Croissants!

I have fallen way behind on this blog.  I think that this is a good thing and means that I actually have a life.  The girls staying for lunch for two days each week is huge.  Over a week ago, I took a croissant making class.  My friend, Lori, took all of these photos.  I appreciate that she risked her phone and allowed me and my pants to remain pristine.  Lori's pants were covered in flour from digging her phone in and out of her pocket.  When Lori e-mailed me these photos, she cleverly forgot to send me the photo I took of her.

 

 

 Concentration

 

 The class was three hours long, and that is really not long enough to make croissants.  We started out with already made dough that had rested and then made some dough at the end of the class so that we would know how to do it.  Here we pour the dry ingredients out onto the counter and create a Colosseum with the bottom of our bowl.  Then, we just pour the wet ingredients into the middle and muck it all about until it turns into dough.

 

You probably think you understand how much butter is in a croissant.  It is a lot more than you think.  We took about a pound of butter and wrapped it up like a little present and then rolled out the dough.

The big toilet brush looking things are for getting the extra flour off of your dough and off the counter

 

You then very carefully roll out this little present and cut it into long triangles to be rolled into croissants.

After taking this class I am quite sure I need a rolling pin like this one.
Lori was the best and fastest baker and this is her beautiful little croissant.

Proud Mama

Pain au chocolat

Smells delicious

At the end of the school day, I greeted the girls with freshly baked pain au chocolat.  They thought they were delicious and wanted to know when I was going to make some more.

 

This class was in English; the teacher was a very nice young Texan who had come to Paris for cooking school and married a Parisienne.  I hope to take some more classes in French.