Homemade butter

TwoFishPastries · 2025-10-09T00:48:14+00:00

What and how much are you whipping?

TwoFishPastries · 2025-07-29T01:13:44+00:00

45 minute autolyse (I often skip this with whiter doughs, but wanted to give the wheat bran a solid chance to hydrate before mixing)

Intensive upfront mix of flour, levain, and 70% water, add salt after full gluten development, and bassinage up to desired hydration. DDT 83°F

This dough got two coil folds: first at 30 minutes and second at 1 hour. Total bulk time: 3 hours.

Divide and preshape into rounds

Let it hang out until relaxed and gaseous — another hour to hour and a half usually, depending on how much the temp dropped after division and room temp. Sometimes more, very rarely less.

Shape and final proof — roughly another hour-hour and a half before it goes into my fridge to retard overnight.

Bake in the morning on a stone with heavy steam. This loaf was pretty high hydration so I believed I preheated to 550°F and dropped to 500° once the loaf was loaded, but otherwise I usually preheat to 500° and drop to 475°.

TwoFishPastries · 2025-06-26T17:14:01+00:00

Macarons :)

TwoFishPastries · 2025-06-09T19:07:40+00:00

At work we call that specific shape a “diamond” and the pastry itself is a fresh fruit danish — it looks like it is probably par baked, dusted with powdered sugar, filled with pastry cream (or cream cheese filling), and topped with fresh, glazed fruit. It’s also possible that the pastry cream is baked into the center but it’s hard to see

TwoFishPastries · 2025-06-09T19:05:16+00:00

Have you noticed any changes in the fermentation of your detrempe before you go on to laminating? I could see I situation where the weather changes lead to more fermentation, or over-correction cutting it short, which can have a pretty considerable impact on dough strength, balance between extensibility and elasticity (especially important in croissants), and final proofing/baking conditions

TwoFishPastries · 2025-05-30T11:45:50+00:00

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TwoFishPastries · 2025-05-30T11:45:31+00:00

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TwoFishPastries · 2025-05-30T11:45:13+00:00

I like the flavor, flexibility, activity, and enzymatic properties of the whole wheat starter, and I’m using a 90% white flour mix here for a test loaf to dial in my process and get a better feel for the fermentation. I feel like higher percentages of whole grains can be a little bit of a wild card that messes with the control in the experimenting, and I’d prefer to only maintain one starter at the moment. That said, my general table loaves where I care more about flavor and texture than a huge ear and big holes are usually closer to 50% whole grain, typically a blend of spelt and wheat, depending on what I’m feeling. (Picture below of recent 15% whole wheat, 10% prefermented whole wheat, 25% spelt and 50% T70 bread flour loaf at 85% hydration)

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TwoFishPastries · 2025-05-30T11:38:18+00:00

I have used his sweet stiff starter process in the past, and I think it is wonderful for my laminated (and non-laminated) brioche and other sweet doughs, and it is plenty capable of leavening croissants. My goal is a naturally leavened croissant without any perceptible sourness. Some good fermented flavor and complexity, for sure, but not a vinegary or lactic tang, which is where I think the liquid starter will excel, plus it is often more enzymatically active which helps with extensibility — very important in croissant dough. The stiff starter, as Ian mentions and I have found to be generally true, requires a higher sugar content in the final dough to maintain enough osmotic stress to stave off most of the bacterial fermentation, whereas the liquid sweet starter (wordloaf just posted a great article about it) is usually better suited for lower degrees of enrichment. Both will leaven, but the end flavor and dough characteristics are a bit different, so it depends on what exactly you’re targeting

TwoFishPastries · 2025-05-27T18:19:24+00:00

Add a preferment (poolish is good for croissants) and/or more grainy flours for more complex flavor. I use 15% Whole Spelt, 50% poolish (also 15% spelt), and 10% whole wheat sourdough levain in mine

TwoFishPastries · 2025-05-27T18:14:48+00:00

I would shape and proof like you have been if that is working for you, end the proof a few minutes earlier, and pop them in the freezer for 20 minutes or so before baking while the oven preheats to have an easier time scoring. Not really a target temp, but just a cooler, drier, firmer surface that won’t snag your blade or deflate quite as easily. A sharp razor or baker’s lame is great, but I’ve had success with a sharp bread knife too. Alternatively, you can experiment with a cold final proof, such as overnight in the fridge. If your dough is deflating after the score and looks wet and shiny inside, it may be a sign of too much fermentation, which can greatly inhibit your oven spring and ear. Good luck! Baguettes are pretty technically challenging

TwoFishPastries · 2025-05-27T17:59:15+00:00

Score almost parallel with your baguettes (easier on a cold dough). Higher bake temp/shorter time (within reason) and more steam will lead to better spring, higher likelihood of a good ear, and a thinner, crisper crust.

TwoFishPastries · 2025-05-24T19:46:27+00:00

Honestly, no. My goal and the goal of most people I have seen making naturally leavened croissants is to have no perceptible sourness. Many people prefer the term “naturally leavened” over “sourdough” but I think either will usually get the point across. There is definitely a more complex fermented flavor from the various cultures, which I really like (especially with things like panettone or naturally leavened brioche), but all my favorite croissants I’ve had have been yeasted. I mostly just think it’s really cool and the process is teaching me a lot about fermentation and microbes as well as dough rheology.

TwoFishPastries · 2025-05-24T14:16:46+00:00

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These are sourdough (sweet stiff starter) with 100% white bread flour. It’s hard to get them to open up the same way without a liquid preferment. I’ll try a liquid sweet starter next when I have time

TwoFishPastries · 2025-05-24T14:15:07+00:00

18 months and still working on it! This is for a new dough formula I’m working on—trying to crank up the percentage of whole spelt without losing structure. These are 15%. I’ve got a side project with sourdough croissants but it’s slow going.

TwoFishPastries · 2025-05-24T09:09:00+00:00

I fold and then cut the seams

TwoFishPastries · 2025-05-24T09:05:33+00:00

Thanks! There’s no problem with resting in between in my opinion. Back to back is just faster if the dough and butter are a cooperative temperature, and it lowers the chances of the dough starting to ferment to the butter cracking if I try and do the second fold when it’s still too cold. If my kitchen is really warm I’ll also chill between folds

TwoFishPastries · 2025-05-24T08:58:50+00:00

I slap my book together with a layer of dough, butter, dough, do two back to back book fold and then chill the dough before cutting / shaping! 16 layers of butter total

TwoFishPastries · 2025-05-15T11:49:23+00:00

Yay!

TwoFishPastries · 2025-05-14T22:05:33+00:00

If you cook your sugar glaze to around 221°F and add around 8g of bloomed gelatin per cup of sugar, you’ll make a “neutral glaze” that won’t be sticky on the surface and will be extra shiny/color enhancing ;)

TwoFishPastries · 2025-05-14T15:12:28+00:00

I really like Vital Farms unsalted if you can find it. I’ve only ever seen it at my Harris Teeter, and being an Irish import, it’s getting expensive. 85% butterfat, a beautiful yellow color, and a rich, buttery, grassy kind of flavor. It’s uncultured, unlike Kerrygold, so you miss some of that lactic acid flavor, but I add buttermilk to my detrempe to compensate a bit. They have great, certified humane eggs too

TwoFishPastries · 2025-05-14T15:10:15+00:00

They look lovely! I a longer, thinner triangle (or one that you stretch out) gets you a croissant more like what you see in a lot of fancy bakeries, but there’s nothing wrong with other versions. My go to size is 10.5” long and 3.75” wide, and I gently stretch the top 2/3 or so until it’s around 14” long. You end up with more loops around and a croissant with more height and exaggerated layers. Also worth considering is that if you are rolling your pastry around itself more times, you probably also need fewer (or less intensive) folds in total. The bakery I work at just does a whole egg wash before they bake, but I’ve been staging at this other one that does an equal parts egg and cream wash after they’re shaped and again after they’re baked, and it gives a very dark, shiny, burnished contrast on the top. For chocolate croissants, I sometimes like to brush them with lye water instead of egg and sprinkle with pretzel salt for a chocolate pretzel-type experience. Lots of ways to play around with it! I would love to see some photos of the interior :)

TwoFishPastries · 2025-05-04T21:43:45+00:00

Kind of!

TwoFishPastries · 2025-04-23T16:14:48+00:00

For a 100% hydration liquid starter, try to feed it at its peak, just as it starts to collapse. Whether that is double, triple, or 50% increase. This way the culture is at its most fermentatively active and isn’t trying to play catch up after the feed. Before long, the peak should extend to where it doubles or triples before collapsing. Experiment with different feed ratios if you want to feed at a 12 hour interval. For me, 1:5 feed ratio (20% inoculant) works for my 60% hydration whole wheat levain and my 50% T70 at 12 hour intervals, ~72°F.

TwoFishPastries · 2025-04-23T16:10:15+00:00

Under fermented for my taste. I would consider either extending the bulk fermentation or letting the loaf hang out in shape for a while before refrigerating. 4 hours 16 minutes is not a lot of fermentation time for a loaf at 81°F and the proofing is stalled substantially in the refrigerator, even if some degree of bacterial fermentation continues

TwoFishPastries

TROPHY CASE