Making homemade croissants is a process that takes at least a half day, so I wouldn’t call it simple. The only other option for enjoying these amazing pastries is to fly to Paris, but it’s really not that difficult either. This recipe for croissants was taken from one by Bruno Albouze from The Real Deal (which he is), and it comes with a helpful video.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 25 mins |
| Additional Time: | 3 hrs |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 55 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 12 to 16 croissants |
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water (100 degrees F or 38 degrees C)
- 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
- ¼ cup granulated white sugar
- 3 ½ cups unbleached bread flour
- 3 teaspoons kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
- 2 sticks unsalted European-style butter
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Place warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle with yeast. Let yeast dissolve for 10 minutes. Add sugar and bread flour. Sprinkle with salt; add 6 tablespoons butter. Attach the bowl to the stand mixer. Mix dough with the dough hook just until butter is completely kneaded in and the dough forms a ball and pulls away cleanly from the sides of the bowl, 3 or 4 minutes.
- Transfer dough to a work surface and form into a semi-smooth ball. Place dough back in the mixer bowl; cover. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled, about 2 hours.
- Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. Push and press dough to deflate it, and form it into a rectangle. Fold into thirds by lifting one end over the middle third, and folding the other side onto the middle. Wrap in plastic wrap. Place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with a silicone mat. Refrigerate until chilled through, about 1 hour.
- Cut 2 sticks butter in half lengthwise and place slightly apart from each other on a length of parchment paper long enough to fold over the butter. Fold the parchment paper over the butter. Press butter down. Roll out with a rolling pin to a square about 8×8 inches. Refrigerate until a little chilled and just barely flexible, 10 or 15 minutes.
- Roll dough out into a rectangle slightly wider than the butter slab and just over twice as long. Place butter on one half of the dough leaving about a 1-inch margin from the edge of the dough. Fold the other half of the dough over the butter. Dust work surface and dough with flour as needed.
- Press rolling pin down on dough to create ridges. Then roll out the ridges. Repeat this process. Keep pressing and rolling until dough is about the same size rectangle as you had before you folded it in half, dusting with just a bit of flour as necessary.
- Starting from the short side, fold one-third of dough over middle third. Then fold the other end over to form a small rectangle. Flatten out just slightly with rolling pin. Transfer to the silicone-lined baking sheet; cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.
- Transfer dough back to work surface and repeat pressing and rolling technique until dough is the size of the previous larger rectangle. Fold into thirds again, starting from the short side. Press and roll slightly. Transfer back to lined baking sheet. Cover and refrigerate about 15 minutes.
- Roll back out to a large rectangle. This time, fold dough in half. Then press and roll out into a 1/2-inch thick rectangle, using as little flour as needed to keep dough from sticking.
- Cut dough in half lengthwise using a pastry wheel or pizza cutter. Dust one piece with flour and roll out to a rectangle about 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick. Starting from one corner, cut the dough diagonally crosswise into 8 triangles using a pastry wheel. Starting with the bottom end of each triangle, roll each up toward the tip to form the croissant with the seam at the bottom. If necessary, use a bit of water to seal the tip to the rolled croissant.
- Repeat with the other half of the dough.
- Place shaped croissants on baking sheets lined with silicone mats. Whisk together egg and 1 tablespoon water to make the egg wash. Brush croissants with egg wash. Place in a warm area to allow them to rise, about 45 to 60 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Brush croissants gently but thoroughly again with egg wash.
- Bake in the preheated oven until beautifully browned, about 25 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack. Cool to room temperature before serving.
- The technique is pretty straightforward, but be sure to pay attention to the temperature of your butter. If your slab is too soft, it will just blend into the dough and you won’t get the gorgeous layering. And if it’s too cold and firm, it won’t spread between the layers of dough like it needs to. It should basically have the firmness of clay. So, take your time, and when in doubt, pop the dough in the fridge for a few minutes to chill it down as you’re working.
- This is actually the quick version in that we’re not leaving the dough to rest overnight before laminating with the butter.
- If you’re substituting table salt for the coarse Kosher salt, use just 1 3/4 teaspoons.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 532 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 50 g |
| Cholesterol | 107 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 9 g |
| Saturated Fat | 20 g |
| Sodium | 796 mg |
| Sugars | 7 g |
| Fat | 33 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I took several times of using this recipe but it does work. Thanks Chef John.
I think it came out good. Kids gave a thumbs up. I’ve been following you since my kids were toddlers. Now they are 11 and 9. Favorite Chef on YouTube! Thanks John for Sharing the tips and tricks
This is an awesome recipe. Had to try 2 times though. 1st attempt failed but it turned out perfectly 2nd time. 3 things I had to make sure, dough rises, butter slab stays cold and chill dough to make sure it doesn’t melt the butter and stay elastic during rolling process. Two thumbs up for this one!
We thoroughly enjoyed these croissants! Chef John has done it again! March 8, 2022.
Amazing recipe that worked very well! If the recipe fails on you then that means you did not follow the directions well. Tips: YOU must proof these! Otherwise the dough will not work for you. Make sure your dough is room temp and going into a REAL hot oven. I raised the temp to 500 then lowered the temp back to 400 as soonest I put the croissants in.
I have always been intimidated by the process of making croissants. However with the help of this recipe and a bit of encouragement from my daughter, I gave it a try. They came out perfectly. I liked the casual approach to the process suggested by Chef John, it works! The smell coming out of the oven about 20 minutes in is worth all the effort.
I’ve been wanting to try my hand at croissants for years. For this first attempt I used some nice Amish buttter. As you can see I was way too heavy with the eggwash. Also my layers were good, but not spectacular. I think I let the butter get too warm on my first two folds. I’d give these an 8 out of 10, but next time I’ll get them just right. Thanks Chef John!
Took a long time, we used Plant butter and followed Chef John’s instructions for some delicious croissants that everyone can enjoy!
I’m giving this five stars because I can’t ask a question without the rating, and because I have never made anything by Chef John that wasn’t perfect! I am unable to find bread flour during this pandemic. Has anyone tried these using all purpose flour?
This turned out delightfully delicious!! The 1st recipe I tried took all day and was a disaster. This whole process, start to finish, took about 4 hours!! And may family loves them!! Definitely a keeper! Chef John never disappoints!!
I was surprised at how easy this was! I didn’t change anything
Came out great, worth all the work involved.
Even though it was time consuming… it was totally worth the wait. I will definitely make these buttery croissants again and again
Turn out perfect!
I have made these a few times and each time they get better and better. I have even placed a small piece of fine chocolate in the center for the perfect confectioner treat. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and you’re going to make someone’s day.
After six hours of preparation, my croissants came out more like flaky biscuits I could have made in 1/3 of the time. Disappointed.
They were the best croissants that I ever had! Even though it took a long time, they were worth it.
Love the recipe!! It’s easy and very clear. Thank you Chef John!!
Well done, great recipe! If you read the footnotes at the bottom of the recipe, it state to use 1 3/4 tsp of table salt if you are not using Kosher salt. So if yours turn out salty, you did not read the footnotes.
This was a great recipe and the video was lovely. Some personal changes I made are: I did half water, half milk. I used less sugar, maybe 3 TB, not 1/4 cup. I did an extra turn just for giggles. We put chocolate chips in a couple and cinnamon & sugar combo in a couple. The butter in orginal dough threw me off. That step isnt in any other recipe I have seen. All in all, delicious!
Very good! The video tutorial was extremely helpful. I will make these again.