When in Manila, the cronut craze has long arrived right after milk tea shops and ramen houses gained the attention of the foodie crowd. Now officially a hit, you can even learn how to make your own cronuts through an up close demo and tasting at Enderun Colleges.
In New York City, people line up for hours outside the
Domique Ansel Bakery for this croissant-doughnut sweet hybrid.
Lead by Chef Marc Chalopin, the WhenInManila team had a chance to learn how to create cronuts from scratch. It may not take a genius to create these sweet treats but it takes someone who knows accurate measurements and enjoys kneading some dough.
Chef Marc Chalopin dressing up the cronuts.
Making cronuts takes passion because it certainly takes time and some skill to perfect the heart of the pastry – the croissant dough. To begin with, here are the basic ingredients.
The cronut craze was bound to happen. With the keen eye for the unexpected, the palates of the today’s foodies are always looking forward to something new and ground-breaking. Thus, the cronut offers this. It has the looks of a doughnut and the inner workings of a croissant, which offers the best of both pastries.
To begin making your own cronut, you need to learn how to make the dough. Chef Marc showed this to us via detailed demonstration.
How to Make the Cronut Dough?
Here is a brief step-by-step procedure in creating the croissant-doughnut dough.
1. In a food processor, mix bread flour, sugar, salt, and butter. Make sure not to mix it thoroughly and leave large chunks of butter. This is important especially when folding the dough later on. Set aside the mixed ingredients in a bowl.
2. Warm milk and water. Add dry yeast. Put this in a mixing bowl then add eggs.
3. Mix lightly the dry and wet ingredients. Set aside in the chiller for at least 2 hours.
4. After 2 hours, spread the dough on the table. Make sure to use enough flour to prevent it from sticking on the table.
5. Using a rolling pin, make the dough thinner. Fold the dough in 3 parts then roll it flat again and fold again to 3 parts. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes and repeat this 2 more times.
Chef Marc rolls the cronut dough.
6. When rolling the dough flat, make sure sure chunks of butter are still visible. Only after the 4th fold should the butter be completely integrated with the dough.
7. After the 4th fold, let the dough rest for 12 to 24 hours in the chiller.
After 12 to 24 hours, the dough can already be used as the base of the cronuts.
