This is one of them recipes that is to be studied! .. it is technical, a few specialist ingredients, and will involve a lot (a lot) of fridge time but it is so worth it! (not many dishes I have made, really got me saying this, I promise) - this is the kind of recipe you need to think: Tomorrow I want to have them, so I start this today!
Flaky buttery and just all round delicious croissants that will have you coming back for more.
As you can imagine, remove one ingredient (wheat flour) - and you need to present a host of ingredients that work together to deliver function without being nutritionally taxing.
I took a photo of the exact items I used, as this is quite important, especially with certain flours and fibres. and also the product with honorary mentioning is Allulose, quite the new kid on the block when it comes to sweeteners. I have had my fare share of looking into cleaner Low Carb sweeteners, and each and one of them has its drawback alone. This one, is a little different (apart from the price in the UK!) .. The use in this recipe is to achieve colour and some taste in part, without the possible recrystallisation and cooling seen in Erythritol, after taste in stevia and off course the ever matter of Xylitol and paws. I am evaluating a couple of US brands, so far they are both very similar. Oh and as you see no almonds in this version :-D
I also list weight of each product along side any volumetric measure. This is important as density of material is different one supplier to the other. My scale has the ability to measure with some degree of confidence amounts above 0.1g - but for those who have standard scales, the smaller amounts of materials can be used with the volumetric measures provided (tsp etc)
I have added photos step by step to share with you what to expect (as my usual posts!)
The other two important ingredients to name here are Lupin Flour and Oat Fibre; The latter I have had my fair share of use, play and dismay in some cases! .. from the times I attempted low carb bread blends to even my first attempts at this recipe.. This Oat fibre is so airy and fluffy, its crazy! .. Still as no carb ( or low carb really) as other variants, but the success I have seen with this ingredient has been worth the price tag on it.
Lupin flower is one I am a little on edge about and would like to learn more about. off course where it comes from is the reason (legume) but as a low lectin and low phytic acid ingredients with a caution for those allergic to peanuts, this might be so too.
These keep very well in a Tupperware and reheat beautifully
Makes small 16 bundles, Macros each: 1.3g Carbs, 16.9g Fat, 7.2g Protein
Contains Vital Wheat Gluten, Oat Fibre and Lupin Flour which are all essential for the recipe however making an incredibly low carb food that has fantastic nutritional values in fat and protein balance.
Ingredients:
9g yeast
16g inulin
30g warm water
9g coconut flour (groovy food) (1 tbsp)
50g allulose (1/4 cup)
40g lupin flour (1/3 Cup)
109g Vital Wheat Gluten - VWG (3/4 Cup)
21g oat fibre (1/3 Cup)
1.5g xanthan gum (1/2 tsp)
0.7 tsp cinnamon (1.2 tsp)
250g cold butter cut into cubes
90g cold water
105g cold double cream
1 egg yolk and 15g double cream for brushing.
Steps:
- In a small blow, weigh in yeast, warm water (I would say about 40C), and inulin together mixing gently using a fork, photos before and after show how much it plumps up with that most amazing smell.
- In a separate bowl, add all the dry ingredients and stir until combined
- Cut the cold butter block into small cubes just as you are ready for this step as you want it nice and cold before adding them into the dry ingredients
- fork the butter into the dry ingredients and make the pieces smaller. - the pieces don't have to be super well combined at this stage!
- Add the cold water, heavy cream into the yeast mixture from Step 1 - the pour over the butter-flour concoction
- With a wooden spoon, combine everything together and you will see a dough forming - use your hands to shape it into a ball. Try not to over mix it, some butter clusters will still be visible
- Wrap your dough in cling film and then place in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
- Dusting some Oat fibre onto a hard work surface of parchment paper, place the dough on that and dust the top of it then lay another layer of parchment to help prevent sticking to rolling pin
- Using a rolling pin, roll the dough in a single direction (near to far, say) to get a long rectangle.
- Fold one side in and then the same from the opposite end until the meet in the middle - Just like a letter in a C4 envelope lol .
- Turn the dough seam side down and also turn the dough 90° and then flour the surface and top of the dough again and repeat 4 or 5 times to get this form:
- Place the wrapped and folded dough in the fridge for another hour. Then do 2 more rolls and folds or until the butter is streaky and almost a bit blended instead of chunky and very visible. I let the dough rest overnight in the fridge here.
- Pre-heat the oven to 175°C static (not fan)
- Take the dough out of fridge, remove the cling film and then evenly slice it into two halves, keeping one half cool in fridge still.
- Now in both directions (near/ far - left/right) - still on that floured surface / cover; roll the dough into a larger thicker rectangle and try to get it as thin as you can get it, but without it sticking to parchment or surface - thick enough that it can be picked up without breaking.
- Using a pizza cutter, remove any uneven edges so you have a perfect rectangle
- For Smaller croissants cut the rectangle of dough into 4 to 6 smaller rectangles depending on dough size and how many you want to make. The scraps can be remoulded into a new rectangle.
- Cut each rectangle corner to corner to make two triangles
- Take the triangles and slice just a bit up the middle of the base of the triangle (short flat side). Then pinch the corners of this side and gently pull them apart slightly to help the croissants look prettier after rolling them up.
- Roll the croissant up starting from the wider side and then gently press the tip of the triangle into the dough to help the croissant hold together.
Repeat this process for all of your croissant triangles.
- Place the finished and rolled up croissants on a parchment lined tray making sure to keep them spread apart.
- Once all of the croissants are on the baking tray then brush over them lightly with some heavy cream spiked with egg yolk.
- Cover the tray and let it sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes or in the fridge overnight - don't let it sit out too long or the butter will melt!
- Once ready you can place them in the oven and bake for 21 to 25 minutes or until they are golden brown. if while baking they start to darken more then you would like, carefully and gently cover them up loosely with some foil while gently closing the oven door to avoid much disturbance of temperature.
Quick Tip: They go amazingly well with our Strawberry Nektar! 💜🧡
A final note, I wish to point that this recipe was published by sammysamgurl - credit to her work on this and previous iterations. to my knowledge these set of quantities and brands sourced in the UK are not reported before.