Argentinian Crescents – Medialunas

Argentinian crescents are called medialunas, which translates as half moons. I would say they are a distant cousin of French croissants or the Italian cornettos. However, instead of creating a layer of butter seperately, which is then folded into the dough, we will add it directly to the dough. The whole laminating process, which means that the dough is rolled out and folded and then chilled, is kept to a minimum. We will only do it one round. I think this is the perfect compromise, it gives us some of those flaky layers, but does not require as many resting times as the traditional croissant. However, despite a reduction in resting times, this still is a yeast dough, which means that you will need time before you can finally bite into one. I have to admit, suddenly I had eaten three even though I only wanted to eat one…

Argentinias took one of the snack times from Spain with them. It is called “merienda” and takes place some time between 4pm – 6pm. You may eat something savory, such as these crackers and sip some mate tea instead of coffee. You may also go the sweet route, I have already introduced the sweet pastries called facturas. Medialunas are also a popular choice. Since dinner is served very late, some time at 9pm or later, it does make sense that you have a snack earlier on. Of course medialunas may also be served for breakfast. You may spread a little bit of the milk caramel dulce de leche on it. Below I give you a list of main differences between medialunas and croissants:

Medialunas in comparison to croissants:

• Medialunas are smaller in size. Traditionally they are placed close to each other when baking so that you may need to pull them apart after baking, see also picture above.
• Yes, traditionally medialunas are laminated just like croissants. However, whereas croissants will not be croissants anymore if this is skipped, medialunas are a bit more forgiving. There are a few “express” recipes out there which skip the process completely. The recipe below is a compromise, we will laminate, doing a simple fold, double fold and simple fold again. However, we will not work in the butter separately. I think for the amount of work required this is a surprisingly good result.
• Croissants are not brushed with a syrup after baking, while medialunas are. You will see how they get the shine because of that.

Credit: Slightly adapted from Cukit! (in Spanisch)

Print Recipe

Argentinian Medialunas or Crescents

Prep Time: 1hr 30min – Cooking Time: 20min – Total Time: 2hr

Argentinian medialunas or crescents are similar to a croissant. The recipe introduced here does not require the butter to be laminated and keeps the folding process to a minimum.

Ingredients

• Medialunas
• 100 grams of butter at room temperature
• 250 grams of milk
• 15 grams of fresh yeast or 5 grams of active-dry yeast
• 1 egg
• 500 grams of all-purpose flour
• 50 grams of regular sugar
• 1 good pinch of salt
• 1 egg for egg wash and a dash of milk or heavy cream
• 
  
• Sugar Syrup
• 80 grams of water
• 80 grams of sugar

Instructions

1

For the medialunas bring butter to room temperature, then slightly warm the milk (you still should be able to stick a finger inside), crumble in yeast and the egg. Whisk until combined. Weigh all dry ingredients into a large kneading bowl, add the milk mixture. Knead on low for eight minutes. Slowly add the butter in chunks and beat again for about eight minutes. The dough should feel soft, yet elastic and pull away from the bowl. The butter should be fully incorporated.

2

Let rise in a bowl covered with a damp towel until volume has doubled. It took me 1 1/2 hours, it may be shorter or longer, depending on your environment. Box in dough and roll out to a rectangle of 30x60cm on a slightly floured surface. Now fold into thirds like you would a business letter, roll out again to rectangle, this time fold four times, roll out again and fold into thirds. Chill for 20 minutes in the fridge. Now roll out to a rectangle one last time of the size 30x60cm. Cut in half lengthwise so that you have two stripes, each 15cm in width and 60cm in length. Cut each stripe into 10 triangles, I just eye-balled it. The triangles should have a wider side. Cut a slith of about 1cm into this wide side, stretch out dough with your hands and now roll up into crescents. Bend the ends of the crescents towards the middle. Repeat with all 20 and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. They all fit onto one sheet, but should not yet touch each other. Cover again with a damp towel and let rise for about 30 minutes or until double in size.

3

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Whisk your egg for egg wash and add a dash of milk or heavy cream. Brush all medialunas with this mix. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden. Meanwhile prepare the syrup. Bring water and sugar to a boil and let boil for about five minutes. Take off heat. Once you take out the medialunas of the oven, immediately brush with syrup. In Argentina and Uruguay you may enjoy these for breakfast with some milk caramel called dulce de leche and mate tea instead of coffee. You may also eat it for "merienda", which is an afternoon snack between 4-6pm as dinner is extremely late, just like in Spain.