What’s Baking: Prosciutto & Fontina Croissants

Happy Monday, friends! I hope your weekend was less water-logged than ours was. It rained so. much. Like, the entire day Saturday from the wee hours of the morning until sometime into the late night. J and I didn’t leave the house at all. The dogs didn’t want to go outside to potty. And I got pretty much nothing done. Gloomy weather makes me lazy. Thankfully it cleared up by Sunday afternoon. And Friday night, I got these croissants made!

1. Combine the warm water and milk in a small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top, along with a little bit of the sugar  (1/4 tsp or so) and let stand until the mixture starts to foam. In a separate bowl or measuring cup, beat the egg with a fork. Add the beaten egg to the yeast mixture and beat to combine. Set aside.
2. Place the flour, salt and sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse just to combine. Add the butter pieces to the food processor and do short pulses until the butter is broken up some, but still in 1/2″ chunks or so. My food processor wanted to spew flour out the top, so pulse carefully!
3. Empty the flour/butter mixture into a large bowl, press down with a spoon or your hand in the middle of the bowl to make a little reservoir, then add in the milk-egg mixture. Use your hands or a rubber spatula to mix the ingredients together, until just combined. Be sure not to over-mix. Be prepared for a gooey pile of dough that will stick to your hands or spatula. It’s unavoidable this way. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours, but up to 4 days.
4. Depending on your work surface size, take all or half of the dough out of the fridge and allow to come to room temperature. (Half at a time is usually easier to work with.) On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into an approximate 20-inch square. Don’t focus so much on the exact size of the square, so long as it’s square and rolled pretty thin. Add flour to your surface and/or rolling pin as needed.
5. Fold one side of the dough into the middle, then fold the other side into the middle as well. Like a letter. Turn the fold dough so that the closed folded side (think book spine) is on the left. Repeat step 4, rolling the dough into a large, thin square. You will do this three times, leaving it folded the last time, instead of rolling out again.
6. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, or refrigerate half to use now and put the other half in the freezer to use later if you don’t want to make it all at once. Note: If you are pressed for time, skip this 30 minute chill time.
7. Roll the dough out one last time into a large square or rectangle. Cut the dough in half lengthwise and crosswise (like a “t”) which will give you 4 pieces. Then cut each each of the four pieces created in half diagonally – from corner to opposite corner, so you have triangles.
8. You can pull the edges of the short end so they are more straight than slanted, then lay a piece of prosciutto  over the top half, leaving the small pointed end uncovered. Lay a few pieces of the Fontina on top of the prosciutto and then roll the croissant, starting with the wide end and making sure to seal the prosciutto and cheese up as you roll to the the pointed end.
9. Place the rolled croissants on a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper and brush with the egg wash. Let them rise about 1 1/2 hours.
10. After the 1 1/2 hours is almost up,  preheat the oven to 350°F. Place in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until puffy and golden brown.