Croissant
and laminated bolo bao
I've been wanting to practice my lamination while stuck at home, but I didn't want to use a traditional croissant recipe for these. I actually took a milk bread recipe and laminated it! Most recipes tell you to make this in 3 days, but I managed it in 2. 🍞
Using a milk bread recipe means that you have to make tangzhong roux, which is basically a homemade dough conditioner. The pregelatinized starches in the roux help retain moisture in your bread, yielding a soft loaf with a tender crumb that lasts for days!
As you can see, I final-rolled the dough while it was too warm and destroyed some of the layers. I also had trouble proofing it because my kitchen is cold, so these are under-proofed. However, the cross-section of my croissant looks OK! Almost-honeycomb cross-section
Please refer to other croissant and bolo bao videos for shaping reference, as I didn't measure anything here.
I was inspired to make laminated bolo bao, or Chinese pineapple buns, because Win Son Bakery in NYC has delicious laminated "pollo bao"! Pineapple buns are actually named from the crackly cookie topping looking like a pineapple; there's no actual pineapple in the recipe. However, I didn't have any molds, so mine kind of exploded and became very misshapen. The topping also doesn't look as crackly as I wanted, as I forgot to score the topping before baking. But they still tasted great! Fluffy, soft, and crunchy and sweet from the topping!
I used the same dough and rolled it thicker during the final roll to make Dominique Ansel's Cronut Copycats!
Croissant Recipe:
For the tangzhong (roux)
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6 tablespoons water (85 g)
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2 tablespoons bread flour (15 g)
Doughssant dough
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1/2 cup whole milk (113 g) + 1 Tbsp dry milk powder (4g) - 105°F
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1 1/2 teaspoons active dried yeast (5 g)
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2 1/2 cups (320 g) bread or AP flour (plus more for kneading if not using a stand mixer)
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1/4 cup sugar (50 g)
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1/2 teaspoon salt (2 g)
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1 egg + 1 egg white
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Tangzhong
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3 tablespoons softened butter (42 g)
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2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup = 227g) for laminating. Preferably use high fat (83% or more) fancy European butter, but I just used the generic store brand 🤷🏻♀️🧈
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1 egg, beaten, for egg wash (can use the leftover yolk and add some water or milk)
Instructions
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Make the tangzhong by mixing together the water and flour in a saucepan. Whisk over medium heat until thickened to a paste. Set aside to cool to room temperature
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Mix milk, milk powder, dried yeast, and sugar in a large bowl. Let sit for five minutes. Add eggs, flour, and salt and mix into a rough dough. Add cooled tangzhong and softened butter and knead together until a smooth ball forms (can use a stand mixer with a dough hook)
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Let sit in a warm place, in a greased bowl and covered, for 60 minutes or until doubled in size. (Can also refrigerate overnight for time constraints)
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While the dough is bulk-proofing, take your butter sticks and smack it with a rolling pin into submission until it becomes a flat square (1/4-inch thick). Make sure the butter is always cool/solid but pliable.
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Take your dough and roll it into a square twice as large as your butter square. Place the butter square as a diamond shape in the center of your dough, and fold in the four corners of the dough to the center and seal closed. Press the whole thing with a rolling pin and roll into a rectangle 1/2-inch thick. (Use a light dusting of flour if the dough sticks, but if you ever notice the dough is too soft, chill it!) Fold into thirds, cover, and refrigerate about 30 minutes. This allows gluten to relax and butter and dough to chill. Too soft and it will be a mess to roll, and the lamination will be destroyed.
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Rotate the dough 90 degrees and roll it into a rectangle 1/2-inch thick again (first a little wider then lengthwise so you’re mostly rolling the gluten strands in the other direction from how you first rolled it). I totally didn’t use measurements. Chill 30 minutes again.
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Repeat step 6 two more times. So you will have done the initial butter’s lock-in, then the three-fold (letter-fold) four times. (Rotating the dough 90 degrees each time). I believe this makes 81 layers.
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Once all your folds are done, flatten the dough slightly and refrigerate 1-2 hours. Roll it into a 1/4 inch-thick rectangle one last time, and refrigerate overnight.
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The next day, remove your dough from the fridge and trim off all four edges. Save the scrap dough to mix in another bread dough, or mush into the pans for Bolo Bao (see below)
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Cut the dough crosswise into long triangles for croissants. Take the fat end and gently roll it up into the crescent shape. (Watch video 11 minutes in for reference) Place the croissant on a baking sheet with the seam-side down (the tip of the triangle at the bottom). Gently egg wash.
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Gently cover croissants and let rise until puffy and an indentation made at the thickest part of the croissant with your finger stays there (springs back about halfway), about 1-2 hours depending on your dough’s temperature and the temperature of the room. It should multiply about 1.5x in size. Depending on how tightly you rolled your croissant, proof times may be longer.
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Preheat oven to 400°F. Egg wash the proofed croissants again and bake for 8 minutes. Lower heat to 375°F and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes, or until completely golden brown and internal temperature reaches 190-200°F.
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Transfer to a wire rack to let cool completely
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Laminated Bolo Bao
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1 croissant recipe (above), final rolled to 1/4-inch thick
Or you can use the scrap pieces of dough, rolled into a ball smaller than the size of your mold -
70 g unsalted butter, softened
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70 g granulated sugar
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16 g egg, beaten
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100 g cake flour (all-purpose is fine too)
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3 g baking soda
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3 g baking powder
Instructions
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Grease a muffin tin or small cake molds. If using scrap dough, roll into balls and place in the molds. Cover and let rise 1-2 hours, or until an indentation made with your finger springs back halfway.
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If making bolo bao from new dough, roll up the dough from the long edge like a cinnamon roll. Pinch the seam closed and slice into 1-inch thick buns (depending on size of your molds). Place rolls in greased molds. Cover and let rise 1-2 hours, or until an indentation made with your finger springs back halfway.
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While the buns are proofing, make the pineapple bun topping: cream together the butter and sugar.
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Mix in the egg until fully combined.
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Sift the dry ingredients together, and mix into the butter mixture just until combined.
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Wrap dough into a square with plastic wrap. Set cookie dough in a freezer for 1 hour.
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Remove cookie dough from freezer and roll to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into circles large enough to cover your buns, then etch a criss-cross pattern into the surface for the signature pineapple look. Place one topping on each proofed bun
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Preheat oven to 400°F.
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Egg wash the tops of the proofed bolo bao, and bake for 8 minutes. Lower heat to 375F and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes, or until completely golden brown and internal temperature reaches 190-200°F. (This depends on the size of your molds and buns)
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Transfer to a wire rack to let cool completely
