Boom!

Hello, I'm Julia Child.

Welcome to my house.

What fun we're going to have baking all kinds of incredible cakes, pies and breads right here in my own kitchen.

Esther McManus, the talented French patissiere who runs LeBus Bakeries in Philadelphia shows us how to make croissants-- you know those wonderful buttery French crescent rolls.

Join us on... [Captioning sponsored by VIEWERS LIKE YOU] This is a real French croissant.

Just look at that-- tender and flaky and buttery.

It's just absolutely delicious in every way.

And Esther McManus is going to make them for us.

and she's a real French baker and her name is Esther because she's French.

Thank you.

Okay, how do we begin?

Well, we begin by having the right ingredients which is butter, flour, milk, yeast, salt, and sugar.

So we put the flour in-- three cups and three quarter.

That's just about a pound.

That's a pound and two ounces exactly.

A pound and two ounces.

Mm-hmm, we add the yeast and then we put two level teaspoons of salt and one third cup of sugar.

Then you put, right away, one whole cup of milk and you leave the other half so that in case you need it, you will use it.

Then you set on a low speed until the ingredients are kind of mixed.

So I can see that it is a little dry.

And it's good to constantly check your dough... Mm-hmm.

so that you don't get it too wet because it's easier to make dough lighter than to then thicken it.

You always know that the dough is starting to be right when it has picked up most of the flour from the bottom of the bowl.

Uh-huh.

So because I find that the mixer is struggling a little bit I'm going to take it out and I'm going to make it easier for the mixer to work.

So I put it on, put it back and then put little pieces like this.

It helps the mixer... That's interesting.

work a little better And this way, it will have a chance to gather it into a ball and make it work.

And I will let it work just a little bit longer until I feel that the dough is unified.

Mm-hmm.

So you take it, you pound it a little bit knead it a little bit.

And you wait until...

I can feel it now.

It feels... Mm-hmm.

See, it feels nice.

Mm-hmm.

You make it smooth.

So what we are going to do is just wrap it in a piece of plastic like this and again make it smooth.

And because it's going to grow you will put it in a plastic bag so that the air does not penetrate it.

I'm going to leave it in room temperature for about half an hour.

So it just stay right here next to me until I feel that it's ready to go to the refrigerator.

Now I'm going to change to the paddle because it's going to beat my butter without making it oily.

Chilled, unsalted butter.

Unsalted.

Best quality butter.

And we're going to use a pound and about two ounces like this.

Now why do I cut it?

It's because the paddle will have an easier time going at it.

So we'll go like this.

I will put into it two tablespoons of flour.

What does the flour do?

Okay, the flour is important in here because it will absorb some of the water in the butter.

Oh, mm-hmm.

And you want as little water in this butter... That little bit of flour will take care of it.

Now I'm going to put it on high speed.

Lower it a little.

Lower.

And I believe that's it.

I stop now because I don't want it to get oily.

So now I take this mass of butter.

I put it here.

It's still chilled.

It is.

That's because I cut it in pieces before I put it in.

Then I tap it... nice to get all the air out.

This butter is going to be going into the dough to create the flaky croissant that you so enjoyed.

And both these two things are going together to the refrigerator.

Mm-hmm.

They're going to be very happy to spend the night together in the refrigerator to be of the same temperature and of the same consistency.

Fine.

This is the dough that has rested for 30 minutes but then it lived in the refrigerator with the butter overnight, or a minimum of eight hours.

So it's chilled now.

Both are chilled.

It has begun to rise, hasn't it?

Right.

It looks, It looks lovely.

It looks so much smoother.

Yeah.

Now smell how delicious this smells.

It's fermented.

Mm-hmm.

It's delicious-smelling already.

Lovely, so you can eat it raw even.

You could eat it raw.

So, now we have to work with a little bit of flour because you don't want it to attach itself to the marble.

Then, I brought this pin here, and it has a lot of weight.

So you want this nice, wonderful weight.

You always do it this way and that way.

Yeah.

Anyway, you always are, in a way, kind but authority.

Yes.

You don't be scared.

You are not scared of the dough.

Well, you know what you're doing.

The dough should be scared of you, you know.

( both chuckle ) So, you bring it to 17 inches and 11, ten inches wide.

Mm-hmm.

Open your butter, and the butter has also lived... Beautiful.

for eight hours.

It's beautiful, it's...

It's quite hard, though, isn't it?

It is.

It should be because you lift this dough like this and you sort of stretch it a little bit and you make it sit here.

Mm-hmm.

It doesn't want to, but you are going to be the boss.

You're the boss.

( laughs ) And you do the same thing, and you turn it like this and you hold a little bit this end here and you take this pin and you start beating from the middle.

Distribute the butter, kindly but firmly.

You see how the butter is moving?

Mm-hmm.

It is almost filling it's half.

Mm-hmm.

I turn it like this and I do the same thing for the other half.

That's a very clever way of doing it.

And now you understand why the butter has to be solid.

Yes.

Because if it was not solid it would have gone where it wanted to go.

So then I'm going to go a little bit this way and again, in my head, I am seeing the butter walking toward the end.

Mm-hmm.

I do this for the other half, pivot it, and I do the same thing in here.

Okay, now I would say that I am not going to go any further than this because I feel that it doesn't want me to.

So I'm going to put it in the sheet tray, please.

Oh, here it is.

Cookie sheet There you are.

I put very small amount of flour... Mm-hmm.

and I'll rest it for two hours.

In the fridge?

In the refrigerator-- that's it.

Fine.

Voila!

Now this is the dough that's rested two hours.

That's right.

Now we're going to flour the board again and go like this.

Put it down.

Flour the top.

At this point...

Very lightly don't work.

This is already rising, isn't it?

Right, right, and don't try to flour the rolling pin.

It doesn't do any good.

Oh, it doesn't.

Always go both directions.

And try to keep it as even as possible.

As even as possible.

Again, I'm going both ways.

That's about 24 inches long and about 14 inches wide and this is what I have now.

Always make sure there's... it doesn't stick... Now that's, yeah.

because when it sticks, it tears.

When it tears, you're in trouble.

Mm-hmm.

Okay, so now we fold it and I have a nice little pastry brush here.

I usually take the flour out, and I...

It isn't actually even down there, but it doesn't look any different.

It doesn't have to be.

It really does not have to be even because, look what I'm going to do now.

I'm going to give it just a little request.

I'm going to tell it, "Come on please.

"Get together nicely."

Mm-hmm.

But, I'm not going to force it to do anything because it does not like to be forced.

Don't go down on it.

Because that, that toughens it, doesn't it?

That's right.

That's right.

You like to...

It has to feel easy.

That's it.

And if it doesn't work, it means it's not ready.

Put it back in the refrigerator and don't worry about it.

Now it is measuring 15 by nine, roughly.

See how I lift it like I'm lifting a baby.

Like this I put it down because I don't want to stretch it and that is when I mark what I did because I might forget.

Yeah.

I put "one turn" and then I know that it is going to be there.

How many more does it have, now?

It's going to have one more single and one double.

Mm-hmm.

And each time, it rests about an hour in between.

Sometimes it rests a little longer.

Now this is turn number two, Esther.

That's right.

It's rested for one hour.

Yes, and nice and chilled, as you can feel.

Yes, indeed.

Okay, we're going to give it a double turn now.

A double turn.

It's very similar to what we have done.

See, when it's cracked like this don't sorry about it because it's normal.

The action of the yeast has started to work and it's okay.

It has a lovely sort of buttery, sweet aroma, doesn't it?

I'll just give it a little bit more... although, I think I feel it getting... See, there's a little butter here?

Don't worry about it, okay, because you know we are in July and it's warm.

It's good to know that will happen.

That's right.

I think it's important for the students to know because when they see that butter, they get all excited.

Don't worry about it.

Don't panic!

No, don't panic.

Well, this is the famous double turn.

That's the famous double turn or portefeuille.

A "wallet."

A wallet, it's called in French.

Clean it from the dough.

I will put it like this.

You make it evenly there.

A little even.

And leave a little space here for the fold.

Et voilàà.

There you are.

Now you have a dough that needs to rest but then once it's rested it's ready to be cut.

I suppose you're going to write on it.

Now I'm going to... What I do, because they know me at the bakery I put the word "done" with a big exclamation point.

Right.

Now here's your chilled philo dough-- you've cut it in half.

So that's just half of the dough.

Remember, it is a double fold-- here is the double fold-- and that will be the length of the dough.

Make sure it is always in a clean marble so that it does not stick to it.

This the real moment of truth, as they say.

This is the moment of truth, that's right.

So, I'm going to roll it in order to cut it.

For the beginner this is a much easier amount of dough to use because otherwise, when it's too big you can't really handle it in the beginning.

At this point, it's nice if you could just learn to work fast because when the dough gets warm it has a problem.

Well, you could use chilled marble if you didn't have such a big one.

That is what we have at work, yes.

Now, I would say that for this we have the measuring stick, please so just somebody would know, it is... about 20.

And here we have about 15.

Twenty by fifteen.

It could go a little bit more but we're going to just go over like this.

Now brush the flour, because at this point you don't need the flour anymore.

If you have too much flour you cannot roll the croissant.

So you want to have at this point a nice, clean marble.

You start here and you make an angle like this.

And then it's about four inches wide.

Mm-hmm, and that's a double piece of dough.

A double piece of dough.

These pieces of dough usually...

I show you what I do with them.

They're not going to waste-- they're very nice to have.

Then you open it, open them up, like this.

That's very neat and nice.

It is nice.

Cut it, like this.

Well, this is the biggest moment of truth-- how to form a croissant.

I'll be interested to see that.

It is something you have to acquire, really.

First of all, you have to learn how to lengthen them.

I'm going to do that a little bit with you.

Okay, just hold them with all your fingers tucked under and your thumb in here.

And then, starting from the middle roll, roll, roll, roll, roll, without stopping all the way-- beautiful.

That's hold... gently, okay.

That's beautiful, yes.

That's something people are afraid to do because they don't know how and they're afraid to tear it.

Then you put a little piece of dough to give it a little more... a little more belly.

Now, that's a good idea.

And then you just seal it in there.

And then give it a first kind of turn and wet your hands... Or moisten your hands.

Moisten your hands.

Yes, and start at arm's length so that you have plenty of room to come down.

And you start rolling with your thumb right on the floor.

This is very, very nice marble-- it's very shining so it's... Beautiful.

Always this flap here has to face you when you put it down so that they all are rolled in the right direction.

Now you're going...

I'm going to use almond cream.

I'm not going to do it-- you do it, almond cream.

It's about a tablespoon.

This is a tablespoon.

Mm-hmm.

Forming it... And I go like this at it.

It's a little more tricky to roll a filled croissant because obviously you now have a mass of something inside that needs to be dealt with.

So you just have to roll...

If you feel that you haven't done it tight enough?

You go over it again.

And go down, down, down, down all the way because you're getting a little bit of a spiral here, too which is important.

Put them down.

Now, before you forget, you must label your tray.

I'll divide it.

I put almond in here... and plain in here... because it's very quickly forgotten.

Oh, you turn...

I notice you turn the little points down.

That's right, because you want them to be what the French call "centré."

The reason I put them off of each other is that they have room to expand.

They're going to puff right up.

That's right.

We egg-wash them and then we put them in a turned-off oven with a little boiling water for steam.

How much do they rise?

About three hours.

And you don't cover them at this point.

Do they rise twice or more?

They don't actually rise that much.

They just become kind of spongy.

Spongy, yeah.

And there's no resistance to the dough.

It's like hollow inside.

When it feels hollow inside you put them in a 350-degree oven and you bake them.

Well, now these are ready to puff.

To puff.

Good.

This is the second half of the dough that we used in the beginning.

And with this half we're going to make petit pain au chocolat-- Chocolate... Chocolate croissant, which is a great favorite.

They're usually the ones that go first-- you know that.

So what I do, is I fold the dough the same way I did with the other croissants and I kind of measure it by this semi-sweet chocolate.

If you don't have a piece of chocolate like this you take you own piece of chocolate and you put two pieces together, you know.

Okay, so we'll save this for later.

We have, again, the same way unfold the dough and... Cut it.

Now, this is much easier to roll than what we have done until now.

You just put your two pieces of chocolate...

It doesn't make any difference that that's uneven?

No, it does not.

It all will puff, or rise, nice and even.

You press down on them.

Press down on it-- give it a nice, little touch.

Those two pieces together are about an ounce, I would say.

About an ounce.

Just roll, roll, roll, roll and flatten.

And, again, one more little flat.

And now we're going to make a paté.

And here it is, I can smell it.

It is a paté de fois.

Put a little piece in here.

You could use regular fois gras, if you wanted.

You can do, you can put anything you like.

Again, just tuck it slightly in because it is not a piece of chocolate that is sturdy.

Then, I guess, you glaze it and let it rise.

Let it rise, or puff.

Put it in a turned-off oven that has preferably a little pilot light for heat and give it a little boiling water for steam and do not cover it.

And it'll take about three hours.

That's right.

Now, these are the puffs...

These are ready.

Ready croissants to go to the oven.

They really have risen, too, haven't they?

Yes.

I'm going to egg-wash them again.

This is their final egg wash. And you see how spongy they are when they're ready?

Yeah.

If you touch them, they're, like, hollow inside.

Now... on the almond ones I'm going to sprinkle a few slivers... Then you'd really know that it was almonds.

Then you really know-- because once they bake it's very hard to tell which is which.

This is the very last thing we have to do now-- we have to bake them in a 350 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes rotate them-- meaning, put one on the top... that's on the top in the bottom and the bottom one on the top.

About halfway through?

About halfway through.

And wish them a bon voyage.

Oui!

Do you think they're ready?

I think so.

Ooo!

They're beautiful.

Beautiful.

Oh, these are nice.

Let's look at a paté-- I'd love to see them.

It smells so...

Le petit paté?

Okay, we'll cut this one open.

And...

It's the same idea.

See?

Mmm, that looks lovely.

You know, you don't see croissant quality like this anymore-- even in France they don't make them of this quality.

You know, we feel we have the responsibility to be the guardian of a tradition.

Well, thanks ever so much.

I really feel I can even roll a croissant thanks to you.

Thank you, Julia.

And keep making wonderful croissants.

You do, too.

Okay, thanks.

Julia's got Julia: Bon appétit!