The Perfect Awakening: The Super Soft Croissant Brioche
Imagine the intoxicating aroma spreading in the kitchen, the sweetness that caresses the palate, and a texture so soft it melts in your mouth: today is the day of the Super Soft Croissant Brioche!
Forget about industrial or chewy croissants. This recipe will guide you step-by-step in creating a breakfast pastry that rivals the best counters of French and Italian patisseries. Its peculiarity lies precisely in its extraordinary softness, achieved through careful preparation and the skilful use of ingredients.
This brioche, with its iconic crescent shape and feather-light dough, is the ideal companion for morning coffee or a delicious snack. It is the ultimate comfort food, a little daily luxury you can gift yourself with your own hands. The real challenge of the croissant (or brioche) is not just the shape, but achieving that internal consistency that makes it irresistible: light, airy, and super soft.
The Secrets for Perfect Softness in Croissant Brioche.
The softness of a leavened product depends on a combination of the right ingredients, correct hydration, and temperature.
1. The Right Fat and Hydration
The Role of Butter (or Lard): Many excellent brioche recipes use a generous amount of butter, which, in addition to adding flavor, makes the dough tender and delays hardening. The butter should be incorporated only at the end of the preparation (mass method), after the gluten has formed.
Warm Water and Milk: Use milk or water not too cold (around 77/86°F). This helps the yeast to start well and the dough to develop an elastic but not too tight gluten network.
The Importance of Sugar: Sugar, in addition to feeding the yeast, retains moisture. Don’t overdo it, but the right amount ensures that the brioche stays fresh and moist longer.
Kneading and Temperature
Knead for a Long Time (But Not Too Hot): Work the dough in a planetary mixer (or by hand) until you get a perfect gluten network (veil effect). It should be elastic and smooth. The key is to keep the dough temperature low (ideally below 79°F) during this phase, so as not to warm the butter too much, which would melt and ruin the structure.
Rest and Slow Rising: True softness builds over time. Always perform a first slow rise (often in the fridge for 8-12 hours). This process not only facilitates flakiness but allows flavors to develop and the dough to become more digestible and robust.
Following these precautions, you’ll achieve croissants that remain super soft and fragrant
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Rest time: 15 Hours
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 12 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 4 cups Manitoba flour
- 2/5 cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 stick butter (of centrifuge cream)
- 2 eggs (medium)
- 2/3 cup whole milk (at room temperature)
- 1/2 oz fresh yeast
- 1 tbsp orange (Orange paste or, if preferred, grated orange peel. For the orange paste recipe, click this link)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- as needed sugar sprinkles
Tools
- 1 Stand Mixer
- 1 Oven
Steps
Put the flour in the stand mixer
the sugar
and the salt.
The eggs
the whole milk with the dissolved yeast
The first portion of soft butter, about 2 tablespoons
The tablespoon of orange paste or, if you don’t have it, grated orange peel. The orange paste recipe can be found among the ingredients
Start working with the dough hook.
When the dough is stringy
add the second portion of butter. When the second portion is absorbed by the dough, you can add the last portion of butter.
At this point, continue to work the dough on the work surface. Give some folds and round the dough.
now you can choose to let it ferment in the fridge for 15 hours and then roll and shape the triangles in the morning, or let it ferment in a turned-off oven with the light on if you’re in a hurry, which takes about 4 hours. I preferred the fridge because when you go to roll out the dough, it’s easier to work with.
The dough has risen
Roll out on the work surface
form a circle of about 16.5 inches
First divide in half and
form 12 triangles, each about 3 oz
Form the croissants
This is the result
Here too, you can decide whether to do the second rise immediately, about 2 hours, or
Immediately store the prepared croissants in the freezer, and if you need to consume them in the morning, put them to rise in the oven overnight. It takes about 8 hours and bake in the morning.
Brush with a mixture of 1 egg yolk and two tablespoons of milk, add sugar sprinkles, and bake in a traditional hot oven at 356°F for 12 min.
