Pastry dough for croissants, danishes, turnovers

Adjust

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water with a sprinkling of sugar. While it foams, whisk together flour, salt and sugar in stand mixer. Slice cold butter into 1/2 tbs. slices. i.e. 16 slices per stick. With paddle attachment, on low speed, mix flour mixture and butter for 10 seconds. It will be VERY chunky. Some whole slices of butter will still remain. Whisk milk and egg into yeast mixture. Pour yeast mixture into flour mixture. Mix with spatula. Finish mixing by squeezing with hands just until it comes together. Don't knead, and don't add extra flour. You should see large chunks of butter in the dough and the dough should look scraggly and be a little sticky. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Note: at this point, you can keep dough in the fridge for a full week before proceeding with the next steps.

Remove from fridge. On floured surface, roll dough into an 8 inch square; flip dough over frequently and flour both sides to avoid sticking to work surface. Fold in half. Then fold in half the other way. This time, roll out into a 12 inch square. Fold in half. Then fold in half the other way. Roll one more time into a 12 inch square. Fold in half. Then fold in half the other way. Roll out into a 16 inch square. Fold three times into letter fold, then fold the opposite way in half so as to make a square again. Roll out dough into a 20 inch square.

For cheese or cherry danishes, cut 20 inch square of dough into 16 equal pieces. Place a heaping spoonful of filling in the middle. Bring opposite corners together. seal edges. Flatten into a square package. Place on parchment paper lined air bake pan. Brush with egg wash. Let rise in a warm place for an hour. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Remove immediately to wire rack. After five minutes, drizzle with icing (powdered sugar, milk and vanilla).

Cream cheese filling:

Beat together until smooth: 2 blocks cream cheese, 3/4 c. sugar, squeeze of lemon juice, 1 egg

For chocolate croissants, cut 20 inch square of dough in half to make two rectangles. Cut each rectangle into five triangles. Place the long side in front of you and the narrow point away from you. Place about a tablespoon of semi-sweet chocolate chips on the widest part of the dough. Roll dough over chocolate chips to cover them. Seal edges so chocolate chips don't fall out/ooze out while baking. Continue rolling toward narrow end. As you roll, stretch the dough out so you can get as many rolls/layers as possible. Place croissant with point underneath on parchment paper lined air bake pan. Curl ends toward each other until almost touching. Repeat with remaining croissants.

Brush with egg wash. Let rise in a warm place for an hour. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Remove immediately to wire rack. After five minutes, drizzle with chocolate icing. Eat while warm.

Chocolate icing: melt 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips and 2 tbs. heavy cream in saucepan over very low heat. Turn off heat. Add a splash of vanilla and a little milk. Beat in powdered sugar with electric mixture until the desired level of sweetness and consistency is reached. Pipe out onto chocolate croissants while still warm.