My Gluten Free Croissants

FIRST MAKE THE DOUGH:

Pour the milk into a saucepan and heat over a low heat (or in the microwave in 10-second intervals) until it reaches 40'C. If you don't have a food thermometer, you want it to be around the same temperature as your skin.

Remove the milk from the heat, stir in 20g sugar and then add the dried yeast. Stir, cover with a tea towel and then leave in a warm spot for 5-10 minutes. It should form a lovely froth on top when it's ready.

Add the remaining caster sugar, gluten free flour, xanthan gum and salt to a large mixing bowl and stir well with a wooden spoon.

Cut the cold butter into chunks and add to the flour mix. Using your fingers, rub the flour mixture into the butter pieces, until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Do this until there are no big lumps of butter left.

Once the yeast mixture is frothy, pour it into the flour/butter mix. Stir together using a wooden spoon until it becomes thick, then use your hands to form it into a smooth, slightly sticky dough. Wrap in clingfilm (plastic wrap) and place in the fridge while you make the beurrage (butter packet).

NEXT MAKE THE BEURRAGE:

Lay a sheet of baking paper out on the worktop and dust with ½ tbsp gluten free flour (plain or bread flour is fine). Cut the cold block of butter into two rectangles and place down on the sheet next to each other, like this:

Sprinkle another ½ tbsp gluten free flour over the top of the butter then cover with another sheet of baking paper. Use a rolling pin to press - and then roll - the butter and flour out into a rectangle shape, approximately 18cm x 10cm. Use a dough scraper to help keep the edges nice and neat!

Once rolled, remove the top sheet of baking paper and wrap the butter packet in the bottom sheet. Place in the fridge (on a flat surface so it keeps its shape) until both the dough and the butter are the same temperature - around 30-60 mins.

CREATE THE FIRST FOLD:

Now for the fun part! When the dough and butter are nicely chilled, remove the dough from the fridge. Place a large piece of clingfilm on the worktop and lightly dust with flour.

Place the ball of dough onto the floured clingfilm then roll into a rectangle, approximately 30cm x 20cm in size and most importantly, around 6mm thick. Use your dough scraper to try to keep the edges as straight as possible.

Remove the cold butter packet from the fridge and carefully unwrap it. Place is towards one of the short ends of the rectangle of dough. It should have a small border around the edges and then a length of dough to one side of it, like this:

Roll the dough with no butter on it towards the centre and over the dough, like this:

Then carefully roll the uncovered piece of dough and butter back over the top of the first fold, like this:

Now you have your nicely folded parcel of dough, it's time to chill it again. First, mark the short end further away from your with a tiny X using a knife. This is because we need to turn the dough a quarter turn each time before rolling again. When you remove it from the fridge, the X will show you which way round the dough was - clever! Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for at least 30 minutes.

ROLL, FOLD, CHILL, REPEAT!

Once the dough has chilled, remove it from the fridge, unwrap it and place it back down on lightly floured clingfilm in exactly the same position it was before (using the X to guide you). Turn the dough 90 degrees clockwise, then cover with a piece of clingfilm.

Carefully roll the dough out in ONE DIRECTION so it forms a long rectangle, again around 6mm thick. Try to keep the edges as straight as possible. You may find it helps to press the dough out a little with the rolling pin, before rolling.

Once you have a rectangle, repeat the exact same folding process as before. Mark the end further from you with an X and wrap and place back in the fridge for another 30 minutes. When rolling, try to brush off any excess flour with a pastry brush so you don't end up adding a lot of extra flour to the mix.

Repeat this process a further two times, and then wrap the dough and place in the fridge for 30-60 minutes for a final chill. If at any point you start to notice the dough splitting and exposing the butter, you can gently pat a tiny dusting of flour over the top then brush off any excess.

SHAPE THE CROISSANTS:

Once your dough has chilled, remove it from the fridge and place it down onto a sheet of clingfilm. Place another sheet of clingfilm out on top. Carefully roll the rectangle out, as before, into a rectangle around 6mm thick.

Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, trim the edges so that you have a rectangle of dough.

Use a ruler to measure the longest side and then cut the dough into three rectangular pieces, like this:

Next place your ruler diagonally across each rectangle, from corner-to-corner, and cut each piece in half into two triangle shapes, like this: At this stage, if the dough has become too warm to handle, you can lift the clingfilm (with dough on top) onto a tray or chopping board and then pop it back in the fridge for 30 mins. Otherwise, continue!

Carefully lift each triangle up from the clingfilm and lay it back down onto a fresh, lightly floured surface. Roll the dough loosely from the larger end of the triangle in a swirl. It should look like this:

Place the croissants onto a lined baking tray with plenty of space between them, with the smallest end of the roll on top. Repeat until you have rolled all of the dough.

PROVING THE CROISSANTS:

Once you have shaped all of the croissants, loosely cover them with a lightly oiled piece of clingfilm and place in a warm spot to prove. You want them to be room temperature - not too hot. If it looks like the butter is starting to leak out or melt, return them to the fridge to chill for a little while.

These croissants will need to prove for around 60-90 minutes. They will puff up a little and become marshmallow-y to the touch, and you may start to see some layers on the cut edges. Don't expect them to grow a lot like bread though, it's a small difference!

CHILL THEN BAKE!

Once the croissants have proved, place the tray back in the fridge for an hour. DO NOT SKIP THIS STAGE. It is super important to ensure they are nice and cold when they go in the oven! You can also leave them overnight at this point and then bake them fresh in the morning.

When the croissants have had at least an hour in the fridge, heat the oven to 200'C / Fan 180'C / Gas Mark 4.

Once the oven had reached temperature, remove croissant tray from the fridge. Gently brush the tops of each croissant with a beaten egg (egg wash).

Place the tray into the oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes until they puff up and become flaky and golden. Keep an eye on them - if they turn brown too quickly turn the oven down a little, or place a little foil loosely on top.

Once baked, remove from the oven. Cool on a cooling rack for 5-10 minutes before tucking in - your work is complete!