Einkorn Sourdough Croissants
Jessica Hake on 
Once upon a time the idea of making my own croissants made my eyes bug out. A stint in Quebec put croissants on the top of my daughter’s favorite food list (where they sell them homemade, frozen, take-and-bake!) I love the respect for quality food! Anyway, this mama is a sucker for delighting her kids through baking. I had to learn and it turns out it’s not hard.
The main ingredient is a whole day in which you do not go far from your kitchen. Croissants can be lovingly cooperative with you if you give them the attention they want, and they can be absolutely recalcitrant, downright goatish, if you, for instance, only give them half a day of your time instead of a whole day.
My croissant making looks like this. Evening: I make the dough and pat out the butter and chill them separately. Next day: In the morning I cover the butter with the dough and roll it out, fold, chill. I roll out and fold the dough between 5-8 times with at least a half hour in between each turning. To be honest, I homeschool my kids, run a household in which most of the food is made from closer to nature than is generally considered scratch, etc, you get the idea. So, I am not turning my dough on the half hour. This part is really forgiving. When you have a moment run into the kitchen and fold the dough, then proceed with your day. It’s simple, quick, easy.
I have included the wonderful word “Einkorn” in the recipe. When I first started making these it’s true I was using 100% Einkorn. If you must only eat Einkorn it’s worth making them. However, there is definitely a difference, a heaviness which is not ideal that is inevitable. It helps knowing the flour is as healthy as it is. But we don’t have any intolerances in our household and I don’t make these super often, maybe once per month. So I have started using half Einkorn and half white organic flour which I purchase in bulk from Azure. The result is much more flakey. The pictures in the recipe show a 100% Einkorn flour.
Einkorn Sourdough Croissants
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup Einkorn sourdough starter
- 3 1/2 cup organic flour I use half Einkorn and half organic bread flour
- 1/4 cup sucanat
- 2 tsp. sea salt
- 1 1/4 cup whole milk scalded
Butter Dough
- 1 1/2 C Unsalted Butter
- 2 Tbsps. Einkorn Flour
- 3 drops Lemon Essential Oil or a splash of lemon juice
Egg Wash
- 1 Egg
- 1 tsp. Sea Salt
- 1 tsp. water
Bacon, Cheese, Apple Filling – just one of endless possibilities
- 1 lb. Bacon cooked
- 8 oz. Cheddar Cheese grated
- 1/4 cup goat cheese
- 1 cup Apple pie filling
- Honey
Instructions
Sourdough Croissant Dough
- Combine the dough ingredients and knead for 20 minutes. I love my KitchenAid. Place in a tupperware container in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.Using clean hands, smash up the butter and knead in the flour and lemon. Make a 1/2 inch thick square of butter on some parchment paper and chill in the refrigerator several hours or overnight.
Layering & Folding
- Flour the surface of the counter. Roll out the bread dough. Place the chilled butter slab onto the center of the rolled out bread dough.
- Fold the dough up over the butter until it is entirely enclosed in the bread dough.
- With the rolling pin roll flat.
- Fold in thirds on itself as if you were folding a letter. Put the folded dough into a container with a lid (or wrap in plastic wrap) and into the refrigerator. Let it chill for at least an hour before performing the next roll out and fold. This is a key concept of croissant making: A croissant keeps it's butter and flour layers distinct, you do not want the flour dough to absorb the butter, and this is why you keep the dough chilled at all times. Don't forget it on the counter, for that it will not be forgiving.
- Again roll out the dough and fold it in on itself like a letter. Again chill in an airtight container. Repeat this process five or six, or a few more, times. The dough should have visible layers of dough and butter when you're finished, which is what makes the croissants flaky.
Egg Wash
- Whisk all the egg wash ingredients together and let this sit at room temperature while you shape the pastries.
Shaping the Pastries
- When you have turned the pastry dough as much as you want (each turn adds layers to the pastry) roll it out to about 1/4 inch thick.
- My favorite way to shape is to cut a long rectangle, put filling at one end of it and roll it up, starting at the filling end. So simple! Also, you generally get a decent looking product.
- There are so many ways to shape pastry and experimenting with some of them is really fun. Youtube videos on the subject are in abundance.
- Another great, fairly simple shape: cut two circles the same size and in one of the circles cut a hole in the middle, place the cutting with the hole in the middle on top of the cutting without the hole and then fill in the hole with the fillings.
- I have a great filling represented below, but of course there are so many others to try. My children are also very fond of chocolate croissants, just put chocolate chunks on the dough and roll them up! Or leave them plain, that's my personal favorite, warm from the oven with the tiniest drizzle of raw honey or maple syrup.
Cheese-Bacon-Apple Filling
- For this filling you simply gather the ingredients together and place them on your pastry in a little heap, like you were filling your own personal fajita, with the various ingredients. Drizzle it with as much or little honey as you like before rolling it up and then let it sit for 30 minutes to an hour, or even more than that if your kitchen is cold.
- Brush egg wash onto the shaped pastries as they wait to go into the oven.
Freezing
- AFTER the pastries have been shaped, but BEFORE they sit at room temperature, they can be frozen. To flash freeze, place the pastries on a cookie sheet and into the freezer. Freeze through and then toss them all into a bag. Keep in the freezer for a month or two. When ready to use, let them thaw to room temperature and continue with the egg wash and the baking instructions.
Baking
- You know the pastries are ready to bake when you touch them gently and they feel room temperature, soft, a little flabby, and look a little glossy. In other words, "a little, a little a little." The signs are not dramatic, the pastries will not double in size. It takes some practice to read the subtle body language of ripe croissants. This is worthwhile, however, as there is little more luxurious than a flaky, heavenly, sourdough-healthy Einkorn croissant.
- Bake for 20 minutes at 325 or until golden brown and solid to the touch.
