Milk Chocolate Spread Croissants

INGREDIENTS:

• All purpose flour - 2 cups
• Whole milk - 1/2 cup
• Baking yeast - 1 tsp
• Granulated sugar - 2 1/2 Tbsp
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Butter - 1/2 cup/8 Tbsp/1 stick
• Extra flour for dusting

METHOD:

• Take little bit warm milk in a bowl and pour 1 tsp of yeast in it and mix well with a spoon and let it dissolve. Keep it aside for 20 minutes.
• In another small bowl add together salt and sugar and mix well.
• Then add the salt and sugar mixture to the milk yeast mixture, mix well.
• Now take the flour in a large bowl and pour milk - sugar mixture to this and mix well till the lumps of flour are broken up.
• Knead the flour mixture by hand for 20 minutes or in a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook (on low speed) for about 20 minutes by adding remaining milk.
• The dough should be smooth and elastic by the time you finish kneading.
• Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead it well again. The dough seems to be silky and smooth and just gorgeous after it's been kneaded.
• Place the dough in a mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow it to sit for 2 hours. After 2 hours the dough will be double in size.
• Now you take the dough and place it in a floured surface and make a cross with your knife.

• Then you can make four petals in your dough, using a rolling pin.
• Press lightly each of the petal with your rolling pin and increase the size of each petals. Make sure that the center portion of the dough remains thick.

• Now place your butter in the center of the dough and fold each of the dough petals on the top of the butter,means fold the flour petals, one by one towards middle as shown.
   
• Lightly flour the top and bottom of the dough.
• Then take your rolling pin and roll the dough without pressing too hard means with the rolling pin, firmly press the dough to elongate it slightly and then begin rolling instead of pressing, focusing on lengthening rather than widening the dough and keeping the edges straight.. Carefully make a rectangle shape with the dough.
• Rotate the rectangle of dough (if necessary) so that you can hold a roller parallel to the open edges.
• Fold the rectangle into thirds like a letter - start with a narrow end facing you.
• I began by folding the bottom third up.Then folded the top third down... You've now completed one "Turn".
• Turn the dough so the single fold (like the spine of a book) is on your left.
• Now be ready to start the second turn.
• Repeat the process described above of rolling the dough into about a 9 x 18-inch rectangle, then folding the rectangle into thirds by bringing the bottom up and the top down over it.
• Use your fingers to make two imprints on the dough to keep track of the fact that you've completed two turns.
• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• Once the dough has been refrigerated, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it warm up for about 10 minutes before you begin rolling it out again.
• Then roll it and complete two more "turns" - for a total of four turns in all.
• At this point, the dough is ready to be rolled out and used.
• Before you begin to shape the the croissants , grease two large baking sheets with butter or oil.
• Also, make sure you have a ruler handy.
• Cut the dough in half.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll each half of the dough into a 6 x 20-inch rectangle.
• The dough will be about 1/8 - 1/4-inch thick.
• Transfer each large rectangle onto one of the prepared baking sheets and refrigerate for about 20 minutes. You want the dough firm, but not brittle.
• When the first rectangle is ready to work with, transfer it back to your work surface with one of the long ends facing you.
• The next step is to cut the triangles from the dough that will be formed into individual croissants.
• Starting on the left side of the bottom edge of the rectangle, measure 5 inches from the end and make a tiny notch to mark the base of the first triangle. Measure another 5 inches from that notch and make a second notch to mark the base of the second triangle. Finally, repeat one more time - measure another 5 inches and make a notch. You should now have marked off four 5-inch sections.
• Otherwise, with the rectangle dough make 4 or 5 squares and make 2 triangles from each square as shown in the picture. You will get 12 triangles.
• Cut the triangles and place them onto greased baking sheets.
• If you want, you can chill for 15 to 20 minutes, before placing on baking sheet.
• If you need make a small slit in the base of the center of each triangle.
• Place a tsp of milk chocolate on top of each triangles.
• Spread it well.
• Now begin to roll the triangles to form the croissants by curling the two sides of the triangle on each side of the slit away from each other. You want to roll tightly.
• Using both hands, continue to roll the base of the triangle - one hand working with the dough on each side of the slit.
• Point your hands away from each other - at about 45 degree angles from center - as you roll.
• Rolling in this manner will help make the classic croissant shape.
• Roll each triangle so the tip is underneath and then bend the 2 ends toward each other to form a shape like a little crab.
• Repeat with the remaining dough.
• Arrange the croissants on the greased baking sheets, Cover them with a clean plastic bag and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 1 to 2 hours.  
• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F.
• Once the croissants have risen, remove the plastic bag.
• Beat the egg with one Tbsp of water or milk to make the egg wash.
• Brush the croissants with egg wash and bake in the preheated oven until deep brown, around 20 to 25 minutes.
• Cool on a rack before serving.
• Your Milk Chocolate Spread Croissants are now ready to serve!
• Repeat the process above with your second rectangle dough.

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