Gltuen and dairy free croissants that taste like the real thing!

 My gluten free journey started with a search for a good cinnamon roll, nothing like starting out nice and easy!  Then I had to quit dairy too, which of course meant I needed to make a gluten and dairy free croissant, nothing like changing the two major ingredients in a relatively simple recipe and expecting it to work!  I tried butter flavored vegetable shortening (crisco) in a half dozen attempts, and while edible, it was a mess and just wasn't a croissant so I gave up.  I never thought to try plant butter, little realizing the 100% fat of the crisco didn't react as well as butter because butter contains some water, which as it becomes steam gives lift to your bread, oops!  I thought the plant butter would melt too easily and just make a big mess, which it will if you aren't careful, but it can also make a reasonable croissant if treated with care.  So I tried it with this recipe and the results were fabulous, and strangely it really wasn't that different from making a wheat croissant: a sticky, putzy mess, but oh so good!  The other problem I had with the crisco croissants was they were rather dry, to get the dough to a proper, workable state I had to add so much corn starch that it dried out as it baked, but these were workable and moist, the water in the butter again?  Whatever the reason, this works!

I just used plain old water for the milk and an el cheapo brand of plant butter, I converted the grams to cups and just used volume instead of weighing my ingredients.  I also cut the 4 tsp of yeast to 1 and skipped the proofing as I use instant yeast.  I let the dough rise in a 145F oven for an hour while it was still in the bowl rather than after rolling and shaping and then chilled it before working.  I used a silicone baking mat and a silicone rolling pin instead of plastic wrap and used a flat aluminum cookie sheet as a work surface, throwing the whole thing in the fridge to chill.  I hardly touched the dough with my hands, rather a bench scraper and a small silicon spatula were really handy.  While plant butter melts more quickly than the real thing, it also solidifies faster, so I only chilled it 10-15 minutes each time.  I dusted liberally with corn starch anytime anything was sticking, it started out messy but was a rather workable dough by the end and strangely it didn't dry out in the oven.  When it says roll them loosely, she means it, all those lovely layers need room to expand, mine were perhaps a little tight and got a little dense in the middle but still good!  My flour mix was 1/2 cup oats, 1/4 cup each millet and brown rice, 1/4 cup corn starch, 2 tbsp tapioca and 2 tbsp expandex modified tapioca starch.

The croissants were a hit but I had to toss the mini pretzel bites, which was weird, as you'd think if something would go badly, it would be the croissants!  But the pretzels were way too salty and had a weird texture, they probably absorbed a ton of sodium from the baking soda in the water bath.  Good thing I'm not a huge pretzel fan anyway!  Viva la croissant!