I love croissants :) 

This recipe was designed specifically to be made with Bakers' Magic gluten free flour. The finished baked product will not be the same if you use another gluten free flour and you will need to adjust the recipe, particularly if the flour you're using contains rice flour.  

Sourdough Starter

50 g of previous days leaven

50 g Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour

100 g Lukewarm water

~1.5 tsp Sugar (of some type)

or

50 - 70 g Roasted sweet potato

or 

sugar + sweet potato - I usually add both

The remaining 150 g of the previous days leaven I either use to make bread (below) or put it on the humus heap.

I'm not gentle when it comes to mixing the starter - I find the easiest way to mix is with a stab blender. It's quick & gets the lumps out.

Sugar - your starter will need a sugar source (the simplest one is glucose powder). Sugar comes in various forms for example grated apple, roasted pumpkin, roasted sweet potato, honey or simpler versions table sugar, raw sugar, molasses. We want to add the Goldilocks amount of sugar to our culture. Too little you will starve your starter, too much & you will kill it, just the right amount & your starter will grow happily. 

Adding the Goldilocks amount of sugar - Unfortunately I can't say what that amount is for your culture. For Arthur, my starter/leaven/culture, I know I haven't added enough food when I let the starter grow for ~6 hours (it has doubled in size) I swirl it back down & it doesn't grow again. 

Roasted sweet potato - I usually bake it whole for 1 - 1.5 hours (depending on the size). I blend it with a food processor & freeze it in ice cube trays. Two of my roasted sweet potato ice cubes weigh ~70 g. I've fed my culture on one ice cube of sweet potato however the culture is not as active. The water content of the roasted sweet potato will vary & may affect the final shape of your loaf.   

  

Ingredients

175 g Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour

75 g Maize starch

300 g Butter *

200 g Milk

2 tsp Guar gum

150 g Leaven

1/2 tsp Salt

30 g Sugar

 

* 50 g of the butter needs to be finely chopped & 250 g needs to go in the freezer. 

Extra Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour for rolling - I usually put ~1/2 cup into a container

Extra milk for brushing uncooked croissants

 

Method

Put 250 g of butter into the freezer (preferably the night before).

Stand Mixer

Put all the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl.

Mix on low speed to ensure all ingredients are well dispersed.

Mix in 50 g of the finely chopped butter. 

Add in the milk & your leaven/starter.

Mix until all ingredients are incorporated.

Let it rest for ~10 mins. The mixture will become less sticky.

Thermomix

Put all dry ingredients into the TM bowl.

Mix for 10 secs on speed 9.

Add in 50 g of the chopped butter.

Mix for 20 secs on speed 4.

Transfer mix to another mixing bowl. (I have tried to mix it slowly in the Thermomix - for me it is easier to mix by hand)

Add in the leaven & milk.

Stir until all ingredients are incorporated.

Let it rest for ~10 mins. The mixture will become less sticky.

Both

Prepare a clean work surface (baking paper/pastry mat) & put some of the extra Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour on it.

Transfer the dough to the work surface & using some of the extra Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour when necessary knead the dough until it is uniform in texture.

Roll out the dough to a rectangular shape, approximately 40 cm x 30 cm. 

Take the butter out of the freezer & grate it over the rolled dough.

Fold in the sides of the dough a little to cover some of the grated butter.

Roll the dough up starting from the end that hasn't been folded in.

With your hands gently press on the roll to make it flatter.

Roll out the dough to a similar size as previously. Use some of the extra Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour to stop it sticking to the baking paper/pastry mat & the rolling pin.

Fold in the sides of the dough to the middle.

Fold in the ends to the middle.

Fold one side onto the other.

Turn the pastry so that the "opening" of the dough book faces you. 

Put extra Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour onto your work surface as you will be rolling the dough out again & folding it again. Lift the sides of the rolled out dough up every now & then to check whether it is sticking. At this stage big chunks of butter are visible.

Fold the dough over to resemble a book.

Turn the opening of the book to face you. Repeat the rolling & folding of the dough once more for rustic croissants or twice more. After taste testing a lot of the croissants I have made I prefer the ones that have been rolled 2 more times. The butter chunks in the dough become less visible after each rolling & folding.

Roll out the dough to a thickness of 4 mm & a width of > 25 cm. To ensure the dough is an even thickness follow this tip. Find 2 placemats (dinner setting - my placemats are ~4 mm thick) place one on either side of the dough. I have thrown away my cardboard pieces & now have stainless steel spacers 1 mm, 2 mm & 3 mm thick - they are much easier to clean. When rolling out the dough ensure the rolling pin is wide enough to span the dough and part of the top of the placemats. My rolling pin is large – 61 cm from handle to handle. If your rolling pin is smaller it may be easy to half the dough. Initially when rolling the pin may not necessarily rest on the placemats, however, when the dough is the same thickness as the placemats it will. At this stage the dough should be all the same thickness. 

The dough at 4 mm thick is larger than my 50 cm mat. Trim the long edges of the dough but keep the width of the rolled dough > 25 cm. Keep the off cuts. Don't worry too much about trying to get the long ends of the dough to a thickness of 4 mm. When cutting out the croissants the edges get cut off.

Use a knife to mark every 5.5 cm along both long sides.

Cut the dough into triangles by cutting from one notch on one long side of the dough to the next notch on the other side.

Each triangle will be ~11 cm at the base & ~ 25 cm in length. There should be sufficient dough to make 8 croissant triangles.

There will be a nick in the middle of the base of the triangle. Use a knife to make this nick slightly bigger. 

Lift up one of the triangles to separate it from the other dough. Separate the nick at the base of the dough triangle & roll up the dough. The nick helps to make the crescent shape. Tuck the end of the triangle underneath the base of the croissant to stop it from unravelling. 

Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Transfer the uncooked croissants to the baking tray.

Gently lay the off cuts on top of each other & roll this dough out to be 4 mm in thickness. Either cut out more triangles or cut out rectangles to make some chocolate croissants. At this stage I find it easier to cut out rectangles.

Allow the uncooked croissants to proof for approximately 3 hours (it will depend on how active your leaven is). The proofing temperature can not be above 30 C otherwise the butter will start melting & you will loose some of the layers in the finished product. I proof the uncooked croissants in the oven with a roasting dish containing hot (but not too hot) water in it (I also put a thermometer in there to check the temperature).

If proofing in the oven take the tray out & turn oven on to 180 C.

After proofing the uncooked croissants will not look like they have risen a great deal. If the croissants are proofed for longer the layers may disappear in the cooked product. If the croissants are proofed for less the yeast flavour is not as pronounced. 

Brush the tops of the uncooked croissants with some of the extra milk.

Bake the croissants for ~25 mins at 180 C, turning the tray halfway through baking. The time will depend on your oven & the size of the croissants (& whether they have anything in them).

Simply enjoy.