Croissants

Golden and crispy pastry croissants, with a tender interior, perfect for elegant breakfasts or cozy afternoon snacks.
baked
bread
traditional
vegetarian
Ingredients
Servings
8
Measurement units

Preferment

Quantities for approximately 8 croissants.

  • 47 gstrong bread flour
  • 28 mlwater
  • 3 gfresh baker's yeast (or 1 g instant dry yeast)
  • 1 gsalt

Croissant dough

Quantities for approximately 8 croissants.

  • 1 smallegg
  • 250 gstrong bread flour
  • 103 mlwater
  • 35 mlmilk
  • 100 gcroissant butter, very cold
  • 28 gsugar
  • 13 gfresh baker's yeast (or 5 g instant dry yeast)
  • 5 gsalt
Nutritional Information

Per serving

Calculated for 8 servings

Calories
255 kcal
Protein
6.3 g
Fat
11.6 g
Carbohydrates
31.9 g

Calculated from reviewed ingredient weights and pinned USDA FoodData Central records.

Step-by-step Guide

Preparation of the Preferment

  1. Dissolve the yeast in a bit of warm water (approximately 30 °C) until it is completely dissolved.
  2. Mix the flour, salt, water, and dissolved yeast in a large bowl. Knead the dough for 3 to 4 minutes until all the ingredients are well integrated and the dough has a homogeneous texture.
  3. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let it ferment at room temperature for 4 hours. If you prefer, after a couple of hours of fermentation at room temperature, you can place the dough in the refrigerator and let it rest until the next day.

Preparation of the Croissant Dough

  1. If prepared the day before, take the preferment out of the refrigerator 2 hours before starting to make the croissants. This will allow it to reach room temperature.
  2. Do not take the butter out of the refrigerator until it is needed later in the preparation process.
  3. Dissolve the yeast in a little cold water (approximately 25 ml). Ensure that the water is very cold, straight from the refrigerator.
  4. Mix the flour, cold water, cold milk, salt, sugar, and the preferment in a large bowl and knead until you obtain an elastic and homogeneous dough. Do not knead for more than 10 minutes to avoid overheating the dough.
  5. Let the dough rest, covered with a clean kitchen cloth, for 1 hour in the refrigerator. This will allow the dough to firm up and the flavors to develop better.

Initial Folding of the Dough

Initial Folding of the Dough (1/3)
Initial Folding of the Dough (2/3)
Initial Folding of the Dough (3/3)
  1. Lightly flour the work surface. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out into a rectangular shape of approximately 40 cm x 20 cm. Ensure the dough has an even thickness to guarantee proper unfolding.
  2. Remove the butter from the refrigerator and place it between two sheets of plastic wrap. Flatten it by giving gentle but uniform taps with the rolling pin until you achieve a rectangular shape of about 24 cm x 18 cm. Then, roll the pin as if you were stretching dough, to refine its shape.
  3. Place the butter rectangle on top of the already rolled-out dough rectangle. Fold the rectangle from one of the long ends to the middle of the rectangle, then from the other end to the end of the dough, forming a simple fold (as if you were folding a letter).
  4. Rotate the dough 90º so that the long side is on the left. Using the rolling pin, roll out the dough again to achieve a rectangle approximately 40 cm x 20 cm, similar to the initial dimensions. Repeat the folding process as done previously.

Make Five folds to the dough

Make Five folds to the dough (1/4)
Make Five folds to the dough (2/4)
Make Five folds to the dough (3/4)
Make Five folds to the dough (4/4)
  1. Starting with the rolled-out dough, make a simple fold by bending one-third of the dough towards the center, then fold the other third over it.
  2. Now, place the folded dough in the freezer for 30 minutes, covered with plastic wrap. This will be the second fold.
  3. When we remove the dough from the freezer, rotate it 90º relative to how it was folded before (meaning the closed sides should be facing left and right) so that when we roll it out again, it is done in the opposite direction to the previous time.
  4. Roll out the dough with the rolling pin and make a new simple fold, following the same procedure as the first one.
  5. Now, return the folded dough to the freezer for 30 minutes, covered with plastic wrap. This will be the third fold.
  6. Repeat the same steps to make the fourth fold, following the previous process of turning, rolling, and folding.
  7. Repeat the same steps.
  8. This time, leave the folded dough covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator for 3 hours to complete the fifth fold.
  9. Repeat the same steps of rolling and folding the dough once more.
  10. After that, roll out the dough with a rolling pin to form a rectangle approximately 70 cm x 40 cm, with a thickness of about 3 or 4 mm.
  11. Divide the dough into triangles measuring 12 cm x 17 cm to form the croissants.
  12. Let the triangles rest for about 5 minutes, covered with a floured cloth to prevent drying.
  13. Once rested, shape them into croissants by rolling them up. First, make small cuts at the base of the croissant and fold the two tips inward, which adds a bit more thickness to the central part when it rises.
  14. Place the croissants on parchment paper on the baking tray and let them rest covered for 2 hours to allow them to ferment.
  15. Half an hour before baking, preheat the oven to 200ºC to ensure even cooking.
  16. Bake the croissants at 200ºC for 10-11 minutes, depending on the oven and rack position, until they begin to brown lightly.
  17. When you remove the tray from the oven, and before taking out the croissants, you can lightly brush them with a pastry brush dipped in sweetened milk, which gives them a shine.
Original recipe
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    Croissants | The Catalan Table