Kenneth > wrote in message >. ..
> On 7 Jun 2004 15:45:41 -0700, (Roy Basan) wrote:
>
> >Kenneth > wrote in message >. ..
> >> On Sun, 06 Jun 2004 21:57:37 GMT, "Vox Humana" >
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> >
> >> >"Mike Acord" > wrote in message
> >> ...
> >> >> Has anyone tried making croissants from frozen puff pastry dough? It
> >> >> would seem to be an easy thing to cut triangles rom the dough, roll
> >> >> them, and bake. I have not tried it, as I just thought of it, but i
> >> >> would be interested in the input from someone with more free time.
> >> >> Mike Acord
> >> >
> >> >You wouldn't be making croissants. As has already been pointed out,
> >> >croissant dough is yeasted and puff pastry is not. They are both laminated
> >> >doughs. That is where the similarity begins and ends.
> >> >
> >>
> >> Howdy,
> >>
> >> I would add that the best croissants are not risen with commercial
> >> yeast but instead use natural leavening (what many would call
> >> sourdough.)
> >>
> >> All the best,
> >
> >Sourdough croissants?
> >If that croissant is in the classification of the viennese pastries
> >therefore flaky, whether its bakers yeast raised or sourdough does not
> >matter.The latter does not lend either to a good quality product.
> >Besides croissants even with normal yeast takes some time to proof if
> >that is leavened with starter( needs longer proofing than normal
> >bakers yeast raised croissant),by that time its fully proofed for
> >baking the roll in fat( likely butter) will have started to ooze out
> >affecting the flakiness of the end product.Or there is the tendency
> >that the descrite layering obtained by careful dough laminating
> >process will be reduced due to the acidity which weakens the gluten
> >and make it appear squat looking
> >Therefore the more flaky and well laminated you want from that item
> >its is sensible that the product must be not be standing in a proofer
> >for a really extended period in order to obtain an optimum quality
> >plump looking croissants.
> >However if you are looking at croissant shape roll which can be
> >appropriately called crescents with no or just minimal fat( no
> >layering) then that will be desirable as the flavor of sourdough will
> >give it and added edge.
> >BTW, with the standard croissants dough ,even by adding and old dough
> >will already confer some slight sourness to the product which makes
> >the consumer think that is really made with sourdough.
> >Best Croissants should have a distinctive buttery taste, flaky
> >texture with nice flavor( not too sour but aromatic) .It should have a
> >balance in taste with no overpowering acidic taste that is strongly
> >associated with sourdough and less with such viennoisierre.
> >Roy
>
> Hi Roy,
>
> There need not be any detectable sour taste to naturally leavened
> products, this, despite the American name "sourdough."
>
> All the best,
Kenneth you might be talking about the french levain starter as the
main leavening action and not the san francisco starter .
Well I have seen a french style bakery who really did try sourdough
leavened croissants and the products looks somewhat inferior looking
just what I mentioned. Their starter, a european origin( notably
similar strains as the french levain) which they used to make many of
their bread.
They also made a croissants made with bakers yeast and if you are
sensitive you can taste the slight difference in flavor between the
two products.Unfortunately IMO the overpowering flavor of butter
tends to nullify flavor for such levain use in that particular product
..
In order to determine the long term feasibility of such sourdough
leavened croissants;
They hired an expert in sensory analysis together with a trained test
panel to determine if there is such a preference for sourdough as that
particular bakery is specializing in sourdough.They would like to
introduce a special sourdough croissants if its found to be superior
in the result of such test..
A sensory (triangle test / dou trio test) was done by a food
technologist to see the difference if the trained test panel could
really differentate preference for such baked product.
It was then followed by a ranking and descriptive test and the result
was also statistically evaluated through ANOVA( analysis of variance).
There were two to four different croissant recipes assessed by 20
trained judges( taste panel).
Two type of croissants for the triangle and dou trio ( between 100%
bakers yeast and 100% sourdough)test and four different leavened
doughs for the ranking and descriptive test namely:
The bakers yeast raised( straight dough).
The starter/bakers yeast combination,
bakers yeast and old dough
100% sourdough starter raised.
Well the sensory analysis results were in the following order of
preference:
100% bakers yeast straight dough
bakers yeast and fermented dough( from the same yeast) two stage (
sponge and dough)
natural starter/bakers yeast combination
100% natural sourdough
And with the triangle test/duo trio, there was the significant
preference for the bakers yeast raised croissants and less with the
naturally leavened croissants.
One thing that make the naturally leavened croissants not appreciated
was the inferior appearance and texture in the laminated structure(
less in flakiness) than with the bakers yeast raised item).It is also
chewy ,Which affect the appreciation of the product.Even if the ratio
of the ingredients,( except for the biological leavening normal yeast
or levain) the amount of butter and the level of sheeting and folding
were the same.
With regards to flavor assessment, there was no significant difference
when the result was statistically evaluated.
Meaning, the flavor between the two product( sourdough or bakers yeast
leavened croissants) are the same in such application.
Meaning preference for such naturally leavened croissants is not
significant and coupled with inferior appearance and smaller
volume;and does not merit it to be a long term succesful product.
In addition to that Extensive Customer survey and taste taste did not
confirms such preference for naturally leavened croissants either..
Another thing is with the starter leavened dough the croissant pastry
had slower proofing characteristics affecting the throughput when such
pastry is being made.
Therefore that bakery I mentioned ( after the sensory evaluation)and
survey)prefer to use sourdough in their hearth baked breads but would
rather use use baker yeast in other specialty goods such as
their,brioche,babka/kugelhoft, sweet dough, croissants and danish
pastries.
From that I can safely conclude that with normal lean leavened dough
a sourdough starter has better flavor but with rich doughs containing
large amount of butter its not worth the effort,time and has no
desirable benefit on the total quality of the end product.
Roy