The Cookbook Challenge No. 17: Baked
Day dreams of the French countryside seem to be a daily occurrence for me at the moment.
Working full-time in a corporate firm means I'm constantly dreaming and planning my escape. My escape to France.
My dream would be to just stay put in 2-3 regions and just explore to my hearts content. I'm over the whole back-packing thing and I'm definitely a girl who likes her creature comforts, so I'd love to base myself in either a little self-contained cottage or B and B and just hit the markets, the sights, the antique stores, the cafes and anything else on offer.
So with all of these day dreams, I've been finding myself cooking anything and everything French (as you've probably already noticed), so when I had to decide on a recipe for this fortnight's theme, how could I go past..........
Croissants
(Recipe from The French Market Cookbook)
I have a huge collection of French cookbooks (told you I'm obsessed), but there is only one croissant recipe to be found in all of them. Not sure why that is as you really can't get more French than a croissant.
I'll admit, the process was long. Simple but long. But I have to admit it was a real pleasure to make. Each time I pulled the dough out of the fridge after it had been resting, and seeing it grow and puff up, I was like a child in a candy store - very excited.
(I made plain and a couple with chocolate rolled inside).
So waking up on Sunday morning, I pre-heated the oven, made a pot of tea and popped my little babies in and I waited patiently.
Not quite as flaky as a well-made croissant (a little on the heavy side) but the flavour was definitely there. I was very chuffed with myself.
I'm googling away right at this very moment to see how to make this pastry lovely and flaky, as I'll be trying again very very soon. Wish me luck!
