Saturday Baking: Croissants and Cocktail Rye

Today was given over to  croissants and my favorite cocktail rye.  I mixed the croissant dough two days ago, and yesterday executed the three folds necessary to achieve the degree of lamination needed.  The dough was allowed to rest overnight in the refrigerator, and then this morning I rolled it out and cut my croissants and pain chocolat.

The rye sour I had mixed yesterday and allowed to ferment overnight.  This morning I did the final dough mix, gave the resulting dough a 50 minute fermentation, shaped it (if you can call it that - this is a 100% hydration dough, so equal parts flour and water and the result is closer to pudding than bread dough), and allowed it to proof for just over 50 minutes before baking it.

It is now wrapped in linen for 2 days while its crumb fully sets.  And then it will be sacrificed to good cheese, good rye whiskey and a girlfriend who loves it perhaps more than me.

The croissant dough was interesting in that I usually make it using only high gluten flour.  But I had only half the high gluten flour needed and so substituted half bread flour.  Ah, what a discovery I made!  The dough was much more extensible than usual and so (in other words) rolled out to the desired dimensions and thickness much more easily than I've experienced in the past.  I will stick with this new-found recipe for future bakes.

Ok, enough commentary.  Below are pics of the rye out of the oven, proofing croissants and pains au chocolat, and the finished product.

Exquisite flavor!  I don't even bother buttering these.  Just eat them as they are!

 And finally, the rye: