Adventures with pastry

I've been trying to get really good at making breakfast pastries. I'd like to be able to nail it every time, since home-made croissants are epic and have ruined me for shop-bought ones forever.

At the end of the summer holidays, I made some for work. I got up extra early and baked them before school started. I was very proud of myself (and very tired) and I got to start my school year off with a freshly-baked croissant and espresso in the back garden.

My year 13s bought me that plant as a leaving gift and Mr Z brought it back from the dead after I left it in school for half of half term and it nearly expired. Cute, huh? Mr Z is very green fingered. The plant on the right is a Thai basil he grew from a sprig that came in a packet in a Hello Fresh box.

Back to the croissants. I think it would be fair to say that, although they tasted good, they weren't my best work. The butter ran out of them quite a bit. That does seem to happen.

Not so, though, with my attempt at Danish pastries. I made these last month for my contribution to the Team Hums bake off.

I made caramelised onion, goats cheese and fig, and chocolate with tinned pears (I love a tinned pear). The flavours were good. I made a creme patissiere for the first time and it worked. Um, some of it might still be in the fridge actually...I should probably throw that away. None of the butter ran out onto the trays. They were really moreish.

But they were still a bit cakey for my liking. They didn't seem to have the lamination of a good flaky pastry. The trouble is, I don't really know how it's meant to come out. I know what a shop-bought Danish is like, obvs, but this isn't like that; then, the croissants I make aren't much like the ones I buy either.

I shall keep persevering. Maybe one day I'll make one I'm satisfied with.