Naturally Purple Blueberry Croissants

Prep Time 1 hour

Complexity Medium

Serves 8

Ingredients

1. Base Dough Process (Not in the video, so pay attention!)

2. Heat & Mix (15 mins) Warm up 1 cup of milk, in either the microwave or on the stovetop. Get it to be about 110°F or so, which means warmer than room temperature but not scalding hot. Remove the milk from heat and add in the packet of active yeast and 2 tbsp of the sugar. Give it a quick mix so the yeast doesn’t get stuck at the bottom, and let it sit for 5-10 minutes.

3. Sift (10 mins) Sift 4 cups of flour, a pinch of salt, and the rest of the sugar into a bowl. Then, pour in the milk mixture and the butter. If you want an even richer purple color for your croissants, you can swap out the butter for some of the blueberry compound butter.

4. Mix (10 mins) Mix together but do not overmix and for this dough, you are really better off mixing it in a bowl with a spatula or wooden spoon, a stand mixer even on its lowest setting still over kneads the dough.

5. Chill 1 hour Once the mixture just comes together, stop mixing immediately, cover the bowl of dough loosely with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and place it in the fridge for an hour. While your dough is chilling, make your compound butter square.

6. Croissant Process

7. Mix 5 mins Make sure your butter is *ridiculously* soft. Mix 1/2 cup blueberries, 2 tbsp powdered sugar, and 1/4 cup lemon zest into the butter. Using a hand mixer or a whisk works best because this crushes up the berries and makes them easier to fold into the pastry. This will be very purple butter! Do not freak out, because when you fold it into the dough, the whiteness of the dough will tone it down to a pastel-y violet.

8. Tip Want your croissants to be SUPER purple? Steam the blueberries beforehand, warming them up brings out their color which transfers beautifully into the butter, giving you super purple croissants. Just make sure if you do that, that you let the berries cool so they do not melt your butter. For even more color, you can add in blueberry jam, just keep in mind that for every tablespoon of blueberry jam you need to add in ½ tablespoon of flour to keep the butter square stable.

9. Freeze 30 mins Once your butter is all mixed up, pour it into a lined brownie pan, this will make it a perfect square, which will make the rolling of it so much easier. Lay another piece of parchment over the top, smooth it out, and FREEZE IT.

10. Roll 3 mins Bring in your base dough, it should be about the texture of play-doh, so not sticky or wet or loose or dense. Flour your surface and rolling pin, then make an X in the dough. Roll out each section. Next, lay the butter square in the middle and fold it up like an envelope.

11. Fold & Roll 15 mins Press the rolling pin into the dough every few inches from top to bottom, this breaks up the butter square and incorporates it into the dough to give super flaky layers. Then, roll the dough, and then fold the dough into thirds so it looks kind of like a purple marbled burrito. Dust off any excess flour in between. Then, turn and repeat; break up the butter, roll, fold, turn. Do this two or three times or until your dough is like 80% purple. It’s okay to still have bits and spots of white dough, most of those will get dyed by the butter during the baking process. For maximum dough homogeneousness, refrigerate the dough between each turn, but be aware that if you do that it will take you at least one full day to finish the croissants.

12. Chill 2 hours After the third turn, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and then refrigerate for a minimum of two hours.

13. Bake 40 mins Then, roll it as thin as you can one last time. Slice your dough into triangles. At the base of each triangle, place three or four blueberries, and then roll them up, as tightly as you can. Brush the rolled up croissants with egg white and bake at 400°F for forty minutes.

14. Tip If you’re unsure if a croissant is baked through all the way, knock the bottom of the croissant, like you’re knocking a door. If you hear a hollow sound, rest assured they are fully baked. If not, pop them back into the oven for another couple minutes and then check again.