Chocolate Almond Croissants

Hey guys, hope everyone is at home and safe during this difficult time.

I know that everyone's at home and trying their hand at baking/cooking, so I wanted to encourage you guys to attempt making croissants. They are a bit finicky but I followed the Flour recipe by Joanne Chang and thankfully it worked out. I would recommend a few things.

1. Before lamination, ensure your butter and dough are the same temperature. I think my butter was too cold that it didn't spread as evenly as it could have during lamination, but I still got good layer distinction!

2. I used almond paste I had in my pantry to make the frangipane, just added some whipped egg from the egg wash mixture and some flour to make it more spreadable. 

3. Take the entirety of the 3 days to make them! Don't try to rush the process and do it in 1.5 days. Give the dough it's time. 

My timeline was:

Day 1: 8 pm, make the dough and butter square, proof #1 and cool in fridge overnight. 

Day 2: 8 am, lamination process and formation of croissant shape, let proof for a second time and cool in the fridge overnight.

Day 3: 8 am, bake. 

I'm honestly so proud of how they came out. It's a good quarantine bake because although it was probably just an hour max of work, it really occupied my mind for the entirety of the three days and took my mind off the anxiety of the uncertainty of the global pandemic situation. 

I wish I had watched more videos on lamination beforehand. The cookbook by Joanne has a step-by-step process with pictures, which was exceptional. But it always seals the process in my mind better when I watch it happen a few times beforehand. I wish my lamination was more distinct and much more flakey. Overall, these tasted better than Costco and TJ's croissants and honestly proved to be some of the best I've had.