Italian brioche croissants

Method

1. Prepare the dough
   
   Stir the yeast into the lukewarm water in a large bowl until dissolved. In a separate bowl, beat the soft butter into the sugar, add the eggs, then pour this into the yeast mixture and combine.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, zest and salt. Stir the dry mixture bit by bit into the wet ingredients until the dough comes together (towards the end you may have to use your hands if not using a mixer).
3. Knead lightly on a floured work surface for 1 minute, or until the dough is smooth. Be careful not to over-knead or you will introduce too much elasticity. Put the dough into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1–1½ hours or until doubled in size. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead a few times on a lightly floured surface to expel the air, then flatten into a disc. Double wrap the dough tightly in plastic and refrigerate for 4–6 hours or overnight.
4. The butter block
   
   Remove the well-chilled butter from the fridge 30 minutes before you need to use it. Place the butter between two sheets of baking paper and bash with a rolling pin until malleable, but still cold, then shape it into a square, roughly 12.5 cm wide.
5. Roll out the dough to a rough square approximately 23 cm wide and 1.5 cm thick and place the butter in the centre of the dough at 45 degrees to its edges, so that the corners of the dough can fold perfectly over the edges of the butter block to enclose it like an envelope. Pinch and seal the dough well so that no butter escapes during rolling.
6. On a lightly floured work surface, roll this dough package forwards and backwards to create a long rectangle about 8 mm thick – the shortest side will be closest to you.
7. The turns
   
   The next series of steps are known as ‘turns’ and consist of folding the rolled out dough into thirds, turning the dough and rolling and folding again. If at any time it begins to get too difficult to roll the dough or the butter seems too soft, place the dough in the fridge and let rest for a short time, then try again.
8. For the first set of turns, fold the rectangle into thirds like a business letter: with the shortest side still closest to you, fold the top third down and the bottom third up. Turn the dough 90 degrees to the right (it should look like a book with the ‘spine’ to the left) and repeat: roll out the dough to a long rectangle 8 mm thick, then fold into thirds. Wrap the dough well in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour.
9. For the second and third pair of turns, repeat exactly as for the first set but after the third pair of turns, double-wrap the dough (so it does not explode out of the wrap as it gets the urge to rise!) and rest in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight, weighed down with a board or a plate and a few cans of beans or similar on top.
10. Shaping the cornetti
    
    Cut the dough into two even pieces. Keep one piece under a dish towel, chilling in the fridge. On a floured work surface, roll out the other piece of dough into a rectangle about 20 cm wide on one side and no more than 8 mm thick. With a very sharp knife or a pizza cutter, cut into two long strips, 10 cm tall, and cut each strip into even triangles with a base width of about 12 cm. Trim any uneven edges with a knife. Dust lightly with flour if the dough begins to stick. Repeat with the rest of the dough and place unused pieces under a dish towel or loosely cover with plastic wrap to stop the dough from drying out while you shape the cornetti.
11. Position a triangle with the base towards you and very gently flatten and stretch the dough. To avoid ripping, pull from the centre outwards, not from the tips. Pull the top of the triangle up and stretch the base out wide towards the sides – you should be able to stretch the triangle to about double the height and to at least 17 cm wide.
12. Once stretched, hold the tip of the triangle with one hand, and with the other, roll up from the base to the top, keeping the tip stretched as you go. Tuck the tip underneath the cornetto, facing you. On a baking tray lined with baking paper, place the cornetti about 5 cm apart to make room for rising (it is very difficult to move them after they have risen) and pull the ends into a crescent shape, bringing them together in front. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
13. Loosely cover the pastries with plastic wrap or a dish towel and let them rise in a warm place until doubled, about 2–3 hours.
14. Baking the cornetti
    
    Preheat the oven to 220°C.
15. When ready to bake, brush the cornetti delicately with the beaten egg.
16. Prepare the sugar syrup. Combine the sugar and water together in a small saucepan and bring to the boil over a low–medium heat to dissolve the sugar. Set aside.
17. Place the pastries in the hot oven then immediately reduce the heat to 200°C and bake for 7–10 minutes, or until the cornetti are golden brown. Reduce further to 180°C and continue baking until puffed and evenly browned, another 8 minutes or so. Remove from the oven and place gently on a cooling rack. If the cornetti are darkening too quickly in the oven, remove them immediately and turn down heat or put them on a lower shelf.
18. Brush the cornetti with the sugar syrup while they are still warm. If desired, sprinkle some raw sugar over the top immediately after brushing with sugar syrup for a bit of crunch.