How to Make Croissants

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These buttery and flaky treats take a long time to prepare from scratch (with several bouts of rolling and refrigerating), but, when made by hand, they are quite irresistible. Be careful, though, as these rich, characteristically French pastries are best enjoyed in moderation. Hopefully, the time and effort required to make them will temper your desire to eat plenty of them, and you’ll never want the factory-made stuff again.

Ingredients

Makes approximately 20 croissants. The dough can be frozen.

• 17 ½ oz (500g) flour
• ½ oz (14g) active dry yeast
• 3 1?8 oz (90g) sugar
• ½ oz (14g) salt
• 10 ¹?8 fl oz (300mL) warm milk
• 12 oz (340g) butter, room temperature
• 1 egg, beaten with 2 Tbsp water
• some extra flour

Converted to Traditional Cooking Measurements

• 2 1/3 cup flour
• 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast (2 packets)
• 6 1/4 Tablespoon (90g) sugar
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• 1 1/4 Cup (300mL) warm milk
• 12 Tablespoon (340g) butter, room temperature
• 1 egg, beaten with 2 Tbsp water
• some extra flour

Steps

1. Put the flour into the mixer. Add the salt, sugar, milk and yeast. Mix it on low for 8–10 minutes until it has a smooth elastic consistency.
2. Dust the dough and a large bowl with flour.
3. Remove the dough from the mixer and transfer it into a bowl. Cover it with the towel and let it rise until it doubles in size. This should take 1½ to 2 hours.
4. While dough is rising, put a sheet of plastic wrap onto your work surface. Place the butter on top and cover it with a second sheet of cling film.
5. Flatten it with your hands.
6. Roll it into a rectangle about 8 X 10 in (20 X 25 cm) with your rolling pin and place it into the fridge to chill.
7. Watch until the dough has doubled in size, sprinkle it with a little bit of flour. Punch out the air with your knuckles and place it onto a floured work surface.
8. Dust the dough with flour and roll it out into a large rectangle that is big enough to wrap around the sheet of chilled butter in thirds (about 10 x 25 in or 25 x 60 cm). Lift the dough off the table and dust the surface with flour before putting it down again.
9. Unwrap the chilled butter and place it onto the upper part of dough. Fold the dough around the butter in thirds to enclose it completely. Lift the dough and sprinkle the table with flour.
10. Rotate the rectangle of dough (if necessary) so that you can hold a roller parallel to the open edges, as shown. Roll it into another long rectangle, as done earlier.
11. Fold the dough into thirds, brushing off the excess flour as you go. This completes the first turn. Now wrap it in plastic wrap and place it into the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes.
12. Wait until the end of the 30 minutes, sprinkle your working surface with flour. Unwrap the dough and place it onto the work surface. Orient the dough so that you can hold a roller parallel to the open edges, as shown. Dust it with a sprinkling of flour and roll it into another long rectangle, as done earlier. Fold, brush and wrap, exactly as before. This now completes the second turn. Place it back into the fridge for another 30 minutes.
13. Remove, roll and fold for the third and final turn. Make sure that the dough is well wrapped before placing into the fridge once more to chill overnight.
14. Know that once chilled, cut the unwrapped dough in half on a floured surface. You can freeze one half of the dough for use another time, or repeat the following steps with it to make more croissants.
15. Dust the dough with some flour and roll one half of the dough into a rectangle. Reflour the surface when necessary and continue to roll until the dough is roughly less than a 1/5 inch (5 mm) thick.
16. Flour the surface and trim the edges of the dough neatly.
17. Cut it into triangle shapes as shown.
18. Take the bottom of the triangle at its widest part and, using your hands, tightly roll it up into a croissant shape.
19. Place the croissants onto a pre-lined baking tray.
20. Cover them with a clean plastic bag and leave to double in size. Set the oven to 375ºF (190ºC/gas mark 5).
21. Once the croissants have risen, remove the plastic bag. Very gently brush them all over with the egg wash.
22. Place them into the center of the oven. Bake them for about 15 minutes.
23. Wait until they are a deep golden brown remove them from the oven. Your croissants are now ready to serve!

Tips

• They go well with anything, from plain butter, jam and marmalade to ham and cheese.
• For a low-fat version, use low-fat or no-fat butter.

Warnings

• Children should not operate the oven or use knives without adult supervision.

Things You’ll Need

• rolling pin
• plastic wrap
• knife
• baking tray lined with parchment paper
• electric mixer with hook attachment
• bowl
• tea towel (clean dish towel)
• plastic bag
• brush

Related wikiHows

• How to Make Pain Au Chocolat
• How to Make Puff Pastry
• How to Knead Dough
• How to Make Cinnamon Swirl Bread
• How to Make Scones

Sources and Citations

• VideoJug - Thanks to VideoJug for the pictures and instructions used in this article.

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