside. I couldn't really taste any pomelo though; it was basically a regular mooncake, in my opinion.

Green tea. I was a bit disappointed with this one since I love green tea, but this was way too sweet to be legitimate green tea. Actually, maybe the green tea flavour just didn't pull through, due to the sugar in the lotus paste...