Chickpea,Cucumber & Pomegranate Salad | Summer is here

Summer I feel is like an unwanted guest. We want the sun in winters but when sun shows its might we feel scorched,parched and basically mad. But look at the positives, it is the time for getting a shorter haircut (my daughter got), get summer clothes (is my H listening) , trendy up yourself to show off your fit sleeveless arms and wait more important ..

Runaway from kitchen!

The sun helps us to avoid being in the kitchen more than just necessary. While people are cautioned about about the diseases  the changing climate or scorching sun gives us, I am more interested in making cool quick desserts and salads and cold soups and going out and sleep more now that the schools are closed.And going out to cooler locales. 

Now don't think about hillstations.

Anything with an airconditioner is ok. The Bangalore sun is getting harsher day by day. I am happy to sit inside a/c room with iced deserts in hand. 

Anyway rather than continuing this silly monologue lets see the refreshing cucumber,chickpea and pomegranate salad. Its supposed to be a Spanish style salad very colourful and served during Thanksgiving. I can have it anytime. 

Ingredients:

Kabuli chana/White Chickpeas: 1/4 -1/2 cup presoaked and cooked.

Pomegranate: 1 medium to big size deseeded

Cucumber:  2 medium sized lightly peeled & chopped into small pieces

Garlic Clove: 2 small minced ( I used only 1)

Fresh Basil: handful chopped

Red Wine Vinegar: 1tbsp

Olive Oil: 2 tbsp 

Salt: as per taste 

Preparation:

Mix together the ingredients of chickpeas,pomegranate, cucumber, garlic and basil. Drizzle in vinegar and oil. Add & adjust salt and toss well.

The taste improves on sitting.A refreshing salad this is. The tangy dressing is apt for the comforting chickpeas,refreshing pomegranates, crunchy cucumber and wow basil. 

Simple, Comforting & Summery.

Cheesy Loaf & Lost Animals | We Knead to Bake #3

Two years backs while on a visit to Pondicherry, I chanced upon a turtle on the buffet table.
 No,no don't panic.
It was bread shaped like a turtle and it looked so perfect that my friend took a pic of it and even put it on her FB page.
That day I was in awe of baking and the baker who made it.
Little did I know that I would be trying out the same with the third challenge of  We Knead to Bake

It was a fulfilling experience as I shaped the dough into these animals. Ofcourse you can shape it into any of the animals you want but for me, turtle and hedge hog were definitely a stepup in the baking ladder.It was like life has come a full circle.Atleast baking life I mean :)

All thanks to the Hokkaido Milk Bread recipe using the Tangzhong way. I made a cheesy loaf with half of the dough as well. I had already tried out Tangzhong for another event here and it was fun all the way.

Hokkaido milk bread is known for its soft pillowy texture and it easy to make.First you make the tangzhong with 1 part flour and  4 part water and knead it with the rest of the ingredients to form a dough. The bread is mildly sweet and can be turned into sweet or savoury rolls/loaf. 

Ingredients:

Tangzhong:

All Purpose Flour :1/3 cup

Water: 1/2 cup 

Milk: 1/2 cup

Bread: 

AllPurpose Flour: 2.5 cups

Sugar: 3 tbsp

Salt:1 tsp

Milk Powder: 2 tbsp

Instant Yeast: 2 tsp

Milk: 1/2 cup

Cream : 2  tbsp

Tangzhong: 1/3 cup (or half of the total made from above recipe

Butter: 25 gms soft

Preparation:

Tangzhong: 

Whisk together lightly the flour and water in a saucepan until smooth and there are no lumps. Place the saucepan on the stove, and over medium heat, let the roux cook till it starts thickening. Keep stirring/ whisking constantly so no lumps form and the roux is smooth.

Once you see lines starting to appear then take it off the stove, let it cool to room temperature and its ready to be used.

Bread:
Mix together the dry ingredients of flour,salt,sugar, yeast and milk powder in a deep wide bowl or food processor. Mix the wet items of milk,cream and tangzhong and add in the bowl.Add in the butter and knead to get a smooth non sticky dough. You might start with a sticky dough but knead will make it non sticky and smooth.

Form the dough into a ball and let it rise till doubled in a oiled bowl turning once to coat. This will take about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

After this rise, we can divide the dough and shape it. We can ecen go for stuffings and turn the bread into sweet or savoury. I went for shaped loaves of turtle and hedgehog. The other half I turned into a loaf by stuffing with cheese and herb.


Place the dough on your working surface. You don’t need flour to work or shape this dough. This recipe makes enough dough to make one loaf (9” by 5” tin), 2 small loaves (6” by 4” tins) or 1 small loaf (6” by 4”) and 6 small rolls (muffin tins). Depending on what you are making, divide your dough. If you are making 1 loaf, divide your dough in 3 equal pieces. If you are making two smaller loaves, divide your dough into 6 equal pieces.

Cheese & Herb Loaf-

Roll out each portion of the dough with a rolling pin into an oval shape, about 1/8” thick. Take one end of the dough from the shorter side of the oval and fold it to the middle of the oval. Take the other end and fold so it slightly overlaps the other fold.

Roll this folded dough with the rolling pin so the unfolded edges are stretched out to form a rectangle.
Spread your choice of filling atop this rectangle.I sprinkled pizza seasoning on the top and spread crumbled cheese cube on top of it.
Roll the rectangle from one short edge to the other, pinching the edges to seal well. Do this with each of the three larger pieces and place them, sealed edges down, in a well-oiled loaf tin.

Shaping the “hedgehogs” and “tortoise” rolls - 
 For the hedgehogs, divide the dough as for the rolls above and shape them so they are a little narrower at one end (the nose of the hedgehog). Use black currants or whatever you have (chocolate chips will melt and fall off) for the eyes and nose making sure they’re pressed well into the dough or they will fall off when baking. You can also use edible markers to draw the eyes and nose after baking the hedgehogs. Using small pointed scissors, randomly make small cuts all over the body (if the cuts are too shallow the pattern will disappear when the dough rises and bakes) for the “quills”.

To make the tortoise, take ball of dough and shape it into a smooth ball. Shape a head and four limbs from smaller pieces of dough. To make the “”shell/ back/ carapace” take another small piece of dough, and shape into a thin round (1/8” thick) and mark it with a knife. The marks should be deep enough but don’t cut through the dough. Wet the underside of the dough with water or milk and attach it to the “back” of your tortoise.


Cover with a towel and leave the loaf and animals to rise for about 45 minutes.


Carefully brush the tops of the rolls and the loaf with milk (or cream) and bake them at 170C (325F) for about 20 to 30 minutes till they are done (if you tap them they’ll sound hollow) and beautifully browned on top. Let them cool in the tins for about 5 minutes and then unmould and transfer to a rack till slightly warm or cool.
Serve or else store in a bread bin. This bread stays soft and delicious even the next day.


Ahem, You can get a better explanation at Aparna's place  where she has tried out snail,alligator etc.

Excellent bread perfect as a snack or whenever you want to consume.

Irio | Comfort Kenyan Style

Now I know we all have our own comfort foods. Sometimes we try to add a twist here and there and make them taste more comforting. A little extra spice/seasoning, sometimes replacing an element with another. All these jazzes up our comfort food. 

Exactly the same I felt when I made irio. This is actually Kenyan style mashed potatoes with corn and peas. Atleast thats what I have googled and found. The basic recipe is supposed to be made using dried peas and usually takes hours if done stovetop.

But the wonders of frozen peas and corn have reduced this time. Thats what I understood and made use of when I made this from here. A jazzed up mashed potato with a greenish tinge. Perfect as a side and usually served with steak.

Ingredients:

Potato: 1-2 medium-big 

Frozen peas: 1/2 cup

Frozen corn: 1/2 cup

Salt & Pepper: as per taste

Butter: 1 tbsp (optional) I have not used any

Preparation:

Peel and chop the potatoes into smaller cubes and cook them in boiling water until fork tender.Few minutes before the potatoes are done, add in the thawed peas as well. Drain this together reserving a small cup of the boiling liquid incase it is needed.

Simmer the corn in salted water for few minutes and keep aside.

In a wide vessel mash together peas and potatoes to get a greenish tinged puree. Stir in corn along with little of the reserved liquid. Adjust salt & pepper and serve as a comforting side.You can even add in a tablespoon of soft butter while mashing. This will definitely make it more rich but then its not vegan.So you can make your choice. I went for vegan all the way without adding butter.

A simple jazzed up spud salad which takes it to all the more comforting. If  you have any leftover mash then you can even turn it into tikkis or cutlets the next day.

Rolls Galore - Tangzhong Way | Baking Partners Challenge #8

This time thankfully I could finish the Baking Partners Challenge. After the macaroon debacle last time, I had almost given up on baking. This time also, few hurdles were there, but I reached the finish line. I was actually taken aback when I saw the recipe, then thought why not give it a try. And TG for that. 

Once the dough was ready and good to go, I went crazy, dividing it into several pieces and trying out several shapes with it. I am usually happy with variety rolls -sweet, and savoury  So my first stop was Pav rolls. Simple pav rolls good to go with a gravy/soup. Second plan was cinnamon rolls, but decided to go for nutella rolls for the nutellaholics at home. And ofcourse that includes MOI :).

Time to stop bakbak. Its already getting late and so I am posting the recipe of this challenge 8 and hearty thanks Swathi, I will be using this recipe again and again. 

Tangzhong is a roux made of water/milk + flour cooked together and added to dough for making the bread springy. I have seen and read recipe where it is also used as an egg replacer. I am yet to try it out that way, but have few recipes in mind. Anyway, this method which is supposedly from Japan is widely used in bakeries and is known as Asian Style of bread making. Another method is European Scalded flour method.  Either methods give nice springy bakery style bread and definitely ups the confidence in you. 

Out of the recipes for either methods, I went with the first one that Swathi has intended for Coconut filled Dilkhush bread. But instead of the coconut filling went with nutella, nuts and cinnamon sugar and also for pav/dinner rolls.

Ingredients:

Tangzhong:


Bread Flour/ All Purpose Flour: 1/3 cup
Water/ ( Water + Milk) :1 cup
 Formula of 1 parts of flour with 5 parts of water heat at 65 c/ 150F.

Bread Dough:
All Purpose /Bread Flour: 2.5 cups
Instant Yeast: 2 tsp
Caster Sugar: 3 tbsp + 2 tsp
Salt: 1 tsp

Milk Powder: 4 tsp (optional) (I didnot use)

Egg: 1 Or Ener G Egg: 1.5 pkd tsp of Ener G + 3 tbsp of water whisked together.
Milk: 1/2 cup
Tangzhong: 1/2 of the recipe above

Unsalted Butter: 3 tbsp soft

Preparation:

Tangzhong:

Mix flour in water well without any lumps. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring consistently with a wooden spoon, whisk or spatula to prevent burning and sticking while you cook along the way.

The mixture becomes thicker and thicker. Once you notice some “lines” appear in the mixture for every stir you make with the spoon. It’s done. If you want to check the temperature of tangzhong it is 65 C/149 F.Remove from heat.

Transfer into a clean bowl. Cover with a cling wrap sticking onto the surface of tangzhong to prevent from drying up. Let cool. 

The tangzhong can be used straight away once it cools down to room temperature. Just measure out the amount you need. The leftover tangzhong can be stored in fridge up to a few days as long as it doesn't turn grey. If so, you need to discard and cook some more. (Note: The chilled tangzhong should return to room temperature before adding into other ingredients. )

Bread :

Combine the dry ingredients of flour, salt,yeast and caster sugar in a big bowl. Mix well and make a well in the middle. 

Add in the wet mix of milk + egg or Ener G egg + half Tangzhong made from the recipe above. Instead of the egg your can also use more milk or a cooked potato.

Knead until gluten is well developed and you get a soft, non sticky and non elastic dough. Then knead in butter. If at all you feel the dough is getting sticky while kneading make sure you rest it for few minutes. This method called autolyse improves the water absorption by the flour and strengthens it. 

Once the butter has been kneaded in knead the dough into a ball and let it double covered in a greased bowl, turning it once so as to coat it with oil. This will take 45 minutes to an hour.

After the first rise you can divide the dough into smaller pieces and shape it in different ways or stuff it with  various fillings.

I divided into mainly 2 pieces, and turned these into pav rolls and mini nutella rolls. For the pav rolls,

I rolled out the dough into a 1/4' thick rectangle. Then divided into smaller pieces and shaped each piece into a round ball. Kept these balls with little distance between them in an approrpiate dish and let them rise until puffed up and doubled for another 40 minutes.

 Then I baked these at 175C for 20-30 minutes until the tops browned after brushing them with a mix of equal quantity of milk,sugar and oil.

Remaining dough pieces, I turned into nutella rolls. For this I rolled out the dough into a thin rectangle, spread nutella on top of it and rolled it swiss roll style sealing the ends so that it doesnot unroll. 

Here I did a slightly clumsy job. My rolls slightly unrolled themselves but yes, taste is what matters. After rolling into a tight roll, cut into slices and arrange in the greased pans slightly spaced apart.Let them rise for another 40 minutes until doubled.

Anyway after brushing with milk+ oil + sugar combo, I baked them at 175C for about 20- 30 minutes until they nicely browned. 

Take out and let them cool completely or atleast become warm enough to be devoured.

Now lets see  the variety other Baking Partners have made.Don't forget to munch on these nutella rolls though. :D

Kozhakattai with Tomato Thuvayal | Healthy Tiffin South Indian Style

I used to make fun of my older cousin who couldnt spell 'zh'. I used to make  him say all the words that had the 'zh' in it and we younger cousins had much fun in those 5 minutes till he got fed up. I thought the letter 'zh' or (ഴ) was special to Malayalam and not in other South Indian languages especially Tamil where instead the 'lla' sound was used. That was before I discovered Kozhukkatai. These are steamed rice dumplings popular in both sweet & savoury versions and belong to most South Indian cuisines whether you call them undi, modak, kozhukatta or whatever.

Right from the beginning I didn't like the name or the dish either -both sweet and savoury versions. So the dish never featured in the regular menu. I could manage the sweet ones sometimes but never the savoury ones. But as my tastebuds developed and so did the health fad, I found them a perfect fit within the diet plan. They are not made of fatty all purpose flour, but rice flour. (BTW, they are leaner, healthy cousins of momos). They are steamed and not deep fried. So I started making these and had fairy good ones using the rice flour. But the original ones are usually made by soaking and grinding rice. One such recipe I had bookmarked from Solai's Kitchen. I served it with Tomato Chutney or tomato thuvayal from her site to get a Chettinad Special Tiffin.

Kozhukattai /Steamed Rice Dumplings

Ingredients:

Par Boiled Rice / Idly Rice: 1.5 cups

Salt: as per taste

Oil: 2 tbsp

Mustard Seeds: 1 tsp

Urad Dal : 1 tsp

Chana Dal: 1 tsp

Dried Red Chillies: 6 +/- broken 

Fresh CurryLeaves: few

Fresh Grated Coconut: 1tbsp

Preparation:

Soak the rice in enough water for an hour. Grind to a courser paste in a mixer adding just enough water and salt. Add 1 cup more water to this. Keep aside.

In a deep pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds. When the mustard splutters add the urad and chana dals and let it brown. Add the curryleaves, red chillies and saute for a minute, then add the fresh coconut and saute for  another minute.Then add the ground batter to the pan. Start stirring to prevent it from sticking to the bottom and burning. Continue cooking the batter and stirring with a ladle/spoon till the batter starts thickening and everything is mixed well. Remove from the stove when the batter is of a thick consistency and you can roll out balls out of it. Allow the batter to cool for a few minutes.

Make shapes or balls of the batter or kozhukattais. Steam these in a steamer/idly pot for exactly 5 minutes. Take out and serve warm with chosen side dish. These are flavoured and can be eaten without any accompaniments. I loved the dumplings as such also though. 

Tomato chutney is often an accompaniment to this dish. I tried out the combination and it was gr8. I had tried the chutney or thuvayal recipe from Solai and it was also perfect for the regular breakfast items as well. 

Tomato Chutney

Ingredients:

Tomatoes: 4 medium chopped 

Onions:2 chopped

Red chillies: 3 +/- as per taste

CurryLeaves: handful divided

Seasoning:

Oil: 1 tbsp divided

Mustard Seeds: 1/2 tsp

Urad dal: 1/2 tsp

Salt: as per taste

Preparation:

Chop the onions nd tomatoes into small pieces. Heat about 1/2-1 tsp oil in a deep pan and add few curryleaves and chillies.Saute for a second and add onions. Saute till they turn pink and then add the chopped tomatoes. Let it  cook they the tomatoes are pulpy. Then remove from gas and blend to a fine paste when cooled a bit.Do the taste test and adjust the salt and other ingredients as needed.

Heat remaining oil in another pan and let mustard splutter and the dal brown. Add in the remaining curry leaves and then take it off the stove. Excess oil can be added to the chutney which will help keep it fresh for a longer period of time.

So enjoy filter kaapi with your tiffin while a hot plate goes to  Tried & Tasted -Classic Chettinad Kitchen, an event by Lakshmi.

Croissants | An Experiment Gone Wrong ?!

I know I have been absent from here. There was a small trip followed by my trial with croissant. As most of you must have known(seen) I am also a part of We Knead to Bake by Aparna and as always I am late. This time I wnted to be on time, but my croissants didn't come out that great though the taste was awesome. A few mails between Aparna & me and still not so good pain au chocolat or croissants I though I will be posting it but will be baking them once more taking time and with more patience. 

I am posting the recipe verbatim along with my experience. 

Ingredients:

For the dough:
4 cups all-purpose flour, and a little more for dusting/ rolling out dough
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp cold water
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp cold milk (I used 2%)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
40gm soft unsalted butter
1 tbsp plus scant 1/2 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp salt

For the butter layer:
250 gm cold unsalted butter

1/4 cup of cold milk (or 1/8 cup of cream + 1/8 cup cream) to brush the dough
Or 1 egg for egg wash

Preparation:

Day 1:

Make the dough (and refrigerate overnight)

Combine all the ingredients for the dough in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.  You can also use a food processor with the plastic blade, or do this by hand.

Mix everything on low speed for 3 minutes, scraping the sides of the mixing bowl once if necessary. Then mix further on medium speed for 3 minutes. Lightly flour a 10-inch pie pan or a dinner plate.  And place the ball of dough on this.

Gently shape the dough into a flat ball by pressing it down before storing it in the fridge, this makes rolling out next morning easier. Making a tight ball will strengthen the gluten which you do not need. Lightly dust the top of the dough with flour and wrap well with plastic so it doesn’t dry out. Refrigerate overnight.

MOI: Day 1 went off fine and extended upto day 2. That means I  made the dough by about 12 in the night and let it rest for about 48 hours in the fridge. Was slightly busy in between and didnot have enough unsalted butter as well. Also I feel I added all the water and milk and so the dough was more hydrated. Next time, add the 'plus' portions of milk/water only when necessary.

Day 2:

Make the butter layer

The next day, cut out 2 pieces of parchment or waxed paper into 10” squares each.  Cut the cold butter into 1/2-inch-thick slabs. Place these pieces on one piece of parchment/ waxed paper so they form a 5- to 6-inch square. Cut the butter further into pieces as required to fit the square. Top with the other piece of parchment/ waxed paper. 

Using a rolling pin, pound the butter with light, even strokes. As the pieces begin to stick together, use more force. Pound the butter until it flattens out evenly into a square that’s approximately 7-1/2”. Trim the edges of the butter to make a neat square. Put the trimmings on top of the square and pound them in lightly with the rolling pin. Refrigerate this while you roll out the dough.

Laminate the dough

Unwrap and lay the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Roll it out to a 10-1/2-inch square, and brush off the excess flour. Take the butter out from the refrigerator —it should be cold but pliable.  If it isn’t refrigerate it till it is. This so that when you roll out the dough with the butter in ti, neither should it be soft enough to melt, or hard enough to break. Unwrap the butter and place it on the square of dough in the centre, so that it forms a “diamond” shape on the dough.

Fold one flap of dough over the butter toward you, stretching it slightly so that the point just reaches the middle of the butter square. Bring the opposite flap to the middle, slightly overlapping the previous one. Similarly repeat with the other two so that the dough forms an envelope around the butter. Lightly press the edges together to completely seal the butter inside the dough to ensure the butter doesn’t escape when you roll out the dough later.

Lightly flour the top and bottom of the dough. With the rolling pin, firmly press along the dough uniformly to elongate it slightly. Now begin rolling instead of pressing, focusing on lengthening rather than widening the dough and keeping the edges straight.

Roll the dough into an 8” by 24” rectangle. If the ends lose their square shape, gently reshape the corners with your hands. Brush off the excess flour. Mark the dough lightly equally into three along the long side. Using this as a guideline, pick up one short end of the dough and fold 1/3rd of it back over the dough, so that 1/3rd of the other end of dough is exposed. Now fold the 1/3rd exposed dough over the folded side. Basically, the dough is folded like 3-fold letter before it goes into an envelope (letter fold). Put the folded dough on a floured baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze for 15 to 20 minutes to relax and chill the dough.

Repeat the rolling and folding, this time rolling in the direction of the two open ends (from the shorter sides to lengthen the longer sides) until the dough is about 8” by 24”. Once again fold the dough in thirds, brushing off excess flour and turning under any rounded edges or short ends with exposed or smeared layers. Cover once again with plastic wrap and freeze for another 15 to 20 minutes.

Roll and fold the dough exactly in the same way for the third time and put it baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap, tucking the plastic under all four sides and refrigerate overnight. 

MOI: The rolling out went off fine as I heavily dusted the counter and rolling pin with flour. Placed the butter ,sealed the edges and refrigerated. But should not have. As during rolling out, folding and unfolding, butter broke.Also started leaking after sometime. Wrong timing. Somehow managed to get a nicer looking dough after 3 times and refrigerated it.

Day 3:

Divide the dough

The next day, unwrap and lightly flour the top and bottom of the dough. Cut the dough along the longer side into halves. Cover one half with plastic wrap and refrigerate it while working on the other half.

“Wake up the dough up” by pressing firmly along its length with the rolling pin. Don’t widen the dough but simply begin to lengthen it with these first strokes. Slowly roll the dough into a long and narrow strip, approximately 8” by 22”. If the dough sticks as you roll, sprinkle with flour. 

Once the dough is about half to two-thirds of its final length, it may start to resist rolling and even shrink back. If this happens, fold the dough in thirds, cover, and refrigerate for about 10 minutes; then unfold the dough and finish rolling. 

Lift the dough an inch or so off the table at its midpoint and allow it to shrink from both sides and prevent the dough from shrinking when it’s cut. Check that there’s enough excess dough on either end so that when you trim the edges to straighten them, you have a strip of dough that is 20’ inches long. Now trim the edges so they’re straight.

If you’re good at “eyeballing” and cutting the dough into triangles, then forget the measuring rule, marking and cutting instructions.  Otherwise, lay a measuring rule or tape measure lengthwise along the top length of the dough. With a knife, mark the top of the dough at 5-inch intervals along the length (there will be 3 marks in all). Now place the rule or tape measure along the bottom length of the dough. Make a mark 2-1/2 inches in from the end of the dough. Make marks at 5-inch intervals from this point all along the bottom of the dough. You’ll have 4 marks that fall halfway between the marks at the top.

Make diagonal cuts by positioning the yardstick at the top corner and the first bottom mark. Use a pizza wheel/ pie wheel or a bench scraper and cut the dough along this line which connects each top mark to the next bottom mark and then back to the next top mark and so on. This way you will have 7 triangles and a scrap of dough at each end. 

MOI: Started fine. Except my 5' intervals went wrong.I wrongly marked the bottom and lost patience when I saw it and finally cut the half of the dough into about 8 croissants.

Shape the croissants

Now work with one piece of triangular dough at a time. Using your rolling pin, very lightly roll (do not make it thin but only stretch it slightly) the triangle to stretch it a little, until it is about 10” long. This will give your croissants height and layers. You can stretch it by hand too, but if you don’t have the practise, your stretching could be uneven. 

Using a sharp small knife, make a 1/2- to 3/4-inch-long notch in the centre of the short side of each triangle. The notch helps the rolled croissant curl into a crescent. 

Place the triangle on the work surface with the notched side closest to you. With one hand on each side of the notch, begin to roll the dough away from you, towards the pointed end.

Flare your hands outward as you roll so that the notched “legs” become longer. Roll the triangle tight enough but not too tight to compress it, until you reach the “pointy” end which should be under the croissant.

Now bend the two legs towards you to form a tight crescent shape and gently press the tips of the legs together (they’ll come apart while proofing but keep their crescent shape).

Shape all the triangles like this into croissants and place them on a greased or parchment lined baking sheet leaving as much space between them as they will rise quite a bit. 

MOI: Not a good experience. I rolled it out the wrong way that in the recipe. Go uneven shaped pieces, then tried stretching with hand and finally got thin looking croissants. 

Proof the croissants

Brush the croissants with milk (or a mix of milk and cream). If you use eggs, make an egg wash by whisking one egg with 1 tsp water in a small bowl until very smooth. Lightly brush this on each croissant.

Refrigerate the remaining milk/ milk+cream (or egg wash) for brushing the croissants again later. Place the croissants in a cool and draft-free place (the butter should not melt) for proofing/ rising for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  They might need longer than 2 hours to proof, maybe as much as 3 hours, so make sure to let croissants take the time to proof. The croissants will be distinctly larger but not doubled in size. They’re ready if you can see the layers of dough from the side, and if you lightly shake the sheets, the croissants will wiggle. 

MOI:Milk wash is not a good substitute for egg wash. Atleast it is not here. For the second batch I went for a mix of milk,oil and sugar whisked together and pain au chocolat did brown wherever it was applied. You can check Champa's Post regarding this.

Bake the croissants

Just before the croissants are fully proofed, pre-heat your oven to 200C (400F) in a convection oven or 220C (425F) in a regular oven. Brush the croissants with milk/ milk+cream (or egg wash) a second time, and place your baking sheets on the top and lower thirds of your oven (if regular) or bake one tray at a time in the convection oven. 

Bake them for about 15 to 20 minutes till they’re done and golden brown on top and just beginning to brown at the sides. In a regular oven, remember to turn your baking sheets halfway through. If they  seem to be darkening too quickly during baking, lower the oven temperature by 10C (25F). Cool the croissants on the baking sheets on racks.

MOI: I am still learning with my oven. Or I donot know, the given temperature never worked for me. I had to go for a lower temperature. For the browned pain au chocolate, I went for a 190C for 10 mnts and then lowered it to 165-170c and continued for another 25-30 mnts.

Serve warm. This recipe makes 15 croissants.My second batch of croissant are given below.

And here is my pain au chocolat

Thanks for the recipe Aparna. I will be baking them atleast 1 more time, not just for the awesome taste but for upping my confidence. 

MOI:Tastes awesome. The second and third batches yielded flaky crispy croissants and pain au chocolat respectively. I remember tasting veg puffs (which might have overbaked )  where the top layer is crispy and crumbly and melt in mouth flaky with buttery taste. It was similar to that. Only thing was this was also stuffed with chocolate goodness.