Croissants are a thing of beauty! Which is why the French took the baking world by storm with the pastry. However, croissants take a lot of dedication to pull off. Similar to puff pastry, the dough used is 'laminated,' meaning it needs to be folded and rolled with butter constantly to produce layers upon layers for its patented crust. While most of the heavy lifting can be done with appliances like mixers and rolling machines, chefs also have to pay close attention to maintaining a correlation of temperature between the dough and butter.

The following recipe reveals how to make Classic Croissants, the right way, and must be followed to the letter for the best results.

It will take a great deal of time, concentration, and lots of flour, but its worth it for this marvelous pastry.

The recipe

Ingredients:

  • 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp dry active yeast
  • 2 tsp unsalted butter
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter
  • 1 large egg for wash
  • Extra flour as needed

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Mix the water, yeast and one 1 tsp of the sugar in a bowl and let it bubble up for 5 minutes.
  2. Place the flour and the 2 tbsp of butter a bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix well on medium speed.
  3. Add the milk and mix on high speed until a dough fully develops. If the dough remains, tough, add more milk by the tablespoon until it achieves the right consistency.
  4. Let the dough rise for 40 minutes; knocking back after the first 20 minutes and refrigerate for the next 20 minutes.
  5. Roll the dough flat into a rectangle. Place the sticks of butter on a sheet of parchment, resting uniformly top of each other side. Place another sheet on top and gently pound flat using a rolling pin. Use fingers to shape the sides to form a rectangle.
  6. Before applying the butter make sure it's the same temperature as the dough (20°C). If the butter is too warm, refrigerate it again. If too cold, leave it on the table cover over with an inverted bowl. Dust most of the surface of a large table with enough flour and rest the dough in the center. Remove the top parchment off the flatten butter, invert it uniformly over the dough and place it within the left portion of the dough. Remove the remaining parchment off of the butter. Fold the left portion with the butter into the center of the dough and fold the right side over the center. Make sure that no butter is exposed outside of the dough and press the outer sides of the top dough around the bottom dough to seal it.
  7. Expand the dough by rolling the surface with a rolling pin. Start from the center of the dough and roll one side outward, alternating between vertical and horizontal rolling. Do the same with the other side to form the dough into a 9x20" rectangle.
  8. After the initial rolling, fold the dough again as described in Step 6. Repeat rolling followed by folding for up to 3 turns with 10 minutes of rest between each turn.
  9. Cut the dough lengthways to produce 2 long strips of dough. Using a measuring tape with a knife or a yardstick with a pizza cutter, measure and cut out 5x5" squares. Then cut the squares diagonally into triangles. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  10. Line the croissants evenly in roles across baking sheets lined with parchment and brush with the egg wash. Bake for 25 minutes or until they turn brown.
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