Croissant

[Sussan Estela Olaya]

Hi Panos.

Welcome to the Scoolinary community!

Thank you for sharing your result and for being eager to improve.

The croissant you made has a beautiful structure and shows great lamination work—congratulations on that!

As for the hollow space in the center, it’s actually a fairly common issue and can be caused by several factors:

1. Rolling too tightly or misaligned layers: If the croissant is rolled too tightly or the layers aren’t well aligned, the steam created during baking can push outward and form a central gap.

2. Underproofing: If the croissant hasn’t proofed enough before baking, the gas doesn’t distribute evenly and tends to accumulate in the center, creating that hollow.

3. Oven too hot at the start: A very strong initial heat can cause the outer layers to set too quickly while the inside keeps expanding, which pushes the crumb outward.

4. Butter melting and pooling: If the butter melts during proofing or lamination, it can move out of place and create unstructured areas, which often results in large holes.

A few tips that might help:

Make sure your rolling is even and not too tight.

Check that the final proof is complete (the croissants should look puffy and jiggle slightly when you move the tray).

Keep a close eye on the temperatures at each stage, especially during lamination, to prevent the butter from melting.

You’re definitely on the right track! With a few tweaks, your croissants will be even more amazing.

Thanks again for sharing your work! ☺️

[Cary B]

That’s actually a very good result, Panos.

Going on that picture alone, I notice some whiter parts of the honeycomb, which indicates butter has leaked out at some point. I can tell by those portions of the honeycomb not expanding due to the lack of butter. This turns to steam and is what expands the layers.

As @sussan_scoolinaryteam has mentioned, there are many factors that determine how and when this occurs.

You have a very good Croissant there. 😁

[Sussan Estela Olaya]

Thank you, Cary, for your feedback , we know it will be a great help for Pano.🙌🏻