It's probably a good thing that croissants are so fussy to make or we'd be eating them every day. As it is, the whole process of making the croissant dough, laminating it with butter, shaping, and baking is at least a two-day affair. But, friends, it is so worth it. You'll never have better croissants than the ones you make yourself and eat fresh from the oven. And here's how to do it.
What You Need
Croissant Recipe: We whole-heartedly recommend the croissant recipe from Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson. It's easy to follow and makes some of the best croissants we've ever had.
If you aren't able to get your hands on a copy of this book, we recommend this recipe:
• Classic Croissants from Fine Cooking
Ingredients
One batch croissant dough
Cold butter (as specified in your recipe)
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon whole or 2% milk
Equipment
Rolling pin, preferably a french-style rolling pin without handles
Bench scraper
Pizza cutter or a sharp knife
Baking sheet
Silpat or parchment
Pastry brush
Instructions
1. Prepare the Dough: Follow your recipe to prepare the dough. Remember, an overnight rest in the refrigerator will improve the flavor and texture of any dough.
2. Prepare the Butter Block: Just before you're ready to start laminating the dough, pound the cold butter to make it pliable. Without this step, the butter could break and shatter as you try to fold it into the dough.
The Tartine recipe (which we picture above) calls for cutting the cold butter into pieces, but after trying this, we find it easier to leave the sticks whole. Pound the butter with your rolling pin, smacking it flat and then gathering it back into a pile with a bench scraper. If your recipe doesn't already specify this, working about 1/4 cup of flour into your butter during pounding can help make it easier. If you see the butter starting to melt, wrap it in parchment paper and refrigerate it for 10 minutes.
The butter is recipe when it stays together in a cohesive mass and is easily folded, but still feels cool to the touch. Shape it into rough square, wrap it in parchment paper, and refrigerate while you roll out the dough.
3. Roll Out the Dough: Roll the croissant dough into a rectangle double the size of your butter block. If you've been chilling the dough in the refrigerator, you can roll it out directly from the fridge without waiting for it to warm.
4. Seal the Butter Inside the Dough: Place the butter block to one side of the rectangle, making sure to leave a inch or so of dough as a border around the edge. Fold the dough over the butter and gently press the edges closed. (In classic French baking, you would put the butter block in the middle of the dough and fold the corners inward instead. We've tried both ways and either works fine.)
5. Begin Laminating the Dough: Turn the dough 90° and roll it out so that it's about the same width as your rolling pin and a few inches longer in length. Fold the top toward the middle and the bottom up, as if you were folding a letter. Wrap in plastic or parchment and refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour and no more than 1 hour (or the butter will get too cold). This is your first "turn" of the dough.
Repeat this turn 5 more times for a total of 6 turns, remembering to rotate 90° between each turn. Refrigerate for 30-60 minutes every 2 turns, or between every turn if your kitchen is very warm. After the final turn, chill the dough for for an hour before shaping.
6. Roll Out the Dough and Shape: Roll the chill dough out to a rectangle roughly 1/2-inch thick. Using a bench scraper, pizza cutter, or sharp knife, slice it lengthwise (the long way) down the middle. Cut each half into 6-8 equal triangles. Roll up each triangle, starting at the wide end. Transfer the rolls to baking sheets and space them about 2 inches apart.
7. Let the Croissants Rise: Let the croissants proof (rise) until they are about 50% larger in size. They should look puffy and you'll be able to see the layers in the cut edges.
Alternatively, you can refrigerate the croissants overnight to develop their flavor and let them proof in the morning. And to save yourself a lot of labor in the wee hours if you're planning on serving these for breakfast!
8. Bake the Croissants: Preheat the oven to 425°F. Whisk together the egg and milk in a bowl, and brush each of the croissants with a thin coating.
Bake until the croissants are deep golden brown, very crisp, and feel light when you pick one up, about 30 minutes. Rotate the trays halfway through baking.
9. Let Cool and Eat! Let the croissants cool for a few minutes and then eat right away. They are at their very best straight out of the oven. Leftovers can be re-crisped in a toaster oven or for a few minutes in a warm oven.
Additional Notes:
• Add fillings just before rolling the croissants (Chocolate! Fruit preserves! Ham and cheese!). Place a small amount of the filling on the widest part of the croissant and roll it up into the dough.
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(Images: Emma Christensen)
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I have never even considered making croissants at home before; I just assumed it would be too difficult. But even though this is a long process, I'm pretty sure I could manage it.
Also, I feel terrible that I've lived in SF since July and haven't been to Tartine yet. What am I thinking?
Oh man, you make it look so easy. Also, you mentioned in the other post that may places don't do them properly.... what do they do? I understand that my Friday morning croissant from Café Van Houtte/Secund Cup/Star Bucks/etc. is more than likely not lovingly made in their "kitchen", butter beaten to a pulp and all, but what kind of shortcuts are they most likely taking?
Do it folks!! I just learned how to make croissant, puff pastry and danish in culinary school.. I can't believe I never tried before at home!! It is really deceptively simple. Just follow the steps and go for it! So delicious and worth the time :)
@ Christine- from what I learned, one thing that mass producers like Starbucks are doing to affect quality is cutting the butter with margarine or other fats to cut costs. I also learned that a curved croissant means that it was indeed cut with margarine, and a non- curved croissant equals 100% unadulterated butter! Apparently the " curve" is a big deal in France for this reason. Hope that helps!
one tip, rather than cutting the butter up and adding flour, you can just place the butter between a couple of sheets of wax paper when flattening it. you just have to remember to peel the paper off and flip it frequently, or the spreading butter will tear the wax paper. bonus points if you have a stone counter top that you can keep a bag of ice on before you work. (
pbs.org's video collection has the julia child episode where she has a guest beating the butter on saran wrap, worth watching for the technique, though he's making mille feuille rather than croissants. (essentially the same, just leave out the yeast, sugar and oil)
having attempted this a few early times with simply softened butter, the beating it up really makes a difference.
i clicked on this just to see if you guys used the tartine recipe. YAY! it's seriously SO SO SO GOOD.
I've wanted to make croissants in the past but the butter block stops me. I just can't get into that much butter. But maybe some day, when I've been extra good and I'm at my running peak, I'll make them as a reward.
@Christine - I think the other big shortcut (besides cutting the butter as krislegeek mentions) is mostly just TLC. They'll add more yeast to make the dough rise faster or not let everything develop quite as long. This isn't all bakeries, by any means, but if you see a wilted, soft-looking croissant in the case...meh...take a pass!
Homemade croissants look great. But just out of curiosity, why not include the recipe for croissant dough?
@Corydon - We didn't post a recipe with this one partly because we really wanted to focus on the technique of making the butter block and folding it into the dough, which is something that many recipes seem to gloss over. We recommend the croissant recipe from Tartine Bread and give a link to another great recipe from Fine Cooking at the top of the post.
The other part is that other places, like Tartine and Fine Cooking, have already written recipes that I love and that are very likely better than I could hope write myself without years of pastry experience!
I secretly want people to stay scared of laminated doughs so those of us who make em can keep acting quite fancy with our homemade croissants and pain au chocolats! Seriously though, croissants and such are more play/ fun to make than work. Its not at all a chore.
I just made Baking with Julia's (Esther McManus') pains au chocolat with my 8-year-old nephew, having not made them since before he was born. Two days of prep by me to get to the final turn before his day off from school.Nephew enjoyed the final rolling out, forming the croissants around the chocolate batons and eating. He thought they were better than the ones at his favorite bakery, having made them himself. So mission accomplished.
this is so exciting! totally giving croissant-making a go this weekend.
but what's a bench scraper?
@katethesnake: The metal contraption in pic two is a bench scraper. You can generally find them in the cooking sections of large stores. I prefer mine to be plastic because of my work space, but I used metals ones about 1000 times a day when I worked at a pizzeria and they're great, too!
Making things square really really helps your dough turn out a million times better. If you think about it, all those corners are just missing out on beautiful lamination. My heart dies a little bit when I see people doing that. Haha.
But, if you are just making it for your family, I'm sure they won't complain.
my sister and i made croissants! they were delicious and flaky and lots of fun (but time-consuming) to make:
http://thekosherfoodies.com/dessert/croissants/
Those look amazing! I might have to try my hand at making them.
I love croissants! They were the first thing I ever learned how to bake...like way back in 7th grade thanks to a super fun school day where everyone got to choose a seminar hosted by parent volunteers. I haven't made them in ages though. Thanks Emma, this reminds me to get my yeast out and get stocked up on butter.
In the middle of baking my second pan, by 25 minutes on the first pan they were burnt on the bottom and uncooked in the middle. Any advice? I'm baking at 425.