Dane Van Wegen shares his cronut recipe
Taking two months and more than ten trialled recipes to perfect, the cronut is a croissant-meets-doughnut hybrid taking the world by storm. Invented by chef Dominique Ansel of Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York City, the cronut was launched in May this year, and has since been replicated around the Americas using various lettering mash-ups from its two pastry inspirations before arriving on our fair soil. The treat is so popular in New York there’s a two-hour wait before the bakery opens for a chance to sample the sugary foodstuff, as well as a two-per-person limit to share around the restricted supply. With Dominique having trademarked the name ‘cronut’, Los Angeleno bakeries have dubbed their versions crullants or doissants, while MoVida in Melbourne has created the dossant. Van Wegens Continental Bakery in Mooloolaba has called its creation the Dainut, with owner Dane van Wegen using his family’s traditional Dutch croissant pastry in the sweet treat’s recipe. We caught up with Dane to learn the secrets to making this decadent dessert at home.
INGREDIENTS
3 kg kialla organic white flour
300 g butter
2 eggs
50 g sugar
50 g yeast
50 g Himalayan pink salt
2 litres cold water
pinch of ascorbic acid (or berocca)
vegetable oil (for deep frying)
Filling
vanilla bean creme patisserie
melted dark chocolate
icing sugar
TO MAKE
Begin by preparing 300 g of butter by softening in a mixer for 30 seconds with a hook, then flattening into a rectangle (use lots of flour on the bench) before refrigerating.
For the dough, combine all dry ingredients then allow to rest for 20 minutes before adding the butter and pulsing in a mixer for a few seconds to combine. Add in the cold water and bring the dough together by lightly kneading into a ball. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for three hours on a tray.
Place the dough on floured surface. Roll the dough out into a rectangle before folding into three book-size folds, remembering to work fast to keep the dough cool. Turn the dough 90° so that the folds face you. Repeat the rolling, folding and turning process three times in total, before wrapping in cling wrap and refrigerating overnight.
The next day, prepare a vanilla bean creme patisserie (try Francois Payard’s version here).
Instead of rolling the croissant dough into a moon-shape, cut into doughnut-esque rounds using a cookie cutter or floured glass and then rest the rounds for 30 minutes. Then deep-fry the rounds in batches in a large saucepan or deep-fryer, turning occasionally. Leave the rounds to cool slightly on paper towel before slicing carefully in half from side to side. Fill the split with the creme patisserie, replacing the top half, before drizzling on melted dark chocolate and a dusting of icing sugar to finish.
If you sport a less-than-laborious attitude towards baking, slip in to Van Wegens Continental Bakery in Mooloolaba, Flour and Chocolate in Morningside (Wednesdays and Thursdays only) or Little Boat Espresso in Marcoola for a fresh-out-of-the-oven cronut, no apron required.
Image via dessert comes first.
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