I’ve decided to be ambitious and try Rose’s croissants for Thanksgiving (along with Great Pumpkin Pie, which went over fabulously last year). I have a question about scalding the milk, however. I first tried weighing out the 181 g of milk, scalding it, and then adding it to the mixer bowl. The dough just wouldn’t come together, and I could clearly tell that there wasn’t enough liquid, but I didn’t come to that realization until it was too late to sneak in any water. Since I’d only expended some milk, yeast, flour, sugar, and salt, I figured I’d give it another go. This time I was more careful with the scalding and stirred continuously and monitored the temperature the whole time. When I pulled it off the heat at 180F and measured the mass of the milk again, I found I had 148 g of milk left. Thus, I added enough to get back up to 181 g, and voila, the dough came together as I’d expected. From the way the ingredient list is worded, it seems that the way I did it the first time should have been right, but based on results, it seems the second approach (modified to scald more milk than needed, then measure out what’s required) is right. Anyone have experience with this? Hopefully everything’s on the right track now, but I’m still interested for the future.

Thanks!

Mitch

(Edited to add the parenthetical about modifying the second approach.)

Yes, you need that full amount—that is the weight after scalding.  I always just use powdered milk and water because it is so much easier.  Also, I have to say you are very brave to do this for Thanksgiving.  When I have made these in the past, I never had anything else going at the same time!

Matthew - 25 November 2008 11:40 PM

Yes, you need that full amount—that is the weight after scalding.  I always just use powdered milk and water because it is so much easier.  Also, I have to say you are very brave to do this for Thanksgiving.  When I have made these in the past, I never had anything else going at the same time!

Thanks, Matthew. I should clarify, I’m making these for a Thanksgiving gathering where everybody’s been assigned a couple of things, so I’m not in charge of anything other than the croissants and the pie. (Well, them and preparing some lefse that’s sitting in my freezer.) If I were doing the full turkey dinner, there’s no way I’d try something as ambitious as croissants