Food Photography | Butter Croissants

Food Photography | Butter Croissants

One of my favourite parts of a recent trip to France including Paris was the abundance of bakeries and access to fresh bread and of course croissants almost everywhere I walked. In my own neighbourhood of Toronto Riverdale I walk Danforth Ave very frequently and always wished I could find the kind of bakery present in France close to my house. So as it turns out I walk by Dough Bakery very frequently and I never saw much in the window from the street to catch my eye until when recently I decided to poke my head in. What I found was not only a great variety of fresh breads and baked goods but one of my favourites, butter croissants. So today on my dog food run I stopped in and picked up a couple of these tasty beauties (and a loaf of bread) and had to photograph them. I just love the texture and the slight sheen you see on them as shown in the accompanying photos. Hope you enjoy. 

Oh the texture!

The Telltale Crab Shape of a Delicious Croissant

And Behind the Scenes of the Photos

This is again another renaissance of my blog and I intend to post more of my personal and professional shoots along with a behind the scenes shot or two. Feel free to ask any questions about my lighting, my gear or my techniques.

Toronto Food Drink and Product Photography by Fulcrum Imaging Studio. Photographer and Owner Robert Greatrix. rob@fulcrumimaging.com or 647-408-6354.


As always my photos are copyrighted, sharing is cool but only with full credit  and a link back as long as its not for commercial purposes otherwise ask first.

Food Photography| Gluten Free Baking

Food Photography | Gluten Free Baking

By Toronto Food Photographer Robert Greatrix | Fulcrum Imaging

Much of my food portfolio up to this point is self assigned and when I make a dish generally we eat it for lunch or dinner. This does raise some difficulties as my wife, Marie is Gluten Free and we have both friends and close family that have been diagnosed with Celiacs Disease. I myself, am not sensitive to Gluten and I consider myself a foodie, so I find that dishes made Gluten Free do not have the same taste or texture for the most part. In the past I found one of the most difficult was finding good GF pastries or recipes to make them that were simple and had ingredients that were easy to source (which continues to get easier). So thanks to a little research, some experiments and some slight tweaks I finally have a recipe that I love. The original recipe I found here: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/11/gluten-free-pastry-crust.html and after a couple of tries I found I liked the pastry with 1/2 cup of oat flour substituted for part of the rice flour. You have to read the above linked recipe very carefully to get the ingredients correct as it is formatted to show two different recipes and it is confusing. I will list out what I use to avoid the confusion:

1/4 to 1/2 cup Oat Flour (preference)

3/4 to 1 cup Brown Rice Flour (preference but keep the total of the two top flours 1 1/4 cups)

1/2 Cup Sweet Rice Flour 

1/2 cup Tapioca Starch

2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar

I teaspoon Xanthan Gum

I cup (8ounces) butter (2 Sticks) 

7 Tablespoons Ice Water (may need to be adjusted up or down)

Method:

I freeze the butter first. Combine all the dry ingredients in a food processor. Then shred the frozen butter through a box grater or equivalent into the dry mixture, pulsing a few times after the first half (1 stick) is shredded and again after the second half. This gives a cornmeal like textured mix. I then add the ice water, one tablespoon at a time giving it a pulse after each one then a few more after to ensure it is evenly combined. I then transfer the dough to a freezer bag, squish it slightly into a ball and put in the fridge for an hour or so. I then work it with a rolling pin on a piece of parchment paper coated liberally with Rice Flour (or all purpose GF Flour mix). I also sprinkle the same on top to stop my rolling pin from sticking. The pastry is a little difficult to work with and you can also use a second pice of parchment on top to roll it and help place it in your baking vessel but when you get it right the results are fantastic. So far we have made Berry Tarts and Butter Tarts (my favourite), Apple Pie, Tourtiere and Quiche. See the photos below. I hope you enjoy. 

Food Photography is my business and if you like to see more of my portfolio please click HERE  to go to the Fulcrum Imaging Website. 

We are Toronto Food and Corporate Photographers and are booking shoots for food and corporate clients for February and March. Call or email us to save your time slot now or just to talk :-)

Email: rob@fulcrumimaging.com 

Phone: 647-408-6354

All images are copyrighted and the property of Robert Greatrix, and Fulcrum Imaging and cannot be used without permission.