Take it with a grain of salt because i'm just a home chef, not a pro. However, your interior structure looks great for the method you used. If by "improving" you mean that you're looking to achieve a more lacey and delicate interior (while still maintaining that honeycomb structure) I'd recommend choosing a lamination method that gives you more layers. What you've described would be considered a 3-4-3 lamination method, which is pretty conventional and even favored for a pain au chocolat. But if you changed your method to use a 3-4-4 or even a 3-3-3-3 you'd get more layers and a finer texture. Jimmy Griffin has a great book where he expains this in some detail. The book isn't terribly well-organized and lacks a lot of polish (it's self published - basically a rambling word doc turned into a "book") BUT it provides direct, clear advice from a top-level pro on all the variables you can change for your croix, including butter handling, lamination types, proofing temp and times, and baking times. If you're looking for a technical deep-dive into lamination, it's a great book. Also - as a final note, i'm not wild about sourdough croissants - the "slow and steady" leavening activity of levain doesn't seem optimal for croissants. Osmotolerant yeast (SAF Gold) has a lot more zip to it than a standard yeast (like SAF red). For my croix, I generally use a poolish method with SAF Gold.
Books specifically for laminated pastries - I saw this one recently on amazon but haven't read it.
I may offer this tip tho - Get really good quality butter - and if possible get anything over 80 per cent butterfat. Keep in mind it probably won't be cheap.
Recipe adapted from Jimmy Griffin’s Art of Lamination book.
Risen for ~4 hours at ~26C.
Risen for ~3 hours at 26C, then rested in the fridge overnight.
Butter lock-in followed by a book fold and a letter fold, with 1 hour rest in between in the fridge + 10 min in the freezer. Every roll-out is to about 5mm thickness. Learned hand lamination technique from this awesome video by Jimmy Griffin.
Shaped & then proofed overnight for ~10 hours at 26C.
Preheated the oven to 220C, then baked for 20 minutes at 170C (fan-ventilated).
The two keys two success I feel were:
Item | Current | Lowest | Reviews |
---|---|---|---|
The Art of Lamination : Advanced Technical Lamina… | - | - | 4.5/5.0 |
^Item Info | Bot Info | Trigger
Item | Current | Lowest | Reviews |
---|---|---|---|
The Art of Lamination : Advanced Technical Lamina… | - | - | 4.5/5.0 |
^Item Info | Bot Info | Trigger
Item | Current | Lowest | Reviews |
---|---|---|---|
The Art of Lamination : Advanced Technical Lamina… | - | - | 4.5/5.0 |
^Item Info | Bot Info | Trigger
Item | Current | Lowest | Reviews |
---|---|---|---|
The Art of Lamination : Advanced Technical Lamina… | - | - | 4.5/5.0 |
^Item Info | Bot Info | Trigger
Recipe adapted from Jimmy Griffin’s Art of Lamination book.
Levain build:
Risen for ~4 hours at ~26C.
Risen for ~3 hours at 26C, then rested in the fridge overnight.
Standard butter lock-in followed by a book fold and a letter fold, with 1 hour rest in between folds in the fridge + 10 min in the freezer. Every roll-out is to about 5mm thickness. Learned hand lamination technique from this awesome video by Jimmy Griffin.
Shaped & then proofed overnight for ~10 hours at 26C.
Preheated the oven to 220C, then baked for 20 minutes at 170C (fan-ventilated).
The two keys two success I feel were: