Sourdough Croissant – When Vegan Dream Comes True
Raise your hand if croissants are your favorite pastry? One thing I really like to try while I was travelling is to try out all the vegan pastries they have in other cities. I don’t know how many of you are living in Hong Kong. Vegan pastries here are as rare as diamonds, let alone gluten-free ones. Given the third wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong, we have to start quarantining again. Working from home means I got to spend more time in the kitchen. So what’s better than utilizing this time to recreate one of my favorite pastry – Vegan & Gluten-free Sourdough Croissant!
An Ultimate Baking Challenge
Baking croissant is very challenging and complicated, especially in summer. I tried making some vegan croissants a year ago, but the outcome is very devastating. Ever since that discouraging experience, I never gather enough courage to make them again. However, as I am looking for new recipe inspiration and really craving for croissants. Why not give vegan croissant another try? 😎
No Yeast? No Problem
Since people are spending more time at home, there is a shortage of baking ingredients such as flour and dry yeast. I personally prefer baking with sourdough starter as it’s naturally leavened and more natural. Most importantly, once you have made your own sourdough starter, you will never have to worry about not being able to buy yeasts. True, sourdough baking requires a longer rising time, but it also has a distinct flavor that yeast bread can never compete. Given my love for sourdough, it’s no surprise that I made them using my gluten-free sourdough starter. Hence, I am hereby proud to introduce you to this vegan & gluten-free sourdough croissant recipe. 🥐
Key Ingredients
An outstanding croissant should be both buttery and flakey. In order to achieve the best outcome, you have to use vegan butter sticks / blocks, not margarine nor vegan spread. Here I use my favorite vegan cultured butter by Miyoko which I highly recommend! Not only is this vegan butter perfect for making sourdough croissant, it’s also amazing on its own, no matter if you are using it in cooking or spreading on some sourdough bread. 😋
Moreover, for the flour, here I used my own gluten-free bread flour mix from my Gluten-free Sourdough Recipe. You can also use Bob’s Red Mill’s Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour, but you may have to adjust the amount of water in this recipe as it seems to absorb more water than my GF bread flour mix.
My Advice
This dough depends highly on your kitchen temperature. If the temperature is too high, the butter will likely melt very quickly and the dough will turn into a mess. Hence, summer may not be a good time for making these croissants. However, if you are like me who really want to make them during this time of the year, I suggest you have the AC on and work as quickly as you can. If you notice the butter are starting to leak or melt, don’t panic. Just place the dough back into the fridge to firm it up a bit and continue to work on it. If the worst comes to worst, you still have some delicious brioche-like bread rolls. So, you really have nothing to lose. 🤩
Note: This recipe is adapted from Artisan Bryan.
Vegan & Gluten-free Sourdough Croissant
Course: Sourdough10
servings20
minutes
Ingredients
- For the Levain
100g mature sourdough starter
100g brown rice flour
100g buckwheat flour
175g water
- For the Dough
50g melted vegan butter (I used Miyoko’s unsalted cultured butter)
200g levain from above
80g sugar (I used coconut sugar)
9g xanthan gum
250g plant milk (here I used oat milk)
- Butter Block For Lamentation
310g vegan butter (I used Miyoko’s unsalted cultured butter)
2 Tbsp brown rice flour
- “Egg” Wash
2 Tbsp soy milk
1 Tbsp maple syrup
Directions
- Build The Levain
- Mix all ingredients of the levain in a clean glass jar. Let it sit at room temperature for 4-6 hours or until it doubles or even triples in size.
- Mixing The Dough
- In a large mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients well until it forms a dough ball.
- Leave the dough covered for 6 hours or until it doubles in size.
- When the dough is almost ready. Laminate your butter block. Mix together the flour and 310g vegan butter, then roll it into a rectangle of about 7 x 9″, in between two sheets of parchment paper. Put your butter block into the fridge until it’s ready to use.
- Once the dough has completed the bulk fermentation, place your dough on a half sheet pan and flatten it until it is roughly the size of the pan. Chill your dough in the freezer for 30 minutes and then transfer to the fridge for another 30 minutes.
- Lamination
- The most important thing in lamination is that you must make sure that you have the right consistency in your dough and butter block. Your butter has to be a bit pliable but not breakable. In order to test it, you can push your finger slightly into it. If it makes an indentation without having any butter stuck to your fingers, then it’s ready to use.
- Flour your countertop, then transfer your rectangle of dough onto the work surface. Make sure that your butter block is the size of half of the rectangle. Place the butter block onto one half of the rectangle and fold it over like you are closing a book. I recommend you to take a look at Artisan Bryan’s youtube video for more details.
- Use your rolling pin from the center to push gently down so that the butter is evenly distributed. Now, roll your dough out until it is about triple the original length.
- Once your dough is about tripled in length, trim the uneven edges so that you have a neat rectangle.
- If in any situation your dough tore during lamination, use the trimmed dough to cover the crack.
- Fold the dough into thirds, then place your dough on a floured pan and cool it down for 15 minutes in the freezer.
- After 15 minutes of cooling, roll the dough out again until it has tripled in length. Fold one corner of the dough in 1/4 of the dough. Fold the rest of the dough in towards that slight fold, and then close the whole thing like a book.
- Transfer the dough into the freezer for 15 minutes, then place it into fridge for 30 minutes before rolling it out again.
- After the resting time, you can now roll the dough out and shape your croissants. Roll the dough out until it’s around 20″ x 9″.
- Cut the rectangle into long triangles of about 4″ width and 9″ height. Roll the triangles up tightly, starting from the bottom and rolling up to the tip.*
- Final Proof
- Place your croissants on a sheet pan with parchment paper. Leave them at room temperature for 4-5 hours. Then, transfer them to the fridge to proof overnight.
- Baking Day
- Next morning, preheat the oven to 190°C. Make your “egg” wash by mixing 2 Tbsp soy milk with 1 Tbsp liquid sweetener of your choice.
- Remove the croissants from the fridge and brush the tops with the “egg” wash.
- Bake for around 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Enjoy! 🥐😋
Notes
- * You can also cut them into rectangles and roll some chocolates in it to make pain au chocolat 🍫
