Imagine sinking your teeth into a warm, flaky croissant fresh from the oven. The buttery layers melt in your mouth, filling your senses with the rich aroma of freshly baked bread. But here's the catch - you made it yourself, in the comfort of your own kitchen.
The process may seem intimidating at first glance, but it is actually quite easy. And, the end result is worth every buttery bite.
One look at the sheer number of steps may have you clicking away and heading to the bakery to buy some ready made croissants. Just know, the steps aren't hard at all. You do the same thing over and over, with some chilling in between.
Croissants start with a basic yeast dough. After rising, the dough is rolled out, folded around some butter, then rolled out and folded and rolled out and folded and rolled out and folded.
The result is over 80 layers each of butter and dough resulting in the classic buttery flaky layers croissants once baked.
Freezing Croissants
One of the great things about this recipe is you can stop and freeze it at just about any stage and continue making them later. I labelled the recipe, which is another reason it looks so long at first glance.
I doubled the dough the first time I made them and froze half of it.
Then I folded the remaining half with butter the required 4 times, but only shaped and baked half.
The other half was frozen at this point to make chocolate croissants another day.
You can even freeze the baked croissants and just pop them back in the oven straight from the freezer and heat them just before serving. Hello easy holidays!
Tips for Homemade Croissants
There are three things you need to make the perfect flaky homemade croissant:
- a ruler
- a refrigerator
- a little patience (there is a lot of resting time between steps)
The technique is from Julia Child's The French Chef Cookbook, which contains all of the recipes from her original PBS cooking show of the same name.
It it not hard, but you absolutely positively have to chill the dough completely between steps to achieve the layers. Otherwise the butter melts into the dough and the dough becomes too elastic to work with properly.
More Recipes from #OurFamilyTable
Here's a tribute to some of our favorite chefs:
- Bobby Flay Spanish Tortilla from Jen Around the World
- Oeufs Mayonnaise from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
- Peter Reinhart's Struan from Karen's Kitchen Stories
We share Recipes From Our Dinner Table! Join our group and share your recipes, too! While you're at it, join our Pinterest board, too!
Sound fabulous? Share it!
Recipe
Ingredients
- ΒΌ cup warm water (about 100Β°F)
- 1 package active dry yeast (2 ΒΌ teaspoons)
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- Β½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (see note)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (if using bleached flour increase to 4 tablespoons)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- Β½ teaspoon salt
- β - Β½ cup milk (at room temperature)
- Β½ cup butter
- 1 large egg
Instructions
- Proof the yeast: In a small bowl, dissolve yeast, 2 teaspoons sugar and Β½ teaspoon salt in the warm water. Let proof until bubbly, about 5 minutes. (If the mixture is not bubbling in 5 minutes your yeast is probably bad and the croissants will not rise properly).
- Make the dough: In a mixing bowl combine flour, oil, remaining sugar and salt. Add yeast mixture and β cup milk and mix until a soft dough begins to form.
- Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead until smooth and elastic, 3-5 minutes. If dough is too dry add more milk 1 tablespoon at a time. If it is too sticky, add more flour a tablespoon at a time.
- Place dough in a large greased bowl, cover with plastic and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 - 1Β½ hours.
- Punch down dough and shape into a circle. Cover with plastic and refrigerate 20 minutes.{Dough can be placed in a zip to lock bag and frozen at this point. Allow to defrost in refrigerator then proceed.}
- Add butter to dough: Roll out the stick of butter until softened slightly with no lumps but not beginning to melt. Shape into a 5 inch square and chill until dough is ready. (I stick mine in the freezer for about 5 minutes.)
- On a floured board, roll out the dough to a 9 inch circle. Place the 5 inch butter square on top and fold the sides up over the top. Gently push the top dough corners in towards the center so the butter is completely enclosed in dough. {Dough can be placed in a zip to lock bag and frozen at this point. Allow to defrost in refrigerator then proceed.}
- Roll and Fold #1: With a rolling pin, roll the dough square away from you to form a 15 inch by 5 inch rectangle. Fold the top of the dough down β of the way, and the bottom up like you are folding a business letter to get a 5 inch square again.
- Roll and Fold #2: Turn the dough ΒΌ turn so the top edge is on your right (or left if you prefer). Repeat the Roll and Fold step above. Cover in plastic and chill for at least 2 hours. {Dough can be placed in a zip to lock bag and frozen at this point. Allow to defrost in refrigerator then proceed.}
- Roll and Fold #3: Place the dough on a floured board with the top open edge on your right (or left if that was what you did above) and roll into a 15x5 rectangle and fold back into a 5 inch square.
- Roll and Fold #4: Turn the dough ΒΌ turn and repeat the roll and fold one last time. 4 foldings equals 81 butter layers between 82 dough layers!
- Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 2 hours (yes again!){Dough can be placed in a zip to lock bag and frozen at this point. Allow to defrost in refrigerator then proceed.}
- Shaping the croissants: With a rolling pin, roll dough into a 20 inch by 5 inch rectangle. Cut in half and stick half in the fridge while you shape the first half.
- Cut into triangles: With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a 15 inch by 5 inch rectangle, cut into thirds. Cut each square diagonally to make two triangles. Roll out each triangle to be 7 inches from point to base.
- Shape into crescents: Roll each triangle from the base to the point. Arc the sides in slightly and place on a baking sheet with the point underneath several inches apart. Repeat to make 12 total croissants.
- Rise and Bake: Let rise one hour until almost doubled. {Risen croissants can be frozen and baked later. Place in freezer while on baking sheet, then place croissants in a zip to lock bag until ready to bake.}
- Preheat oven to 475Β°F.
- In a small bowl beat the egg with Β½ teaspoon water. Brush on the croissants.
- Bake until golden 10-12 minutes.{Baked croissants can be frozen and reheated in a 400Β° oven for a few minutes before serving.}
Notes
Sound fabulous? Share it!
Until next time, happy eating!
~Audrey
Albertina
I followed the instructions as written and my croissants were beautiful, and delicious! Wish I could add a picture to share. I will definitely make these again. Thanks for the recipe!
Kristie Jones
475 is too high of a baking temperature for the croissants. In 5 minutes, the bottoms were burn and the middle was doughy.
Audrey
UGH! How frustrating! After all of that work. Thank you for telling me.
It's been awhile since I made them, but I checked the original recipe and it definitely said 475 degrees. I also checked about 10 other recipes and the temperature was between 375 and 425. I am going to remake them this weekend and verify, but I think 400 sounds more reasonable, even if they have to cook longer.
Christie
I cannot imagine the rewards of making these at home. I may have to add this to my bucket list. But I am tainted because I had the most amazing croissant in Austria. So many layers. LOL