Bootleg Crouu....nuts # Baking Partners September Challenge

This month Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen challenged the Baking Partners to make the latest sensation in the world of pastry ... the celebrated  'Cronut™'. Earlier this year Chef Dominique Ansel launched this unique pastry in Dominique Ansel Bakery, New York. Since then this pastry has accumulated a big fan following around the world. Though it is often described as a hybrid of croissant and doughnut, it appears that resurrecting a copy-cat recipe of the trademarked 'Cronut™' has  been quite a challenge for many accomplished pastry Chefs around the world. However some of them have cracked the code.. and brought the pastry to the doorsteps of the enthusiastic home bakers. Chef Jessica Yang is one of them and here is her recipe of BootLeg cronuts that we tried for this months baking challenge.

Though Crouu..nuts are deep fried pastries, Swathi chose to challenge the Baking Partners with this recipe as it incorporates the techniques of making puff pastry and yeasted doughnuts...  though i was initially very excited as the prospect of learning both the techniques, standing on the other side of the 3 day process I no longer feel the same way. the whole process is long, tedious, tiring and painful. it completely drained me off all the excitement and enthusiasm. admittedly these pastries taste good but I wouldn't dare making them at home again. I'll rather be crazy for a day ... sacrifice a few hours of sleep and take the early morning train to NYC .. and stand in a long queue outside Dominique Ansel Bakery along with hundreds of other crazies like me for a bite of awesomeness ....than toil myself to death hoping to create a magic that i know I'll never be able to create in my kitchen in LI... just 60 miles away from DABakery.....

anyway since i completed the challenge I thought i might as well share my experience with you... just to tell you what i have been up to lately..

BootLeg Crouu... nuts  Recipe Source : KitchenSurfing Blog

ingredients    for the dough 2 cups all purpose flour plus more for dusting the work table 3/4 tsp salt 1/3 cup sugar 1/3 cup + 4 tsp milk (I used fatfree milk ) 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast 2 large eggs 2 1/3 tbsp unsalted butter for butter layer 14 tbsps (1 cup minus 2 tbsp) unsalted butter for frying 2-4 cups canola oil  water for brushing on top cinnamon and sugar (4 tbsp sugar + 1 tbsp ground cinnamon) for chocolate pastry cream (I followed this recipe) for the chocolate glaze 4 oz semisweet chocolate chips 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter -  the method  Phase 1 30 minutes before dough preparation take the butter and the eggs out of the refrigerator and allow them to reach room temperature. when ready to prepare the dough, combine all the dry ingredients, flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a bowl of your standing mixer. heat the milk until warm, about 20-30 seconds in the microwave and add it to the bowl of dry ingredients. now add the eggs and butter and mix on low speed until everything is well incorporated. then mix on high speed for another 8 minutes. (note that the dough gets tougher as you mix. though the recipe instructs to mix on low speed for 3 minutes and then on high speed for 8 minutes, I was not able to knead on high speed for 8 minutes as one of the paddles of my hand mixer broke in the process. so unless your mixer paddles are sturdy enough, take a break in between or towards the end, knead the dough with your hands.) remove the dough from the bowl, shape it into a ball and transfer the dough into a well greased bowl. to allow the dough to relax, cut a cross on its surface with a knife. then covering the dough with a plastic wrap, place the dough in a warm area and let it double itself. this takes about 30-60 minutes (in my case around 60 minutes.) after the dough has "poofed" transfer it to the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (or overnight).  Preparing the butter for lamination While the dough is chilling, prepare the butter for lamination. for this take 14 tbsps (2 sticks minus 2 tablespoons) of cold butter and cut the sticks lengthwise into half. now arrange the cut out pieces on a parchment paper in the form of a rectangle, cover the laid out butter rectangle with a second parchment paper and using a rolling pin even out the rectangle till it is approximately 4x6 inches. then wrapping the butter with a cling wrap, transfer it to the refrigerator and allow it to chill for at least 2 hours. Phase 2 : Note this phase consists of 4 major steps wherein the fourth step is a repetition of the first three. Including the minimum intermediate chilling time, this phase should ideally take 6-7 hours. but for non-experts like me it might require an extra couple of hours. so be prepared for this ! I had allowed the dough to chill for 8 hours before starting phase 2. I hadn't read the recipe completely so i took a long break after the second turn that is the second step of phase 2 and continued the lamination process next day. though it apparently did not effect the outcome, I think it is better to follow the recipe and complete the lamination process at a single go... remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out on a well floured surface so that a cross is formed with equal arms on all four sides. make sure that the center of the rolled out dough is big enough to envelop the slab of butter. place the butter in the center of the cross and cover the four flaps so that the butter cannot be seen. the opposite flaps should not overlap when folded but should seal the butter inside meeting at the edges.  1st turn.  flour the surface and the dough so that it does not stick to the rolling pin. before beginning to roll out, press the dough down in order to expand it. turn the dough so that the shorter end faces you. roll to expand the length of the dough. to ensure that the dough does not stick to the work table, add more flour whenever required. when you have a rectangle that is 16 x 7 inches, fold the top third of the rectangle down, then fold the bottom third to cover it. turn the dough 90 degrees so that the opening resembles a book. 2nd turn. (though you can do this step right away, I highly recommend that you wrap the dough in film and chill it for 30-60 minutes before doing the 2nd turn. ) like in 1st turn, roll to expand the length of the dough and repeat the subsequent steps, then turn the dough 90 degrees and gently press two fingers in the lower right corner to mark the number of turns. (marking the dough helps you to keep track of your progress and also ensures that the orientation of the dough is correct when you remove it from the refrigerator.) now wrap the dough and let it chill for atleast 1 hour. (this is the point where i took a break and decided to resume the lamination work the following day.) 3rd turn. at this point the dough is hard. so gently pound it to warm the butter. if it is too cold the butter will separate and not spread as well as it should. repeat the previous steps. then turning the dough as in 2nd turn, mark the corner with 3 fingerprints. once again wrap the dough and return it to the refrigerator for 1 hour. 4th turn. make the final turn, repeating the steps from 1-3 turns. then wrap the dough and chill it for at least 2 hours.   In the meantime prepare the chocolate pastry cream  for the chocolate pastry cream, I followed the recipe from Around the French Table. It is the same one that i used as a filling for my chocolate eclairs. you can find the recipe here. Phase 3 . from dough to crouu..nut lightly dust the work table with flour and roll out the dough to approximately 2/3 the size of a sheet pan and 1/2 inch thick. make sure the dough stays cold. in case the dough starts to stick, return it to the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes and roll again when it is cool. transfer to a sheet pan with parchment paper, cover it with a film and chill before using. line a sheet pan with parchment paper and grease it. once the dough is very cold, remove it from the refrigerator and using 2 ring molds, punch out the doughnuts and doughnut holes from the rolled out dough. (the recipe mentions that crouu..nuts do not fry straight unless the dough is very cold.)  transfer half of the punched crouu..nuts to the sheet pan, leaving enough room for them to "poof." brush the tops with water and stick the remaining halves on top. press lightly so that they stick together. place the crouu..nut holes on the same sheet tray leaving enough space for them to poof without sticking to each other. leave in a warm place until they have poofed, about 30-45 minutes. now place the "poofed" crouu..nuts and the holes in the refrigerator for 1 hour or in the freezer for 15 minutes. Phase 4 . frying the crouu.. nuts and adding the flavors.. when ready to fry, heat canola oil in pot around 3 inches high. test oil with a pinch of flour, if the flour foams it is ready for deep frying. Turn heat to low and place crouu..nuts in oil 1-2 at a time.avoid overcrowding the pot. turn and flip the crouu...nuts till they have evenly browned. once it turns golden brown and looks well cooked, remove the crouu..nuts from the oil and place it on a paper towel and proceed to prepare the chocolate glaze. for the chocolate glaze, melt 4 oz semisweet chocochips in the microwave and stir 1/2 tbsp of butter into it. when the  crouu..nuts are no longer shiny, that is the extra oil has been absorbed in the paper towel, transfer them to a container with sugar and cinnamon and toss. then dip the crouu..nuts in the chocolate glaze while it is still warm. once the crouu..nuts have cooled a little, poke several holes and fill with the chocolate pastry cream... serve and enjoy !!