Croiss-ain’t/faux-ssaint dough
If puff pastry (un-yeasted laminated dough) is allowed to have
a rough version, then I see no reason why a croissant (yeasted
laminated dough) can’t have a lazy understudy too. Look away
Kate Reid, and all hardcore career viennoiseriers! This dough
has unstructured, cakey layers so you’ll only get a squint-your- eyes appearance of the croissant’s quintessential honeycomb
skeleton. What it does have, however, is a fulsome buttery
goodness and crisp flakes on the outside. If this doesn’t become
a dough-to foundation recipe in your baking, I’ll eat this book.

Croiss my heart.

Grate the butter on the coarse side of a box grater. Line a shallow tray
with baking paper and loosely distribute the butter over the surface –
tease it out if it is clumping. Keep chilled.

Swizzle the flours, sugar, salt and improver (if using) together in
a large mixing bowl.

In a small bowl, whisk the yeast into the milk and water with a hand
whisk until it has dissolved, then set aside.

Add the grated butter to the dry ingredients and toss together,
squeezing the butter through your fingers just a few times.

Rubbing too much butter in will diminish the final flakiness – still a great
dough though!

Add the liquid/yeast mix to the butter/flour mix and toss together.

Squeeze and press with your hands until it comes together. Lightly
form into a small, thick rectangle, 15 cm × 20 cm (6 in × 8 in) and
wrap lightly in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes.

continued …

Keeps Chilled up to 2 days.

Freeze for up to 3 months,
defrost in the fridge.

Makes Approximately 570 g (1 lb

4 oz) dough – enough to make a
batch of Xuixo with ‘crème patalana’
(page 231).

Takes Around 5–6 hours for

mixing, resting and rolling, but
only 30 minutes hands-on time.
120 g (4½ oz) unsalted butter,
chilled
200 g (7 oz) bakers’ (strong/
bread) flour
50 g (1¾ oz) wholemeal ( whole- wheat)
plain (all-purpose)
50 g (1¾ oz) caster (superfine)
sugar
4 g (⅛ oz/½ teaspoon) fine
sea salt
5 g (⅛ oz) bread improver
(optional, but available
at supermarkets; this will
activate more gluten and
improve fluffiness)
15 g (½ oz) fresh yeast or
5 g (⅛ oz/1¼ teaspoons)
dry yeast
70 g/ml (2½ oz) full-cream
(whole) milk
70 g/ml (2½ oz) water