I’ve been making a lot of croissants at work recently and decided to take my newfound experience home and attempt a vegan version in my own kitchen. This has proven to be something of a challenge. In a professional bakery one has access to rolling machines (which make the whole laminating process much quicker and easier), climate control (which keeps the fat from melting as quickly), and industrial strength mixers (that ensure a smooth and evenly mixed dough), whereas my kitchen at home, while lovely, involves wielding a partially-functional rolling pin on hand-mixed dough atop too little counter space in the oppressive heat, all of which wouldn’t be so bad if I could just find a brand of margarine that didn’t begin to melt with 30 seconds of its extraction from the refrigerator.
My first attempt at rolling out the dough was a total fiasco owing to my selection of “Smart Balance” margarine (in retrospect was really stupid of me because it was obviously more of a spread than anything else (when you’re laminating dough you need the most resilient margarine you can find - anything that comes in one of those circular tubs just isn’t going to cut it)), which oozed out the sides of the dough immediately upon application of pressure from the rolling pin. My second attempt was more of a partial success, once again due mostly to shopper error; I bought “Earth Balance” sticks that I assumed were margarine, but which in fact turned out to be shortening. The lamination step went ok, and I was able to make some relatively croissant-like shapes, but the end result tasted more like a biscuit than anything else. I bought some other margarine at the store yesterday and am eager to give it another go. In the interim, here is a step-by-step overview of the process so that you can all follow along at home.
The recipe that I used comes straight out of On Cooking - the only changes I’ve made are converting the weight measurements (which, while useful in a professional kitchen, are a great source of frustration for me at home, since I don’t know offhand how many rods of flour there are in a hogshead, and google calculator is only helpful when it comes to converting non-imaginary measurements) into standard volumetric cooking ones, reducing the batch size, and substituting margarine for butter and soy milk for regular. If you can get your hands on a used copy of this book, do it (I’m sure there are tons of culinary school students trying to unload theirs after each semester), but its textbook-high price tag is a bit steep when you consider that the majority of the chapters concern cooking meat.
Ingredients:
- 6 cups bread flour
- 1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 cups soy milk
- 1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast (1 packet)
- 1 lb. (2 cups) butter
Equipment: Large mixing bowl, rolling pin, counter space, waxed paper, plastic wrap, refrigerator/freezer, baking sheets, oven, perseverance.
Music: Climax Golden Twins - Imperial Household Orchestra
Instructions:
- Mix the flour, salt, and sugar together in a mixing bowl.
- Heat the milk until it reaches 90 degrees (slightly higher than room temperature) and stir in the yeast.
- Add the yeast mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until combined, adding more flour or milk as necessary to make the dough stick together. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead it on a lightly-floured surface for 5-10 minutes. The dough should be soft and slightly sticky (don’t add too much flour, or it will be too tough - try wetting your hands as you knead it to keep the dough from sticking to them), and you should be able to tear off a small piece and stretch it out in your hands so that it forms a thing, translucent sheet (this is called the “windowpane test”). Place the dough ball into a lightly-oiled mixing bowl and cover it with cloth or plastic wrap and allow to rise for one hour.
- Unwrap the sticks of margarine from their packaging and wrap them together as a block using plastic wrap. Take your rolling pin and beat the block until the separate sticks blend together and become pliant.
- Cut a piece of waxed paper to the size of a baking sheet and fold it in half. Remove the margarine from the plastic wrap, and put it inside the folded waxed paper roll it flat, trying to make the edges as neat and squared as possible. Place the finished sheet into the refrigerator to cool.
- Roll the ball of dough out onto a floured surface until it forms a large rectangle twice as large as your sheet of margarine and about 1/4″ thick. Place the margarine on one side of the dough and fold the other side over on top of it like the cover of a book.
- Roll the dough out to 1/2″ inch so it forms a long rectangle, dusting the top regularly with flour to keep the rolling pin from sticking. Fold the long ends in toward the center in thirds, like folding a letter. Repeat this process two more times, putting the dough in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes in between folds to keep the margarine from melting.
- Wrap the dough in plastic and return it to the refrigerator for a couple of hours if you plan on shaping it later that day, or place it in the freezer to keep it for the next day. When ready to shape the dough, remove it from the refrigerator and roll it out into a long rectangle about 1/4″ thick. Take a pastry/pizza cutter and trim any ragged edges, then use a ruler to outline the desired shapes. For traditional croissants, cut isoceles triangles with a base of 4 inches and a height of 10, placing your fingertips at the tips of the base, lightly apply downward pressure and roll toward the apex of the triangle, then take the points of the croissant and curve them slightly inward. For filled croissants, cut 4″x 6″ rectangles out of the dough, place a line of filling (blocks of dark chocolate, a line of almond paste, soy ham and cheese, etc.) along one of the 4″ edges and roll it toward the other end. Place the shaped croissants on waxed paper on a baking sheet and either return to the freezer to await baking, or cover with plastic and set out to rise immediately.
- Allow the croissants to proof (rise) for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Brush the croissants lightly with vegetable oil, and add any desired garnishes (sliced almonds for sweet croissants, say, or pepper and rosemary for savory). Bake the croissants for 15-20 minutes, or until crispy and browned. Remove from them from the oven and allow to cool, then serve plain, or with your favorite jam, jelly, or preserves.
My housemates were pretty satisfied with how this batch of croissants turned out, but I think there’s definitely plenty of room for improvement, so I’ll try again sometime over the course of this coming week and post my results along with any further tips, tricks, revisions, or addendums. One thing I haven’t found a suitable vegan replacement for it the egg wash (which goes on immediately before baking and that I’ve replaced with vegetable oil above), the function of which is to provide the finished croissants with a glossy sheen, crispy exterior, and deep brown color. It’s more of an aesthetic effect than anything else, so I won’t be heartbroken if I can’t simulate it somehow, but if anyone has any suggestions I’d be happy to try them.
