| Level: | Advanced |
| Total: | 1 hr 29 min |
| Prep: | 1 hr |
| Inactive: | 9 min |
| Cook: | 20 min |
| Yield: | 20 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 ounce fresh yeast
- 3 1/2 cups unbleached flour
- 1/4 cup white or packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 cup milk, or more
- 1 pound unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons flour, for dusting
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- In a mixer with a dough hook, place the yeast, flour, sugar, salt and the milk and mix for 2 minutes until a soft moist dough forms on the hook. If most of the flour isn’t moistened with this quantity of milk, add more, a tablespoon at a time until it is moistened and smooth, using up to 4 tablespoons. Turn mixer on high and mix for another 4 minutes until very smooth and elastic.
- Turn the dough out of the bowl onto a floured board, cover with a damp tea towel and allow it to rest for 15 minutes to relax the gluten. Remove the towel and, using a French rolling pin, roll the dough into a 10 by 9-inch rectangle 5/8-inch thick. Wrap in plastic then chill for 1 hour and up to overnight.
- Ten minutes before the dough is done resting in the refrigerator, prepare the butter. Beat it with your rolling pin on a floured surface to soften it and form a rectangle 6 by 8 1/2 inches. Place it between parchment paper or plastic wrap and set aside.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it on a floured work surface into a 10 by 15-inch and 1/4-inch thick rectangle. Brush any excess flour off the dough. Place the shorter side of the dough parallel to the front of your body on the work surface. Place the butter in the middle, long-ways. Fold the bottom up over the butter and brush off any excess flour and then fold the top down over the butter to overlap and encase the butter. Press down lightly with the rolling pin to push all the layers together and make sure they have contact.
- Continue rolling the laminated (layered) dough to form a new 10 by15-inch rectangle, patching any holes with a dusting of flour where butter may have popped through. Fold into thirds, like a letter, brush off any excess flour and mark it with an indentation made by poking your finger once at the corner of the dough meaning you have completed the first “turn”.
- Wrap well in plastic and chill 1 hour and up to overnight. Do this again three more times (some people only do 3 turns total, some do 6, some do 3 plus what’s called a “wallet” turn for the last one which is a 4 fold turn that’s folded into itself like a book jacket) marking it accordingly each time and chilling in between each turn.
- After the fourth turn, you can let the dough chill overnight, or, for 1 hour, or, roll it out to a 13 by 24-inch square that is a little less than 1/4-inch thick and cut out your croissants and shape them.
- I roll out my dough and cut it with a sharp large knife into 6-inch strips then cut them into triangles, 4 inches wide at the base of the triangle (or for a more curved croissant cut the triangles 6 inches wide). Stretch these triangles again 9 inches long, then place on the work surface and put a piece of scrap dough in the center of the wide end to enclose, which will plump up the center. Roll the triangles up towards you starting at the wide end and place them 2 inches apart on a parchment lined sheet pan with the tip tucked under and the ends slightly curved in to make a crescent shape. You may freeze the croissants at this point, or, in a small bowl, whisk together the egg and milk and brush the croissants with this egg wash.
- To proof the croissants, place them in an oven that is warm but not turned on, with a pan of hot water in the bottom to create a moist environment like a proof box. Set aside to proof for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours until puffed up and spongy to the touch. Remove from the oven.
- Spritz a preheated 425 degree F oven with water, close the door, and get the croissants. Place the croissants in the oven and spritz again, close the door and turn the oven down to 400 degrees F. After 10 minutes, rotate your pan if they are cooking unevenly and turn the oven down to 375 degrees F. Bake another 5 to 8 minutes until golden brown.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 20 servings |
| Calories | 271 |
| Total Fat | 19 g |
| Saturated Fat | 12 g |
| Carbohydrates | 21 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 3 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Cholesterol | 58 mg |
| Sodium | 150 mg |
Reviews
Well… First of all, I guess everyone else understood that “fresh” yeast does not mean that your dried yeast is fresh. I thought, 4 packets of yeast? Once I got the dough mixing, it dawned on me and I continued by doubling the other ingredients, having extra dough to use otherwise. After a full day’s work on these, and finishing these up the next day, I had a feeling I shouldn’t let these rise in the warm oven and I should have just let them rise on the counter, since this dough consistently rose in the refrigerator after each roll out anyway. I would have avoided all the butter leaking out of them. They tasted great but the quality was a zero for me.
OMG, these came out so amazingly good! This is the first time I’ve tried croissants and the hardest part was with the cooking temp and time. They seemed to brown really early and my first pan-full came out a little raw in the middle. The second pan-full came out perfect – just like the Costco croissants! I will be making this again and again 🙂
The directions were confusing. How can all the flour be moist from just the milk and I thought the yeast needed to be in warm water and sugar first… I am confused. I wasted so much yeast on this…
I’d never made croissants before trying this recipe. It took a few times to gain some proficiency, but it was well worth the effort. I used a pound of butter initially, but found it to be a bit too much. Using three quarters solved the leaky problem and the flavor suffered not in the least.
Fantastic. I did three turns and the croissants were so flaky and delicious, much better than any bakery. My first suggestion would be that the oven not be heated at all when proofing, just a pan of hot water on the rack underneath. Also, work quickly so the dough stays cold. If it warms, the butter will incorporate into the dough and you will end up without flakiness. I had no butter leakage during proofing and a very small amount when baked, so make sure dough is sealed after each turn. Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into triangles before shaping and stretch the dough a bit so the dough will be thinner.
Excellent. I had butter leakage at the proofing stage, as others have commented. I suspect a too warm oven. However it made no difference to the final product, which turned out light, flakey, tasty and buttery. I only proofed for an hour because it was evident at that point that the croissants had risen to their full volume. I did four ‘turns’, with the final being the ‘billfold’ turn. I only chilled the minimum required hour between each turn, and I let the formed croissants chill overnight in the fridge before proofing them the next morning. The smell of baking croissants in the morning was worth all the effort!
They turned out AMAZING! This was my first time making croissants and for the recipe being difficult, I’m surprised I actually did it.
These were really amazing and buttery and flaky!! To make mine rise i just set them in the microwave so they didn’t leak any butter they were so great! My mom dad and friends loved them i made them for dinner. They were amazed that i made this recipe because I’m only 16, i was shocked my self.
Terrific and easy to make! Had no melting/leaking of butter. If I DID have “leakage”, I would have mixed everything per directions before adding the butter. I would have put the un-butter ingredients in a bowl and into the fridge. Would have done same for butter BUT would have shredded cold butter onto to a platic or wax paper covered cookie sheet and placed that in fridge. At some point, pull both ingredient things out of fridge, quickly mix, roll-out, cut size, etc. These have always been terrific! Annie, Milpitas, CA
They tasted great, but like some other reviewees, my croissants leaked butter in the proofing stage. I’m thinking that’s due to the oven being a little too warm. Also, they flattened tremendously in the proofing and baking stages. Again, I think it’s due to the temperature. I’m going to try it with proofing them on the counter under a damp tea towel with the next batch.