Medialunas Argentinas
Medialunas are Argentinian croissants known for their buttery texture and fluffy layers. Unlike the meticulous process involved in French croissants, making medialunas is more forgiving, but does require patience. Plan for a total of 12 hours, including around 10 hours of resting time. However, you have the flexibility to extend the resting periods, even overnight, at any point in the recipe. For example, if you want medialunas in the afternoon, I’d recommend doing steps 1-9 in the evening of the previous day.
Note that all foldings in this recipe are “letter” or “simple” folds, which means folding the dough into thirds like a letter, bringing one long side to the center, and then folding the other side over that, creating three layers.
I use this recipe. She has a detailed video I recommend if you haven’t made puff pastry before.
I also made a short fun video that you can watch here.
Tips
- When making this type of flaky pastry, we always roll the dough in the direction of the layers/openings.
- My favorite is to cut medialunas in half and make a ham and cheese sandwich with them.
Ingredients
Dough (Détrempe)
- 500 grams of all-purpose flour
- 10 grams of salt
- 80 grams of sugar
- 300 milliliters of cold whole milk
- 7 grams of active dry yeast
- 30 grams of honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Butter Layer (Beurrage)
- 200 grams of unsalted room-temperature butter (take the butter out of the fridge now)
- 25 grams of all-purpose flour
Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- A pinch of salt
Syrup
- 200 grams of sugar
- 20 grams of honey
- 180 grams of water
Instructions
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We start by making the Détrempe, either by hand or with a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.
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Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the milk, yeast, honey, and vanilla extract. The milk must be cold because we don’t want to activate the yeast (yet). Stir until the ingredients are combined.
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Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth (5-7 minutes).
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Roll the dough with a rolling pin into a rectangular shape. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
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Make sure your butter is at room temperature and combine it with the flour. You can use the stand mixer with the paddle attachment here too.
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Place the butter block between two sheets of plastic wrap and roll it out into a rectangle.
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Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
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Get the dough from the fridge. Keep rolling into a rectangle big enough to be able to put the butter layer on it and fold the dough over to enclose it. Make sure the butter block is cold before folding it to help prevent melting and making the dough greasy.
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Gently roll out the dough again into a rectangle.
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Now the folding begins. Fold the dough into thirds like a letter (bringing one side to the center and then folding the other side over that, creating three layers). This is the first out of three folds (1/3). Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
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Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, roll it, and do another letter fold (2/3). Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
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Roll the dough and do the last letter fold (3/3). Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
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Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll it into a rectangle. Cut the sides that are too uneven.
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Cut the dough in half the long way and then in triangles. Place the triangles in a pan, cover in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for yet another hour.
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Grab a non-stick or lightly greased baking sheet.
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Take the rectangles out of the fridge and let them rest for 5 minutes.
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Gently and just barely roll a triangle. Roll the triangle in itself tightly, by pulling the tip with one hand and rolling the dough with the other. Shape it like a “medialuna”, a “half-moon”. Place each medialuna with the tip of the triangle at the bottom, so they don’t open during baking.
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Repeat step 19 with each triangle.
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Cover the baking sheet and let them rest until they double in size. A warm place could be inside the oven with the oven light on. It can take more than 2 hours.
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Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
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Beat an egg with a pinch of salt, and brush each medialuna with the egg wash.
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Bake them for 18-20 minutes until they are golden brown.
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While they bake, put the sugar, honey, and water in a small pot and bring it to a boil to make syrup. Once it boils and the sugar is dissolved, remove it from the heat.
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Right when the medialunas are out of the oven, brush them with the syrup. Brush them twice, because why not?