The Cronut Chronicles – Part 2
After three hardcore attempts at making cronuts at home, I can finally say I am in the home stretch. If you didn’t read my first post (The Cronut Chronicles – Part 1) I had finally made a good looking cronut that, unfortunately, was raw inside, but I had a plan.
In attempt number 4, I used my standard croissant dough, laminated with margarine, but instead of cutting the cronuts and giving them their final proof, I decided to let the dough have a long rest in the fridge overnight after I finished the folds. In the morning, I cut the rounds, heated the oil, and tossed them in. They turned out great.
I crushed them a bit when I cut into them – silly me, I should’ve waited until they cooled, but I couldn’t help myself, I was desperate to see if I had gotten the interior right.
And while I should have been satisfied, I had just a few more things to try before I would really be happy with my recipe and technique. For attempt #5, I went back to yeast donut dough. Now that I knew the consistency I wanted, I figured I’d go just a little firmer so there would be less chances of tearing the dough as I folded. With this in mind, I also decided to try 50/50 butter and margarine. Butter stays firmer when cold and I thought I could get prettier layers by getting a little butter back in the mix.
Leaving the dough to rest overnight before cutting and frying again yielded very pretty results. I also added an extra fold to the technique so I’d have more layers to puff when frying.
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| Yeast donut dough, still too cakey and dense for my taste. |
I can now assure you that nice looking cronuts can be made using either croissant dough or yeast donut dough. I am dying to try Dominique Ansel’s cronuts because I am certain one bite would tell me which he is using. For my own personal taste, I prefer the flavor and texture of the croissant dough hybrid, the donut dough seemed to absorb more oil and just felt heavier and cakier overall.
If you are dying to try making these yourself, my official recipe will be coming in a future post, but I can get you on the right track. Start with my croissant recipe, making the yeast dough, but substituting half of the butter with margarine. Take your time laminating/folding, then after the final rest, cut out your rounds and deep fry in 350 F grapeseed oil. It’s not my official recipe, I’ll be providing a step by step tutorial and tips, but the results will still be delicious.