Accomplishments

Yes, I am graduating tonight! Yesterday was my last day as a student at Michigan State University and although I'm going to stay here and work through the summer, I miss it already. However, the feeling I had this morning when I woke up and had no worries about any academic responsibilites was pretty damn good. I plan to enjoy it while it lasts. Come August, I will be moving to Dekalb IL to attend graduate school at NIU. I am excited but for now I am content.
This entry comes after many months of nothing, I know, and I hope you've stayed well fed in the meantime, as I have. I saw my friend Ron Clark last weekend and he urged me to write about food again. Since there is no culinary opinion I value more highly than his, here we are!
A while ago, I made these croissants from scratch. They turned out perfect! The day they came out of the oven, I couldn't help but eat two while they were still warm. Quite a few people asked for the recipe: here it is.
This recipe comes from one of my favorite books of all time: "French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure" by Mireille Guiliano. I highly recommend this book to everyone who loves food and I'm guessing you wouldn't be reading this if you didn't. She includes a number of simple recipes that will keep you very well fed. Among them is a recipe for making your own yogurt, which I do. Once you begin making your own yogurt, you won't be able to go back to those highly packaged, highly sugared yogurts from the store that taste nothing like real yogurt. That recipe, like this one, takes very little actual preparation time. The real requirment for both recipes is patience. As you can see, making these buttery, flaky gems takes three days but it's hardly three days of hard labor. She recommends starting on a Friday evening when you'll be spending the weekend at home. Sunday morning, it may be the last day of your weekend but it'll be the first day of a delicious week! This recipe makes 12 so be sure you have someone to share with. I've learned that sometimes being well fed means feeding others well. When making this one remember: patience, pleasure and people make a great recipe. Bon Appetit.

Croissants
Makes 12

Ingredients

1 cup milk plus 2 Tbsp to brush over croissants
2 tsp active dry yeast
2 1/4 cups plus 3 Tbsp sifted all purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
12 Tbsp sweet unsalted butter

For glaze: 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 Tbsp milk

Friday Evening (Day 1):

1. Heat 1 cup of the milk to lukewarm. Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup of the lukewarm milk. Stir in 2 Tbsp flour (from the 2 1/4 cups) and whisk until there are no lumps. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temp until doubled in volume (about 20 mins).

2. Mix the sugar and salt into the 2 1/8 cups flour.

3. Heat the remaining milk. Transfer the raised dough to the bowl of an eletric mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the lukewarm milk, and with the mixer at high speed, start adding the sugar, salt and flour (from step 2), a little at a time, reducing the speed to low-medium until the dough is sticky and soft. **For this step I did not have a dough hook, I used a regular mixer and it worked fine, just messier.

4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Saturday morning (Day 2):

1. Bring the butter to room temperature and work it with the heel of your hand to incorporate the remaining 3 Tbsps of flour until smooth. Shape into a square.

2. Sprinkle the work surface (a marble slab is ideal) with the flour, shape the cold dough into a 6 x 15- inch rectangle, and spread the butter square on the upper 2/3 of the rectangle, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the sides and top. Fold the dough like a letter into thirds. Turn the dough counterclockwise (it will look like a notebook with the open flap on your right), and then again roll out the dough into a 6 x 15-inch rectangle and fold as before.

3. Transfer the dough to a baking pan, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 6 hours.

Saturday afternoon (Day 2)

Roll the dough 2 more times, wrap, and refrigerate overnight.

Sunday morning (Day 3)

1. About 1 1/2 hours before baking time, remove the dough from the refrigerator and sprinkle flour on the work surface. Roll the dough into a 16-inch circle, working as quickly as possible. Using a knife, cut the dough into quarters and then cut each quarter into 3 triangles.

2. With both hands, roll the based of eah triangle toward the remaining corner. Do not curl the ends in a croissant shape. Transfer the croissants to a baking sheet and brush with 2 Tbsps milk. Let stand at room temp for about 45 mins, or until they have doubled in volume.

3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Brush the croissants with the glaze and bake for 15 to 20 mins. If they brown too fast, cover them loosely with foil and continue baking. Let cool 20 mins before serving.