I found this nice vegan croissant recipe: http://www.sabjimatablog.com/2011/05/17/recipe-vegan-croissants/ I am quite happy with the end result, but I wish I can bake a flakier pastry.
I have a feeling that I didn't get the folding quite right. I used kremelta vegetable shortening that made from coconut oil and soya lecithin. I rolled kremelta into a thin-dough like, and fold it inside the dough. The shortening blend in quite well into the dough after 3 folds, although I can small lumps of kremelta in my dough. I put it inside a 200 degree oven, bake it for 15 minutes. I notice that I had a lot of oil on my baking pan. I suspect that all that oil came from the Kremelta.
Is this normal? I suspect that this why my dough didn't turn up into a flaky croissant dough. Does anyone have any tips on how to make a flaky croissant dough ?
Best Answer
Flakiness in pastry is usually achieved by careful incorporation of butter at the correct temperature. Cold cubes of butter are cut into the flour, cold water (or milk) is added, and then the pastry is rolled out, flattening the butter pieces. These pieces act to separate layers of the flour and liquid mixture.
The butter then melts during cooking, 'setting' these layers in the dough. The outer surface of the dough dries out, which means the layers don't stick together, and so it becomes flaky.
If the butter becomes warm and soft during rolling or cutting in, it blends with the flour and liquid and so doesn't promote layer formation.
In my experience, even refrigerated shortening is usually quite soft, and may well be simply absorbing into the rest of the dough when you roll it in. You might try freezing the shortening until it reaches the same consistency as refrigerated butter and working from there. I would also use ice cold water rather than warm water as the recipe suggests.