Sourdough Croissant Bread

Sourdough croissant bread - take your favorite sourdough bread dough recipe and fill it with lots of butter pieces - and you will end up with a wonderful loaf of bread that looks like a standard boule at first glance but actually has a crispy flaky crust and an amazing pull-apart crumb. 

This sourdough croissant bread emerges from the oven with a shatteringly crispy and flaky crust and a soft and distinctly buttery crumb. On the day that it bakes, be sure to treat yourself to a couple of slices right after the bread has cooled. 

Oh, and don't put anything on the slices. They are so good just eaten plain on the first day. Trust me. 

Unlike the technique used to make croissant pastry dough, which I've used to make pull-apart croissant bread in a loaf pan, the technique to make this sourdough loaf is similar to making "rough puff" pastry dough. 

Rather than laminating the dough (layering butter between thin layers of dough by folding and rolling with a rolling pin), grated frozen butter pieces are incorporated during the the second and third "stretch and fold" (a technique used to strengthen the gluten in the dough in place of kneading). 

Amazingly, you will end up with a super flaky crust and a crumb that has distinct buttery layers throughout yet still has the distinct flavor and chew of a sourdough boule or batard. 

Ingredients in this Sourdough Croissant Bread:

Active Sourdough Starter: You will definitely want an active starter because of the lower temperature that you will need to keep the dough during the first rise so that the butter doesn't melt. If your starter has been sitting untouched in the refrigerator for a while, feed it two or three days in a row to get it going. 

Bread Flour: I used King Arthur's Bread Flour. You could also use King Arthur's unbleached all-purpose flour.

Water: I used room temperature bottled drinking water (not distilled water). 

Salt: You can use either table salt, sea salt, or kosher salt. If you have a scale, use it to measure the salt because each type of salt measures differently by volume. For example, ten grams of table salt would be 1 1/2 teaspoons, Morton's kosher salt would be about 2 teaspoons, and Diamond Crystal kosher would be about a tablespoon by volume. 

Butter: You can use either salted or unsalted butter depending on your taste. You can also use European-style or American butter. The difference? European-style butter has a higher butterfat percentage, 82 percent or higher, while American butter is 80 percent butterfat. European-style butter is softer and more spreadable, which means it also needs to be kept super cold so that it doesn't melt into the dough. 

I ended up using Kerrygold salted butter, which is European-style. It is also fermented, which gives it a distinct flavor. In addition, it is very yellow in color due to the beta-carotene in the grass in the cows' diet. 

If you use Kerrygold, when you first slice the bread, you can see the the color of the butter in the slices. The color fades a bit over time. 

Grate the butter before adding it to the dough. Be sure to freeze the butter before grating it and then keep the grated butter in the freezer before using it. The goal is that the butter does not melt into the dough during the bulk ferment. 

Procedure To Make this Sourdough Croissant Bread:

On day 1, mix the active starter, flour, and water by hand in a bowl or a 2-quart dough rising bucket until you have a shaggy dough. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest (autolyse) for 30 to 60 minutes. 

Next, add the salt and work it in by stretching and folding the dough over itself in the bowl until the salt is thoroughly incorporated and the dough has developed strength. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes and then remove the dough from the bowl, stretch it out, and sprinkle half of the grated butter over the dough. Stretch and fold the dough over itself, incorporating the butter bits and strengthening the dough. 

Return the dough to the bowl, cover it, and let it rest for 30 minutes. 

Perform the third set of stretch and folds, adding the rest of the butter. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes before stretching and folding it one more time. 

Cover the bowl and let the dough rise until it has increased in size by about 70 percent, about four to six hours. Preshape the dough into a boule or batard and let it rest for 20 minutes before doing the final shaping and placing the dough into a prepared banneton. 

Once you've shaped the dough, immediately place it in the refrigerator overnight, 12 to 18 hours. 

Finally, when you are ready to bake the loaf, remove it from the refrigerator and place it, still cold, into a pre-heated Dutch oven. Score the loaf and place it into the hot oven and bake, covered for 25 minutes, and 20 minutes, uncovered. 

Cool the loaf completely. 

Equipment You May Need:

Baking Vessel: Typically, I've usually used a cast iron Dutch oven for baking sourdough loaves. This time, I came across my clay tagine and decided to give it a try. It worked great! Plus, it is lighter and easier to handle than cast iron. 

Parchment Paper: For transferring the dough to the tagine. You turn the dough out onto the parchment and use it to lift and place the dough into the preheated cooking vessel. 

Banneton: It's a bread proofing basket into which you place the shaped dough and let it rise. The banneton helps the dough keep its shape during the second rise. 

Instant Read Thermometer: To check the dough temperature during the bulk rise. 

Recipe Variations:

If you'd like to speed up the second rise, let the just-shaped dough sit for an hour at room temperature before placing it in the refrigerator. I don't recommend this during the summer or when your kitchen is warmer than 70 degrees F because you don't want the butter to melt and blend into the dough. 

Once you've made this bread with success, you can add other ingredients that you might include in croissants along with the butter, such as chocolate chips, slivered almonds, pistacchios, or raisins. 

Tip for Success:

I made this loaf during the summer while the weather is warm, making it more difficult to keep the butter cold. In fact, after the autolyse, the dough had already reached a temperature of 80 degrees F. 

You can chill the dough in the fridge. Instead, I placed the bowl in a a larger bowl of ice cubes, which will slowly melt and keep the dough cooler. The goal is to maintain the dough at a temperature of around 65 to 70 degrees F, warm enough to rise, but cool enough to not melt the butter. 

Storing This Bread:

This bread keeps well at room temperature in a bag for up to three days. You can also slice some of the bread after it cools and freeze it, keeping it in a freezer bag. You can remove slices each morning for breakfast. 

Serving Suggestions:

This bread is delicious rewarmed or lightly toasted with jam. There is no need for butter. It also makes great sandwiches. In fact, use this bread as you would a croissant! 

This recipe is from Cathy of Bread Experience for the Bread Baking Babes. Be sure to check out all of the Bread Baking Babes' takes on the recipe. 

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Sourdough Croissant Bread

Yield: 20 slices

Author: Karen Kerr

Prep time: 2 HourCook time: 50 MinInactive time: 16 HourTotal time: 18 H & 50 M

Sourdough croissant bread - take your favorite sourdough bread dough recipe and fill it with lots of butter pieces - and you will end up with a wonderful loaf of bread that looks like a standard boule at first glance but actually has a crispy flaky crust and an amazing pull-apart crumb. 

Ingredients

• 100 grams active sourdough starter - 100 percent hydration
• 500 grams bread flour
• 350 grams water
• 10 grams salt
• 113 grams butter (1 stick), salted or unsalted, frozen and grated. Keep the grated butter in the freezer

Instructions

1. Day 1: Mix the starter, water, and flour by hand in a bowl or dough rising bucket. Cover the bowl and let rest for 30 to 60 minutes (autolyse). In the meantime, grate the butter using a large holed grater and place it in the freezer.
2. Add the salt and work it into the dough by both pinching it in with your fingers and stretching and folding the dough in the bowl several times, until the salt is fully incorporated and the dough develops strength and is smooth. This is the first stretch and fold.
3. After 30 to 45 minutes, remove the dough from the bowl and stretch it out over your work surface. Sprinkle the dough with half of the frozen butter. Fold the dough over itself and continue to stretch and fold the dough several times (2nd stretch and fold). Return the dough to the bowl, cover, and let rest 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the rest of the butter (3rd stretch and fold) and let the dough rest 30 to 45 minutes.
4. Stretch and fold the dough for one more session (4th stretch and fold), form the dough into a ball, cover, and let it rise for 4 to 6 hours, until the dough has increased in size by about 70%. Keep an eye on the dough temperature (see notes in post).
5. Preshape and rest the dough on the work surface for 15 to 20 minutes. Finally, shape the dough into a boule or batard and place it, seam side up, into a prepared banneton. Cover and refrigerate immediately. Let it rest overnight (12 to 18 hours).
6. Day 2 - Heat the oven to 450 degrees F with a Dutch oven on the middle rack.
7. Remove the heated Dutch oven from the oven and remove the lid. Place parchment paper on top of the dough and turn the dough and banneton upside down so that the parchment is under the dough. Use the parchment to lift the dough into the Dutch oven. Using a sharp knife or lame, score the dough as you prefer. I did a single slash at a slight angle across the top of the dough. Place the lid on the pot and return it to the oven.
8. Reduce the oven temperature to 425 degrees F and bake, covered, for 25 minutes. Remove the lid and bake uncovered for 20 minutes more, until the loaf reaches an internal temperature of 195 to 205 degrees F.
9. Cool the loaf completely on a wire rack before cutting.

Notes

See blog post for tips for keeping the dough cool if necessary.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

132

Fat (grams)

4 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

3 g

Carbs (grams)

20 g

Fiber (grams)

2 g

Net carbs

19 g

Sugar (grams)

1 g

Protein (grams)

4 g

Cholesterol (grams)

0 mg

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Recipe from Bread Experience. Additional sources: Amy Bakes Bread, Pantry Mama, Lifestyle of a Foodie, and King Arthur Baking (where they include an egg yolk in the dough).