I don’t have any tattoos – but last week I branded myself. It was an accident. My forearm now sports an impressive chevron mark from the corner of a loaf tin that was cooling next to the sink. Ouchie. Of course, this happened slap bang in the middle of my baking day so it was hard to give it the TLC under the tap it needed. But I’ll live. I am marked as a baker, now however!
The second part of this story about how I prove to myself that I am a bona fide baker is that I finally, FINALLY, made croissants from scratch. Woohoo. And they were better than I could have hoped for.
Breadahead, a fab bakery based at Borough Market, London, have been offering baking sessions online, so I booked myself onto the croissant and puff pastry session. It was a little bamboozling, but that was mainly down to my preparation, but it was informative and most importantly, it was to be the kick up the bum that made me give it a go. So, hey everyone, if there’s something you really want to do but think it might be a bit tricky or whatever – find a way of doing it and do it. It’s worth it. So worth it.
I left the croissants to prove for maybe three hours before egg washing them and bunging them in the oven. I wasn’t hoping for much because I found the shaping rather haphazard, but when they came out of the oven there was a bit of a croissant frenzy. I had three types of jam on hand: homemade rhubarb and ginger, homemade mixed berry and not homemade rose jam (from Japan). It was amazing. So amazing.
The course had us make frangipane – for no apparent reason – so I have a box of that in the fridge. It also got us to make puff pastry, which was fun and not as difficult as I had feared. That is now in the freezer and is full of future promise of sausage rolls or galette de rois or…….
I say the frangipane is surplus but then today, with these ‘stale’ leftover croissants, I can make almond croissants. Colour me happy.
Bread by Sarah 
They look delicious. You don’t need an excuse for frangipani. What fun!
I made puff pastry from scratch as a student … years ago on my landladies freezer top. It was good but I only did it once. Well done you.
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Thank you, Caroline. This evening I turned the croissants into almond croissants following Richard Bertinet’s method (slice in half, then dip each cut side into sugar syrup, then slather frangipane on each half, sandwich together, slather more on top, sprinkle flaked almonds on top and pop in the oven.) Was supreme. I shared some with a swimming buddy this evening. I think I will do some puff pastry with the frangipane to create a galette de rois. What’s not to love?!! Hope you and your men are doing well xx
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I don’t know if you know ,but if you get burnt /tattooed in future if you have lavender oil nearby and put it on neat, straight away it helps take the heat out of it and prevents burn marks I use it and find it invaluable. Wish we lived nearer to you to be able to sample your baking
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