Home Made Crescent Rolls (Holiday Meal Collection)
Making a great crescent roll is a labor of love….and coming from a baking specialist you might like to know that I often just buy the Pilsbury type and pop open the cardboard container to a quick consistent roll experience during a home gathering. Time and space dictate my drive. That being written… I am a great crescent roll baking fool and my recipe was earned by staring at my teacher’s lecture notes during our baking lab in college. (yes I did go to a formal training and yes I did learn from some masters). Here is a recipe I can state came from my lesson du jour!
Let’s make some really great fresh crescent rolls from scratch….holiday is coming! (These are nice and flaky the way you might want a crescent roll or croissant)
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (one packet)
2 tsp honey
1 cup warm milk, not boiling
1 egg
1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp salt
1 stick salted butter, softened
3 tsp melted butter, for brushing
I make this dough a day or two in advance of its use
Place flour in a mixing bowl
Add salt, honey, egg, yeast and unsalted butter to the top of the flour in your bowl.
Add warm milk to the bowl on top of all the other ingredients you have already added
Using your dough hook…. knead the dough on low until all the ingredients are combined and a dough ball forms in your mixing bowl.
Continue mixing on a med low setting for about 5 min as a nice smooth dough ball forms
Spray a second bowl with food spray and transfer your dough ball to that new bowl
Cover bowl with a dinner plate and allow dough to rise
NOTE: I always spray the bottom of the plate that I use to cover my proofing bowl (this keeps the dough as it rises from sticking to my plate)
Punch dough down as it doubles in size
Allow dough to rise a second time
Punch dough down and remove from bowl and place on a food sprayed piece of plastic wrap
Wrap dough and place in refrigerator
Let dough rest for about 3 hours in refrigerator
Remove dough from refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface
Roll out dough with your rolling pin make a nice thick rectangular pizza looking object about 1/4 inch thick
Use a portion of the stick of softened butter to butter the top of the dough (I use my basting brush for this buttering)
Fold one half of the rectangle towards the center and fold the other half over as well on top of the first layer so you have three dough layers, cover with plastic wrap and place in freezer for 10 minutes.
Remove dough from freezer and place once again on lightly floured surface
Roll out dough once again with your rolling pin make a nice thick rectangular pizza looking object about 1/4 inch thick (use care as the butter is a bit brittle and may try to cause cracking in dough)
Use a portion of the stick of softened butter to butter the top of the dough (I use my basting brush for this buttering)
Fold dough again into thirds like a book. Place back in freezer for 10 more minutes. Repeat this process two more times for a total of three folds (and 30 minutes in the freezer)
After the three folds, you can either proceed with the directions or you can wrap your dough tightly with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight or up to three days
FINALLY BAKING DAY
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick.
Using your pizza cutter or sharp knife cut the dough in half lengthwise, and then cut the dough into triangles.
Roll the dough into a crescent shaped bakeable
Place on a baking sheet about 2-3 inches apart, cover with a towel and set in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes to 1 hour
Preheat to 400 degrees F.
Brush each crescent with the melted butter (occasionally I will use a little egg wash if I want to be fancy)
Bake for about 12-14 min or until the outside is golden brown
Serve hot….
It was a ton of prep work for these delicious rolls… hope you enjoy everyone of them! Ahhhhhhhhh…I love mine!