Bakers!
I thought I knew almost everything you could possibly know about laminated doughs. Last week one of our bakers asked about a laminated dough from Cremona, Italy. “What?” This was news to me - a laminated dough from Italy, from the town where they make violins. If you remember the movie “The Red Violin” one major storyline was set in Cremona.
Oh my goodness! I quickly summoned the oracle that is Google and a quick search yielded a short blogpost and a reference to a book called “ Seven Fires, grilling the argentine way,” Well I quickly found the book at the Los Angeles Public Library and it gave me a rough guideline of how to put the Cremona together.
This bread is popular in Argentina - probably even more so than in Italy. Italians flocked to Argentina between 1870 and 1960 to escape economic hardship and the devastation of both world wars and they brought the Cremona with them.
The one problem was that it was classically laminated with lard , that’s hard to sell - very few people want to eat lard these days.
But what about a blend of garlic/extra virgin olive oil and butter? Yum! I think that works great. For this laminated dough we brush the magic melted mixture on the dough and then fold - so much easier. If you are just getting started with laminated doughs this is a great introduction.
The fringed horseshoe shape looks cool - great for feeding a crowd. And the flavor - my inspiration was garlic knots - how could this not be a tasty success.
And a shout out to our baker Kathy who asked about the Cremona - thank you! This was fascinating.
Bakers - give this a try - and let me know how it goes - tag me in your photos - I love to see your beautiful work.
Equipment: Stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, scale, bowl scraper, half sheet pan lined with very lightly oiled parchment, plastic wrap, marker, scissors
Combine water, yeast and oil in the mixer bowl…let sit for 5 minutes then add flour, sugar and salt - ready to mix….
Ingredients:
283g water (70 degrees)
7g Instant yeast
20g olive oil
454g bread flour
10g sugar
9g salt
Butter/Oil Brushing Mixture
57g butter
57g olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
In a small saucepan combine the butter, oil and garlic, heat over low/medium heat until the butter melts. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool. Leave the garlic cloves in the butter mixture to infuse more flavor.
The mix is a short mix as we will continue to develop the gluten through laminating.
1. Combine the water, yeast and oil and let sit for 5 minutes for the yeast to hydrate.
2. Add the flour, sugar and salt and mix on speed 2 for 2 minutes - the dough should begin to roughly clear the side of the bowl. Stope the mixer and scrape dough with the bowl scraper.
3. mix on speed 1 for an additional 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.
4. Let rise in a warm place (kitchen counter is fine), covered for 30 minutes. Then refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
5. To laminate the dough - roll out to a rectangle that is about 8” X 20-24” - 1/4” thick. Brush liberally with the garlic and butter/oil mixture. Fold the dough into thirds like a business letter. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Repeat step 5 two more times.
6. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes before shaping.
7. Have the lined sheet pan close by. Roll the dough out to 8” by 20/24” 1/4” thick and brush with the melted butter/oil mixture. Fold the dough in half lengthwise but leave 1” of the bottom half exposed. Move to the prepared pan and shape into a circle that almost closes.
Then with scissors cut through each edge of dough (you can cut them at the same time or separately) about 3/4” apart and 1” deep. The fringe is on the outside.
8. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 minutes.
9. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
10. After the 45 minutes the Cremona will be slightly puffy and have a marshmallow texture. Brush with melted butter/oil mixture and bake for 30 minutes. Check to make sure it is a beautiful golden brown. Then turn off the oven and let the Cremona sit in the oven for 5 timed minutes to bake out the last of any excess moisture.
Garnish with chopped Italian parsley.
11. Cool for 20 minutes before slicing and serving.
Parmesan Cheese Version: Everything is the same except the Cremona is laminated with freshly grated Parmesan cheese as well as the melted garlic/butter and oil mixture. It is amazing! It will take between 113g-170g (4-6 ounces) depending on how much cheese you sprinkle on.
