Chicken-Filled Croissants

An experiment that worked out great!! The buns were soft and delicate, a perfect compliment to the yummy filling in the center!!!! These Croissants are so amazing that i enjoyed them alot while baking and eating :P i still remember that last year i went to my uncle's home in outside the city,I just baked these croissants and packed them so beautifully that they looked as they were bought from some high bakery :) Enjoy the recipe 

RECIPE

Filling Recipe:

Quarter kg boneless chicken breast, chopped into small pieces

2 small capsicum, red and green if possible, grated or chopped finely

2 tbsp sweet corn

1 grated carrot

1 small onion, chopped finely

1-2 green chillis, chopped

half tsp garlic paste

1 tsp chopped coriander

salt to taste

half tsp grinded cumin powder

a pinch of tandoori masala (optional)

juice of half a lemon

1 tsp soya sauce

1 tbsp butter

Heat the butter in a non-stick pan, add the onions and stir fry until they're translucent. Do not brown them. Add the chopped capsicum and grated carrot, stir-fry for about 5mins until they start to soften. Add the raw chicken pieces and keep stirring until they start browning. Add the chillis, garlic, salt, cumin powder, tandoori masala and sweet corn. Saute until the chicken pieces become tender and well-done. If the mixture sticks to the pan and the chicken is not yet done, add a tbsp of water and cover until ready. Make sure that the mixture is completely dry. Finally, add the coriander and soya sauce, mix well and switch off. Pour the lemon juice on the mixture, and whilst still hot, use a wooden spoon to smash the small pieces of chicken so that they become shredded. Adjust salt/chilli to your taste.

TIP: You can smoke the mixture with a coal and some oil to give it a nice bbq aroma. This mixture should be enough for around 16 croissants.

Dough Recipe:

Recipe for Dough (makes 8 croissants)

2 level teacups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

half tsp instant yeast

quarter tsp baking powder

3 tbsp softened butter

2 tbsp vegetable oil

warm milk mixed with water about half a cup (although you could need more or less depending on flour/altitude etc)

Method

Sieve the flour and add the yeast, baking powder, yeast, salt and sugar. Stir it so that it's all well mixed. Add 2 tbsp of butter and 2tbsp veg oil. (Reserve the last tbsp butter for later). Rub into the flour using finger tips until the flour has a crumbly texture. Gradually add the warm milk+water, stirring it in with a wooden spoon at first until the dough starts to hold together, and then continuing to knead together with your hands until the dough has softened. You need this dough slightly sticky, it's a menace to handle but the result is worth the trouble. Just oil your hands slightly to help with the stickiness and keep kneading...adding a little sprinkling of flour when it gets too sticky to handle until the dough is nice and well-kneaded and formed into a ball. Apply a touch of oil all over the ball of dough, place in a container and cover with a damp towel. Place in an airtight cupboard (or even in the oven or micro-wave) and leave it to rise to about double it's original size. (40mins to an hour)

Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a huge circle of about 30cm diameter (use your fingertips to stretch the circle out when you feel you cant roll with the pin any further), then rub half of the reserved tbspn of butter all over this rolled out circle. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut the circle into quarters, then divide each quarter again to form eighths.

Take the first eighth of the circle, place your mixture of choice on the edge (where the perimeter of the circle used to be). Roll carefully towards the pointed edge (where the center of the circle used to be), tucking the pointy end underneath (you can make a small slit near this pointy end just to give the croissants a nicer appearance, although this is not a must...refer to pics of my croissants to get what I mean). Curve down the edges of your rolled up croissant to form the crescent shape.

Place the croissants on a greased tray and cover them again for another half an hour so that the dough can rise again. Switch on the oven on medium high (around 175 degrees) and in the meantime, glaze the croissants with egg yolk to give them a nice colour. Bake for about 12-15 mins depending on your oven's heat.

When ready, remove and place them on a cloth, and take the remaining half tbsp of butter, and gently touch up the buns with it to give them a nice shiny soft finish...and they would smell heavenly too. Cover the buns in the cloth for about 10mins before serving. This gives the butter time to get absorbed fully into the croissants, thereby making them soft and extra delish. Serve warm!!