Lune Croissanterie ★ 4.9
Lune Croissanterie in Fitzroy is Kate Reid's engineering-informed pastry project: technically exacting croissants cited among the world's best by food media.
Worth the queue: Classic croissant with cultured butter
History
Kate Reid trained as a Formula One aerodynamicist for Williams F1 before stagiaring at Du Pain et des Idees in Paris and returning to Australia to open Lune in 2012, first in Elwood and then in the iconic Fitzroy cube bakery in 2015. The methodology applies engineering tolerances to lamination: dough hydration measured to a percent, butter temperature monitored constantly, layer counts standardised across the team. The New York Times called Lune's croissant the finest in the world in 2016, a citation that transformed Melbourne pastry culture. The Fitzroy site still operates around a single climate-controlled glass cube where the dough is laminated in view of the queue.
Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy, Egg
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 500g strong bread flour (T55 type if available)
- 10g fine salt
- 55g caster sugar
- 10g instant yeast
- 60g unsalted butter, softened, for the dough
- 140ml cold whole milk
- 140ml cold water
- 250g cold European-style cultured butter (at least 82 percent fat), for the lamination block
- 1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp milk for glaze
Method
- Mix the flour, salt, sugar, yeast and soft butter with the cold milk and water in a stand mixer for 4 minutes on low; the dough should be smooth but tight. Shape into a 20cm square, wrap, chill 8 hours.
- Roll the lamination butter between two sheets of baking paper into a 16cm square; chill 30 minutes until cold but pliable.
- Roll the chilled dough to a 22cm square; lay the butter at 45 degrees so its corners point at the centre of each dough side; fold the four dough flaps in to encase the butter completely. Press the seams.
- Roll out into a 50cm by 22cm rectangle (long and thin). Fold one third in, the other third over, brush flour off (a single fold). Wrap and chill 30 minutes.
- Repeat the rolling and single fold two more times, chilling 30 minutes between each. You now have 27 butter layers.
- Roll out to a 30cm by 60cm rectangle, 3 to 4mm thick. Cut into long isoceles triangles 9cm at the base.
- Notch the base of each triangle and roll up from the wide end, finishing seam-side down on a parchment tray.
- Prove the rolled croissants at 24 degrees Celsius for 2.5 to 3 hours until they wobble when the tray is nudged. Brush with the egg glaze.
- Bake at 220 degrees Celsius fan for 8 minutes, then drop to 190 degrees Celsius for a further 9 minutes until deeply burnished. Rest 10 minutes before eating.
Tip from the editors. Temperature discipline is everything. If at any roll the butter feels warm to the touch, chill immediately for 20 minutes. Warm butter melts into the dough and you lose the layer structure.
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