cornetti

Obviously, I have been on a search for a croissant I like making at home.  I was browing though pinterest and came across a picture of something that looked like a croissant but was not.  A cornetti.  An Italian pastry similar to a croissant.  With the description of the pastry and reading through the recipe, my thought was I needed to try this.  One of those that I really did not wish to wait until the weekend because I did not wish to wait that long but it would makes sense for timing.  So I did.

And why have I not found this before?  I am not going back to French croissant recipes.  This had vanilla and orange in it with a lightness that was not dry.  Just lovely.  I talked about them to Mr. Bert while I was making them.  He grew up for part of his childhood in a neighborhood in New York City that was full of Italian grandmothers.  He said to add a bit of cinnamon.  I will have to try that at some point.  Might even do that with the vanilla and orange.  

I was thinking about making more this weekend even though I have not finished all I made last week.  That is telling too.  More butter and flour for the grocery budget.  Oh well!  That is just part of my life.

cornetti

Note:  This has other names as well if you search Italian croissant.  All similar.  I modified Milk and Honey's recipe to use sourdough as the yeast.

sourdough starter

1 cup flour

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup milk

5 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

finely grated zest of one orange

1 tablespoon vanilla

about 5 cups flour

8 ounces butter

1 egg, beaten

sugar for sprinkling

The night or morning before, mix sourdough with 1 cup flour and 3/4 cup water in a large bowl.  Cover and let get bubbly.  When bubbling nicely, remove a couple tablespoons of starter for next time.  This is what is known as a bigas in Italian baking.

To the bigas, add milk, 5 tablespoons sugar, 2 1/2 tablespoons butter, 2 eggs, orange zest, vanilla, and two cups flour.  Cover and let get bubbly.  An hour or two.

To the sponge, add the salt and two cups flour.  You should have a stiff soft dough.  It will be very rough.  Turn out onto a counter and knead.  You wish a smooth dough like a baby's bottom and adding as little flour as possible.  I find keeping my hands clean helps.  Place in a clean bowl (clean out the one you have been using, big chunks gone is okay) and cover.  Let rise about three hours or put in the refrigerator for overnight.

About 20 minutes before you wish to start working with the dough again, take out the 8 ounces of butter to soften slightly.  Flour a clean surface and pull out your dough.  Make a square and start rolling.  Smush the butter into a similar square and put in the center of the dough.  Pull the corners of the dough into the center, covering the butter.  Seal the edges of the dough.  Roll out into a large rectangle.  Fold into thirds the long way.  And then, turn and fold into thirds again.  Put into a large plastic bag and put in the refrigerator and let rest for 30 minutes.  

You wish to do this four times total.

After the fourth chilling, bring the dough back out onto a floured surface.  Cover two baking sheets with silpats or parchment paper.  Roll the dough out to about a 1/4 inch thick rectangle.  Long and thin is what you are going for so you can cut sixteen triangles.  I had to roll out a rectangle I actually cut in half and then triangles due to Koda Bear's help and the size of my counter.

With each triangle, stretch the long edge and roll to the point.  Place on a baking sheet.  Due this to all the triangles.  Cover and let rise about an hour or until puffy.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Take then beaten egg and brush on all the cornetti.  Sprinkle with sugar.  I used a Mexican sugar that is not completely refined but not raw either.  Just pretty.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.

Grab a cup of tea or coffee.  Enjoy.

I need to make these again.