Wheat flour
For the basic doughs of the croissant and Danish pastry baked goods, the same requirements apply to the quality of the wheat flour as in the case of confectionery yeast doughs. Only for unfermented or fermented frozen dough pieces with frozen storage times of more than 4 weeks are higher qualities of wheat flour with a low enzyme activity and a higher wet gluten amount recommended.
A high gas retention property and a good extensibility of the gluten are necessary.
Recommendation for fermented frozen croissant and Danish pastry baked goods:
Wet gluten: | > 30 % |
Sedimentation value: | 40 – 50 ml |
Energy in the extensogram: | > 100 cm² |
Ratio number: | 2 – 5 |
Falling number: | > 320 seconds |
Improvers/Mixes
As a result of the numerous scaling processes and to ensure a uniform quality, many bakeries place their trust in mixes for croissant and Danish pastry baked goods.
Over and above the ingredients with a technological effect, such as the emulsifiers, the required amounts of sugar, dry milk products, salt and flavourings are already contained.
For croissant and Danish pastry baked goods, classic improvers for wheat morning goods are often also used. However, special improvers are needed, in particular in the case of frozen dough pieces. In addition to the emulsifiers to increase the fermentation stability and freezing/thawing tolerance, these improvers frequently contain gluten and other stabilizing components. To choose the correct improver, the quality of the final baked goods, the production process and the flour quality have to be considered.
Malt products and dried sourdoughs
With malt products such as malt flour, malt extract and the combination of these, the smell and taste of croissant and Danish pastry baked goods can be refined. The malt products support the buttery and caramel taste of the baked goods and enhance the crust colouring and the crispness.
BACKEXTRAKT and BATRO have to be mentioned here as product examples.
In addition, for croissant and Danish pastry baked goods, the use of dried wheat sourdoughs is suitable to further improve the dough properties, the smell and the taste. Combinations of wheat sourdough and light-coloured malt products are especially popular in French-speaking areas for the production of croissants. IREKS-WEIZENSAUER is suitable as a dried sourdough.
Fats for laminating
Margarine
Special margarines, which have a plastic and solid consistency and which do not tear when processing, are used for laminating. In the case of cool processing temperatures, the margarine layers may not be too firm and in the case of warmer temperatures, not become too soft. This is achieved by a high content of fat of approx. 90 % and the combination of various fats with an optimum melting behaviour. When eating the baked goods, the margarines have to melt well and may not leave an unpleasant and suety mouth feel behind.
Butter
Due to the high enjoyment value, butter is very popular in the production of croissant and Danish pastry baked goods. With the qualities of butter available today and the optimized manufacturing processes at low room temperatures for laminating, butter is also suitable for folded or laminated doughs. Should the baked goods be described as butter baked goods, then only butter may be used in the basic dough and for lamination. The optimum processing temperature of butter is 15° C. If the butter is shaped into a sheet of fat in laminating installations, it is introduced to the fat pump with a temperature of approx. 8° C and warms to the processing temperature. Also the technologically demanding, fermented frozen croissant and Danish pastry baked goods can nowadays be made using butter.
Blended fats
For reasons of cost and due to technological properties, blended fats from butter and margarine are partly used for lamination. Here the good taste of the butter is combined with the higher plasticity of the vegetable fats. The baked goods made using this may not be called butter baked goods, however.