We’ve made classic croissants already and now it’s the time to go one step forward; let’s make bicolor croissants, shall we?! If you made croissants using my recipe, you know that the process isn’t difficult at all and requires very little active time. That’s only max 30 min to mix the dough and shape a butter block, rolling is another 15 minutes, plus 30 minutes for shaping and 20 minutes for baking. So, total is about 1,5 hours, the rest of the time the yeast does work for you 🙂
Bicolor croissants are not much more difficult to make, they are as easy to make as plain ones. All you have to do is to break a small piece of dough and colour it as desired (I tinted mine with cocoa powder) then process with usual routine for plain croissants and add the coloured dough just before final rolling and shaping.
If you haven’t made classic croissants yet, I highly recommend you try them first using this recipe and then do this version. The article in the link has also got all important tips on making and handling the croissant dough.
The recipe makes 18 croissants.
Bicolor croissants
For the dough:
- ¾ c/ 6.35 oz/ 180 ml lukewarm water
- ½ c/ 4.23 oz/ 120 ml lukewarm milk
- 3 T/ 1.6 oz/ 45 g sugar
- 1 t salt
- 2 T/ 1.4 oz/ 40 g European-style/ cultured unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature
- 3 2/3 c/ 18.7 oz/ 530 g all-purpose flour
- 2 t/ 0.25 oz/ 7 g instant dry yeast
- 2.5 T/ 18 g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 t/ 10 ml water
Place water, water, sugar, salt, butter, flour and yeast in a big mixing bowl and mix to make a soft, rough, tacky dough, adding more flour only if necessary. There’s no need to work the dough at this point, as it will be worked during the rolling and folding process.
Divide 5 oz/ 155 g from the dough and set aside. Shape the remaining dough into a ball, wrap it in cling film, refrigerate for 2-4 hrs. The dough will not rise much, but will become smooth, elastic and not so tacky anymore.
Meanwhile mix the cocoa powder and water in a small bowl. Mix this paste into the divided piece of dough until fully incorporated and even in colour. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate until needed.
Meanwhile prepare a butter block:
- 1⅔ sticks/ 6.17 oz/ 185 g European-style/ cultured unsalted butter, chilled, remove from the fridge 30 minutes before using
Place the butter between 2 large sheets of baking paper. Using a rolling pin, shape the butter into a 8×6″/ 20×15 cm rectangle. Wrap it in the baking paper and chill in the fridge until needed.
The following process is exactly the same as for plain croissants.
After refrigeration time is up and just before final rolling and shaping remove both doughs from the fridge. Dust the work surface with a little flour and roll out the chocolate dough into a 16×8″/ 40×20 cm rectangle. Set aside.
Now roll out the croissant dough into a 16×8″/ 40×20 cm rectangle. Brush the surface of the dough with water and place the chocolate dough right on top.
Cut the dough in half vertically, so you have 2 portions with open seams. Leave one of them, long side facing you. Wrap and refrigerate the other portion of dough, if you are going to use it right after you are done with the first one. Otherwise freeze it up to 1-2 months.
Rotate the remaining dough 90º and roll it out into a 15×8″/ 38×20 cm rectangle. I recommend to lift the dough up from time to time to let it shrink back naturally, otherwise you risk to have it shrunk later on as you cut it.
Trim either of the shortest sides to have a 14×8″/ 36×20 cm rectangle of dough. Starting at the bottom corner of the base of the dough, mark it with the tip of a knife at 3½”/ 9 cm intervals. Repeat making notches along the top long side of the dough at 3½”/ 9 cm intervals as well. Starting at the upper left corner of the dough, connect the top and the bottom notches with diagonal straight lines. You must have 8 triangles.
Line a baking tray with baking paper or silicone mat.
Take one triangle og the dough placing it brown colour down, gently stretch the base of the triangle, then stretch the triangle from its tip to make it a bit longer. Alternatively you may use a rolling pin to stretch it a little, rolling the dough gently couple of times without any pressure. Using a sharp knife or pizza wheel cut a ½”/ 1 cm notch at the shortest side and stretch it slightly. Fold the two triangle corners at the base of the triangle inwards, then roll the croissants tightly to the end. The croissant must have 5 segments. Lightly flatten the croissant to keep it from rolling on a baking tray. Repeat with the remaining triangles. Space the criossants well apart on the tray. The end must stay under the croissant, so it doesn’t unroll during baking and rising.
Cover the tray loosely with cling film and let stand at room temperature until croissants look puffed, about 1½ – 2 hrs.
Preheat the oven to 400ºF/ 200ºC.
Make egg wash:
- 1 small egg
- 1 T milk or water
Lightly beat the egg and milk in a small bowl. Just before baking, brush the croissants with the egg wash.
Bake in the hot oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. If necessary, switch the tray front to back 15 min. into baking, for even baking. If the croissants brown too fast, lower the oven temperature to 355ºF/ 180ºC and continue baking until done.
Remove from the oven, transfer to a cooking rack and let cool for at least 20 min. Serve warm or cool.
