My New Croissant Machine Can Do Things I Can't...

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Hey guys welcome back to the
croissant series. This video is

all about making version 2 of the
dough sheeter, as known as the

croissant dough flattening machine.
Now my machine behind me is in

pieces. Happens to the best of us.
Just because I wanted to address

the wobbly slash not-centered roller
situation. Let me show you what I mean.

So, initially my axis weren't centered
like so using this.

And now this is the new system
that I'm using. The axis are definitely

more parallel and better centered.

I mean, that's what I thought initially
and then I checked. It still is a bit wobbly.

Oh, merde!

But it's better.

The traction still has improved a lot.
And that's going to be super useful

for the next step. Let me just put
my machine back together and

I'll tell you more about this.

(music)

Churros! Doughnuts! Croissants!

Ok so first of all I want to connect
the bottom roller with this, the tray.

I have a very simple solution, I just
hope it's going to work. I'm going

to use a string to do that. You see,
as the bottom roller is spinning,

it's also going to be winding up
a super strong string that will be

attached right there. And theoretically
if I were to replicate the same system

but reversed on the other side I should
have a pretty strong connection between

this tray and this axis. The bond is
going to be strong.

(music)

Now if you're worried about the
solidity of my mechanism, if you're

worried that the little pieces of string
might snap, don't be. I'm using

fishing line that is initially made for
sharks. In fact, there is so much strength

that I've got a top roller problem now.
Let's just imagine for a second that

this is our piece of croissant dough.
So, as this piece of dough is approaching

the rollers, instead of being crushed
in, it's being pushed away from the

roller. That problem at the moment is
related to the fact that the top roller

is just spinning freely. It shouldn't spin
freely. In fact, it should be driven by the

bottom roller. They should be connected
and spin at the exact same speed.

Gears.

(music)

So basically I printed a gear pattern
that I think is right for my machine.

I glued it on a piece of plywood and
now I'm just trying to cut out the teeth.

The main problem is probably going to be
related to the consistency in between

those teeth. Like if you take a look at
this one, definitely square.

Curve. This one is just like a surfing
wave. A swell. A swell.

It's never going to work. Gears have a
very specific way of meshing with one

another. So I guess I need to find a
better solution than just this.

(music)

Instead of messing around, I made a
3D model of the gear that I need.

Then I'm going to send this back to a
friend of mine who is head of a

Fablab at the Paris Universite la Sorbonne.
His name is Adele. And basically we are

going to carve those gears together.

(music)

Hey!

(speaking French)

Alex: I need one of these!

Alex: I need this!

Alex: So you're going to print
them in what, like a plywood?

Adele: So we have like plywood there,
just have to cut it now.

Alex: Ok, let's cut it.

(music)

So this is the result I've got.
Way more consistent, way

more thorough than the thing
I did in my shop, a bit embarrassing,

to be honest. But looking informally,
this should work.

Alex: Merci Adele, so much.
Adele: Any time.

Alex: Salud!
Adele: (inaudible)

Right, so I've got two gears to
connect the main rollers, plus

one gear to perform a gear
reduction. Let's install all this

on the machine.

(music)

3. 2. 1.

Ta da!

The dough sheeter version 2.090--

(music)

It's hard to believe that this is my job.
This is actually my job.

Waaaaaaiii!

With my power grid I'm driving a
smaller gear that meshes up with

a bigger gear. The one from the bottom
roller. It's directly connected to the one

from the top roller, so those are spinning
in opposite directions, but synchronously.

So I made myself two little blocks. One
here. And one on this side. Just to prevent

the machine from going like, bonkers.
I'm going to clean the whole thing up

and then give it a proper test using
croissant dough.

(music)

20 mm.

(music)

40 mm.

(music)

10 mm.

(music)

So easy!

6 mm in thickness which is the end
thickness you want for this basic

dough. Er, not the laminated dough though,
which needs to be at 4 mm. So this one is

always a bit thicker.

(music)

It's so sick!

(music)

Right, it's now time to form the
dough-sandwich, if you don't know

what I mean you just need to watch
episode number 2.

(music)

The result at the moment is extremely
even. I'm going to wrap it up place it

in the fridge to chill, and then we'll start
flattening this dough.

(music)

I'm starting at 14 this time. Then I'm going
to go all the way down to 6.

(music)

And that my friend is called a double
fold. Following the technique that I've

learned at Utopie Bakery, I'm going to
make a slit.

This is releasing some tension and just
allows the butter to go all the way to the

edge. Back at 20 mm.

(music)

I'm super pleased with this machine
so far. This time it's not about any

sandwich any more, it's just about
laminating that dough.

(music)

I need to bring this dough all
the way down to 4 mm. And that's

extremely complicated to do
manually with a rolling pin. This

machine should just out perform the
human. Artificial Intelligence right there.

Wow.

Proper, smooth and even. I know it's
hard to believe that there are 12 layers

embedded within this 4 mm thick piece
of dough, but as a fact there are 12 layers.

And I'm a happy man.

Now as much as I love laminated
dough, those even layers, that dough

sheeter version 2 wasn't made to make
croissant dough, but to make croissants.

So I'm not going to bake one, but I'm going
to shape one with the dough we just

made so that you can see one of the
amazing benefits of using such a machine.

(music)

Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept.

(music)

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
Just checking. And the reason why

I was able to reach that number right
here and not in episode 2 is just

because the dough, it's thinner, it's
more even, and so the croissant

just folds on itself just smoothly and
more evenly, and that's how I get this.

Ah, smells like victory. I mean, not yet.
But still, I'm on my way.

(claps) Waaaaaaaa!

Well I'm going to call it myself, if you
allow me: this is a resounding success.

That machine works, simply works. And
so my lamination problems are not

problems anymore, they just strength.
I can laminate a proper croissant dough.

Of course the journey is not over yet,
since I want to complete, I want to

perfect the ultimate croissant. I'm not
sure you hear supermarket butter when

I say the ultimate croissant. Did you? No. No!
No. There is no great croissant without great

butter in the first place. I need to
source the best butter I can get my hands

on. We all knew this day would come and
it's next Saturday.

(laughs)

Bye bye! Salud.

(music)