Best Caterpillar Croissants Recipes

EASY HOMEMADE CROISSANT RECIPE

Steps:

• Place the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a large bowl and whisk together until combined.
• Slice the butter into 1/8-inch thick slices and toss in the flour mixture to coat.
• Add the milk and stir together until a stiff dough forms.
• Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a long rectangle shape.
• Fold it into thirds (like a letter), turn 90 degrees, and repeat 4 to 6 more times, or until the dough has large streaks of butter in it but it is smooth and flat. (If at any point the butter starts to feel soft, chill it in the refrigerator or freezer until stiff.)
• Wrap tightly and chill for 1 more hour, then divide the dough in half and roll each portion out to a thickness of about 1/8-inch, in a long rectangle shape (approx. 10-inches wide by 22-inches long).
• Cut the dough into long, skinny triangles (about 5-inches at the wide end).
• Notch the wide end of each triangle with about a 1/2-inch cut, then roll from the wide end to the pointed end, tucking the point under the croissant.
• Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and allow to proof until doubled in size (1 to 2 hours).
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F, and gently brush the croissants with egg wash.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until puffed, golden brown, and flaky.

CATERPILLAR CROISSANTS

Steps:

• Black Dough Directions:.
• In a glass bowl combine food color, water, milk and sugar. Whisk vigorously.
• In a separate bowl combine flours and salt. Pour dry ingredients, wet ingredients and butter into a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix on low roughly five minutes until dough forms. (If dough is too dry and you see crumbs not incorporated after five minutes, you can add a tablespoon more of milk or if it's clearly too sticky you can add a tablespoon of flour.).
• Once the dead dough (Just a way of calling dough free of leavening agents) is mixed, place in a zip lock bag in a cool place until ready to use.
• White Dough Directions:.
• Repeat Black Dough Directions.
• Green Dough Direction:.
• Repeat Black Dough Directions.
• Croissant Directions:.
• In a glass bowl allow the yeast to activate in the warm water and sugar for at least five minutes. Meanwhile mix the flours and salt in a separate bowl. Heat 2 cups of milk on the stove or microwave making sure it's no hotter than 110 degrees. In a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, mix the butter milk and yeast. Pour in the flour mixture and mix on low for about five minutes until dough has formed.
• Remove from mixer and place in a greased bowl covered with a damp cloth for about an hour.
• Prepare the butter sheet: Beat the butter in a stand mixer with the flour until very light and fluffy. Spread out on a large sheet of parchment about 1/8 of an inch thick and roughly 8X14 inches. Cover with parchment and place in refrigerator to set.
• Remove from fridge and allow to warm just a bit before using.
• Once dough has risen, punch it down and roll it out on a large clean surface dusted with flour. Roll out into a roughly 16X16" inch square. Place the butter sheet on one half and cover and press the edges with the other side of the dough. Make sure the butter is soft enough for you to fold, but not so warm is tries to escape. Fold one end 1/4 the length towards the center and do the same on the opposite side, followed by folding that in half one more time to create a book like shape (See image for visual guide). Once done, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight.
• In the morning carefully roll out the dough book into an 8-inch-by-14-inch shape and repeat the folding process (refrigerating one hour between each fold). Do this at least 3-4 times. The more you do this the flakier and more layered your croissant will be.
• Royal Icing:.
• In a stand mixer beat egg whites till frothy. Add sugar until desired consistency is reached.
• Decorative Direction:.
• Once folded and blended enough you can now roll it out and cut it into your desired shapes. My caterpillars were varying sizes so I did several 3X3" squares, 6X4" squares and 8X6" squares; which were then rolled into cylindrical little bodies and then covered and sealed with a very thin coat of the white dead dough (dough without yeast) referenced in the recipe above.
• Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Once rolled and sealed (smoothed and sealed edges with a bit of egg wash - One egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water). I was then ready to roll out and apply my green bands.
• I rolled out the green dough to a little thinner than 1/8 of an inch thickness and used a ruler and pastry cutter to get 1/4-inch strips. I then fused the end of each strip to the underside of the croissant using a bit of egg wash and began gently wrapping the green in a spiral formation around the length of each croissant using the egg wash all the while to ensure it would stay in place.
• I did three at a time, covered them with a large bowl (to prevent drying out) allowed them to rise roughly 40 minutes. Basted them with egg wash and then popped them in the oven for roughly 20 minutes. Checking after 10 minutes to make sure they didn't over brown.
• Once they were all out, I used the remaining black, white and green dead doughs to cut out the eyes and feet. I then affixed each one using egg wash as glue. They were then sent back into the over for about 5 minutes until features were baked and set.
• The teeth were done with a little piped royal icing.

BREAD MACHINE CROISSANTS

Steps:

• Add ingredients in the order recommended for your bread machine. Use the DOUGH cycle.
• When done, remove from bread machine pan and transfer to a greased bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 15 x 12-inch rectangle.
• With the long side towards you, cover 2/3 of the dough with the thin slices of butter.
• Fold UNBUTTERED third of dough over the center buttered third, then fold again - over the remaining buttered third.
• Seal ends and long side of dough. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Place dough on a lightly floured surface with the short side towards you. Roll out into a 15 x 12-inch rectangle.
• Fold in thirds, folding from end to end. Place back onto greased cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. The longer the refrigeration time the flakier the croissants.
• Place dough on lightly floured surface, with short side towards you. Roll out into a 15 x 12-inch rectangle.
• Cut rectangle into thirds, both crosswise and lengthwise. Then cut each section in half diagonally to form 18 triangles.
• Roll each triangle up starting at wide end to form crescent shape.
• Place croissants on greased cookie sheet, curving ends so they almost touch.
• Brush or spray lightly with water. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30-50 min or until double in size.
• Brush croissants with slightly beaten egg white. Bake in preheated 375° oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

CHEF JOHN'S CROISSANTS

Steps:

• Place warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle with yeast. Let yeast dissolve for 10 minutes. Add sugar and bread flour. Sprinkle with salt; add 6 tablespoons butter. Attach the bowl to the stand mixer. Mix dough with the dough hook just until butter is completely kneaded in and the dough forms a ball and pulls away cleanly from the sides of the bowl, 3 or 4 minutes.
• Transfer dough to a work surface and form into a semi-smooth ball. Place dough back in the mixer bowl; cover. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled, about 2 hours.
• Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. Push and press dough to deflate it, and form it into a rectangle. Fold into thirds by lifting one end over the middle third, and folding the other side onto the middle. Wrap in plastic wrap. Place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with a silicone mat. Refrigerate until chilled through, about 1 hour.
• Cut 2 sticks butter in half lengthwise and place slightly apart from each other on a length of parchment paper long enough to fold over the butter. Fold the parchment paper over the butter. Press butter down. Roll out with a rolling pin to a square about 8x8 inches. Refrigerate until a little chilled and just barely flexible, 10 or 15 minutes.
• Roll dough out into a rectangle slightly wider than the butter slab and just over twice as long. Place butter on one half of the dough leaving about 1 inch margin from the edge of the dough. Fold the other half of the dough over the butter. Dust work surface and dough with flour as needed.
• Press rolling pin down on dough to create ridges. Then roll out the ridges. Repeat this process. Keep pressing and rolling until dough is about the same size rectangle as you had before you folded it in half, dusting with just a bit of flour as necessary.
• Starting from the short side, fold one-third of dough over middle third. Then fold the other end over to form a small rectangle. Flatten out just slightly with rolling pin. Transfer to the silicone-lined baking sheet; cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.
• Transfer dough back to work surface and repeat pressing and rolling technique until dough is the size of the previous larger rectangle. Fold into thirds again, starting from the short side. Press and roll slightly. Transfer back to lined baking sheet. Cover and refrigerate about 15 minutes.
• Roll back out to a large rectangle. This time, fold dough in half. Then press and roll out into a 1/2-inch thick rectangle, using as little flour as needed to keep dough from sticking.
• Cut dough in half lengthwise using a pastry wheel or pizza cutter. Dust one piece with flour and roll out to a rectangle about 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick. Starting from one corner, cut the dough diagonally crosswise into 8 triangles using a pastry wheel. Starting with the bottom end of each triangle, roll each up toward the tip to form the croissant with the seam at the bottom. If necessary, use a bit of water to seal the tip to the rolled croissant.
• Repeat with the other half of the dough.
• Place shaped croissants on baking sheets lined with silicone mats. Whisk together egg and 1 tablespoon water to make the egg wash. Brush croissants with egg wash. Place in a warm area to allow them to rise, about 45 to 60 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Brush croissants gently but thoroughly again with egg wash.
• Bake in preheated oven until beautifully browned, about 25 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack. Cool to room temperature before serving.