In a stand mixer with dough hook, add the flour, sugar, salt, oat milk, starter, and vegan butter. Mix gently for a minute or two until the dough just starts to come together.

Turn out from the mixer bowl onto counter, form into a ball without kneading it and wrap in plastic wrap, refrigerate for about an hour.

Note that the more you knead the dough the more you will develop the gluten, which will make the final croissant tough. Handle the dough as little and gently as possible.

Remove the vegan butter from the refrigerator, cut the sticks in half lengthwise to make four planks, cut the half stick in half lengthwise as well. On a piece of parchment paper, assemble the planks with the four whole planks adjacent to make a rectangle, with the two half planks along one edge. As a stick measures about 4¾ x 1¼ inches (12 x 3.2 cm), you should have a rectangle about 5 x 6 inches (12.7 x 15.25 cm) at this time. Put a piece of parchment paper on top of the butter, and use a rolling pin to both smush the sticks together, and enlarge the area to about 7 inches (17.75 cm) square. Trim edges if necessary, and add the excess to the square of butter. Put the butter, still between parchment, into the refrigerator for about an hour.

After thoroughly chilling the dough, remove from refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out to about 11 – 12 inches (28 – 30 cm) across. Put the butter square in the center of the dough, and fold up the dough edges to completely encase the dough. Transfer to a sheet pan, cover with plastic wrap, and return it to the refrigerator for an hour.

Remove from the refrigerator after an hour to a floured surface. Roll it out to create a long rectangle, about 7 inches (17.75 cm) wide and 21 inches (53.3 cm) long. Whatever your exact measurement is, it should be about three times as long as wide. Fold the bottom up and the top down, in thirds, to create a square, being sure to brush off any excess flour. Cover with plastic wrap and return it to the refrigerator for an hour.

After the hour, remove from the refrigerator. Turn the dough clockwise or counterclockwise, your choice, so that the open end with the folds now faces you, instead of the folded end that you produced at the last time. Again roll the dough out to create a long rectangle as before, and again brush off flour and fold in thirds. Cover with plastic and return to the refrigerator.

After another hour, remove the dough from the refrigerator, turn it again in the same direction as before, and again roll out a long rectangle. Be careful with rolling at this time as the dough is getting thinner, and if you press too hard on the rolling pin you will push some of the butter out from the developing laminations. Try to keep the dough the same thickness over its entire area. As detailed in the video, if the dough begins to warm up at any time, stop what you are doing and refrigerate the dough for a while to restore the integrity of the process. When you have completed this step, cover with plastic wrap and return the dough to the refrigerator. Clean up your mess, leave the dough in the refrigerator overnight, and go do something fun.

The next morning, remove the dough packet from the refrigerator. Cut the packet in half, cutting so that the flap is facing you, producing two halves of similar orientation. Cover one half and pop it back in the refrigerator.

With the other half, on a floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangle, about 7 inches (17.75 cm) wide and 24 inches (61 cm) long. Trim the edges of the dough to allow the layers to rise properly. You can keep the trimmings, bundle them up, and bake them for a “baker’s treat.” Cut the long rectangle into quarters, about 6 inches (15.25 cm) high, each. Place 20 gm of the bittersweet or semisweet chocolate on the short edge of a rectangle of dough, and roll it up to produce the croissant. Put it seam side down on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat for the other three croissants.

Take out the other half of the dough and repeat the process to make four more croissants.

Brush the croissants with some of the oat milk, and set aside to rise for about two hours. Ideal temperature is about 75°F (24° C). If it is too cold, the sourdough will take longer to rise, if it is much warmer, the butter will melt.

Near the end of this time, preheat the oven to 375°F (190° C) for a convection oven, 400°F (200° C) for a conventional oven.

After the two hour proof, the croissants may not have risen that much, but will show some oven spring when you put them in the oven. Brush with another coating of the oat milk. Bake for about 15 minutes, they should be a light golden brown when done. It is best to done one sheet pan at a time if you have two, as they may not be able to cook at the same rate.

Let them cool a bit before you eat them, but best when they are warm. After cooling, like the next day (if they last that long), a short burst with a microwave can return them to yummy status.

Sourdough Chocolate Croissants

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