You've ordered your Persephone Bake at Home treats. Now, it's time to bake.
STEP ONE: CREATE A PROOF BOX
Although our Persephone bakers have done the relatively hard part of hand laminating the dough for your bake-at-home pastries, you really must simulate a proofing box for them to get close to the real thing. Cook's Illustrated offers tips to achieve the best results.
Turning Your Oven into a Proof Box by Cook's Illustrated, published January 2012
Professional bakers often have a proof box on hand. Home cooks don't. Or do they?
When professional bakers let dough rise, they often make use of a proof box: a large cabinet that holds the air temperature between 80 and 90 degrees and humidity around 75 percent—conditions ideal for yeast activity. Whenever our kitchen is particularly cold or dry, we start to wonder about homespun imitations. After trial and error, we finally landed on a consistently effective method.
Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and place a loaf or cake pan in the bottom of the oven. Place the container of dough on the middle rack and pour 3 cups of boiling water into the pan. Close the oven door and allow the dough to rise as instructed (Persephone Note : we provide instructions with every bake-at-home item!). If you limit the time that the oven door is open, the proof box can be used for both the first and second rise without the need to refresh the water.
BAKE-AT-HOME CROISSANT INSTRUCTIONS
(Plain, chocolate and ham & cheese)
The croissant dough should be pulled from the freezer the night before and placed 4” apart on a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Place them in the refrigerator overnight to rest and defrost.
In the morning, remove the croissants from the fridge and allow them to proof (uncovered) to about 2x their original size. This can happen in your make-shift proofer oven (see Cook's Illustrated instructions above), or simply on the counter in a warm kitchen. Best results will come from the addition of humidity so we recommend giving the proofer a try! Give yourself about 1 hour for this process, depending on the temperature of your home or proofer. Trust us — Do not proof them straight from the freezer and do not proof them beyond doubling in size.
Once the croissants have about doubled in size, take a brush and paint a layer of egg wash on the top of each croissant and bake at 375F in a convection oven for about 18min (in a conventional oven at 425 for about 20min) or until sufficiently colored. Allow the croissants to cool before removing from the parchment. Then enjoy!
BAKE-AT-HOME CINNAMON BRIOCHE INSTRUCTIONS
Place the frozen cinnamon rolls on a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet or in xtra-large muffin tins (for authentic Persephone style) and keep in the fridge overnight to rest and defrost. The giant, Texas style muffin tin will allow the rolls to keep their shape and cook the sides to a crisp texture, but no problem if you don't have these — the rolls will spread a bit more, but taste just as good.
Take the cinnamon rolls out in the morning and allow them to proof until they are about 2x the size they were to begin with. Allow them to proof either in your make-shift proofer oven (see Cook's Illustrated instructions above), or simply on the counter in a warm kitchen. Best results will come from the addition of humidity so we recommend giving the proofer a try! Give yourself about 1 hour for this process, depending on the temperature of your home or proofer. Trust us — Do not proof them straight from the freezer and do not proof them beyond doubling in size.
Bake at 375° in a convection oven (or 400° in a conventional oven for 20 - 25 minutes) until they are nice and browned.
Take out, let rolls cool slightly (unmold if in muffin tins) and toss in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.
BAKE-AT-HOME COOKIES
(Chocolate Chip and Gluten Free Chocolate Chocolate)
Place cookie dough in the fridge. When ready to bake place on a non-stick baking sheet 4" apart. Place in your oven 375 degrees for approximately 20 minutes.
BAKE-AT-HOME BISCUITS
Place biscuits in fridge until ready to bake. Preheat oven to 375 and place on baking sheet with parchment paper for 20-25 minutes, until brown on top.
BAKE-AT-HOME PIE CRUST INSTRUCTIONS
For shorter baked pies, such as our pumpkin and pecan pie, we par-bake our crust for 20 minutes on 350F before putting in the filling to get a good crisp on our crust. To do this, place tinfoil or parchment in the inside of the pie crust with some dried beans to weigh it down before you place in the oven. This will keep the center of the crust from popping up when being baked without the filling.
For all other pies or quiches you can fill the frozen crust and bake immediately - no need to defrost!