How to make crossiants

 Recipe for Croissants

We're overcoming our worries today and baking croissants from scratch! I can understand if you're preparing to flee while screaming. I won't sugarcoat it: making croissants is difficult. Rolling out croissants takes a lot of time, patience, and rolling. This recipe is advanced, but it doesn't mean you have to be an expert baker to try it. You can handle this classic baking bucket list dish with ease.

The Method

Make simple dough with milk, butter, sugar, salt, yeast, and flour.

Publish the dough into a broad rectangle.

Create the butter layer with my simple trick!

into the dough, encapsulate the butter layer.

Roll out the dough one more to form a large rectangle, then refold it.

Roll the dough out once more and refold it.

Once more rolling out the dough, fold it back together.

the croissants' form

bake

Most stages require a brief period of relaxation, thus most of the time is spent with the hands off. The croissant dough needs to rest frequently in the refrigerator to enable us develop all the layers. Because of this, I refer to making croissants as a project. Take extended rests in between each phase and spread it out over a few days.

All of that unfolding and folding again? It's referred to as LAMINATING.

Laminated Dough: What Is It?

Dough is laminated by repeatedly folding butter into the dough to form alternate layers of butter and dough. The butter melts and produces steam when the laminated dough is baked. We are left with dozens of flaky, airy, buttery layers once the layers are lifted apart by the steam.

We're going to laminate the dough three times, creating 81 layers, much like we do when we make a croissant bread loaf. Yes, 81! Let me describe that scene to you.

three layers: dough at the bottom, butter on top, and dough.

To make nine layers, roll it out and fold it in thirds.

To make 27 layers, roll that out and fold it in thirds.

One final roll that and fold it into thirds for 81 layers.

So even though we are just laminating the dough three times, the result is 81 layers. One 81-layer dough is wrapped up numerous times when croissants are formed and coiled up. In other words, when you bite into a croissant, you are actually biting into hundreds of layers.

DOUGH

The ingredients for croissant dough include butter, flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and milk. You're going to use cold milk, in contrast to most yeasted doughs, which call for warm liquid to activate the yeast. The magic of the yeast will be revealed later in the recipe. When making croissants, the dough should always be cold at first. If the dough ever gets too warm, put a stop to it. Put an end to what you're doing and return the dough to the fridge for 20 minutes.

The dough will be beaten by the mixer for around five minutes. As your mixer stirs the dough, keep an eye on it. Despite the fact that this dough isn't extremely heavy, your mixer will work hard.

The dough has been prepared; we will now cover it and allow it to rest 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Let's now lay out the dough into a rectangle that is 14 by 10 inches. Use a tidy measuring tape or ruler. The most important instrument for preparing croissants is the ruler or measuring tape, followed by your rolling pin.

A silicone baking mat is what I advise. The mat is nonstick, and while we will still gently flour it, it serves as a useful measuring tool. The silicone baking mat makes it feasible to transfer the dough to a baking sheet, which is something else you need to do.

After only 30 minutes in the refrigerator, the dough is not very cold, making it easy to roll out. Be exact while measuring the 14 by 10 inches. The dough will naturally want to be oval-shaped, but keep rolling and shaping the edges with your hands until you get the desired size rectangle.

Roll out the dough, cover it, and refrigerate it for four hours or overnight. Put the silicone baking mat directly on top of your baking sheet, cover the dough with it, and refrigerate it.

BUTTER

Use whichever butter you prefer. Croissants are the perfect occasion to spend money on European-style butter. If I'm being completely honest, I use store-brand butter and adore the flavour of the croissant. This is butter. Whatever happens, it's going to be good.

The butter rectangle fits inside the dough since it is 7 by 10 inches, half the length and width of the dough. On the silicone baking mat, we will cool the butter rectangle. We can immediately take it off once it has cold and lay it over the dough to start laminating.

Make sure the butter is only chilled for a few hours. The butter and croissant dough should both be at the same temperature. It allows for laminating. Because butter solidifies much more quickly than a soft dough, our butter will only cool for 30 minutes while our dough will chill for 4 hours.

The butter fits perfectly on the 14-by-10-inch dough because you precisely fashioned it into a 7-by-10-inch size. (You may always use a pizza cutter or knife to trim the butter rectangle to the right size after it has chilled.)

Over the cool butter, fold the cold dough. Seal the butter within using your fingertips.

We will now laminate the dough three times, with a 30-minute interval in between each laminate. Between the second and third times, why? Because our dough needs to be cooled again after having been out of the refrigerator for a certain amount of time. Enough time is 30 minutes.

It's time for our dough to rest after being rolled out and folded three times.

The laminated dough should be covered and refrigerated for four or more hours. I normally chill it for the night at this point.

The dough needs one more rolling out. This time, roll it into a rectangle of 8 by 20 inches.

Cut each of the eight rectangles into two triangles.The triangles should be extended to a length of around 8 inches using your fingers or a rolling pin. Don't flatten the layers; instead, go slowly. At the triangle's wide end, make a tiny slit. Next, tightly roll the triangle into a crescent shape, making sure the tip is on the underside.

The formed croissants should be loosely covered and left to rest at room temperature for an hour (I recommend just leaving them on the counter) before being put in the refrigerator to chill for an additional hour. I prefer the shaped croissants to be cold before baking, in contrast to many croissant recipes. There won't be as much spread. Once they stand, they will demonstrate Continue doing so for an additional hour in the refrigerator after the initial hour at room temperature.

After that, the croissants are prepared to bake! FINALLY.

Apply egg wash (egg + milk) on them.

Bake.

Ingredients

1/4 cup (4 teaspoons; 60g) of softened room temperature unsalted butter

spooned and levelled) 4 cups (500g) of all-purpose flour, with additional for rolling and shaping

granulated sugar, 1/4 cup (50g)

two salty teaspoons

1 teaspoon dry or instant active yeast

360 millilitres (1.5 cups) of chilled whole milk

Butter Coating

1 and a half cups (3 sticks; 345g) of softened room temperature unsalted butter

16g of all-purpose flour in 2 teaspoons

'Egg Wash'

1 large egg

Ingredients

1/4 cup (4 teaspoons; 60g) of softened room temperature unsalted butter

spooned and levelled) 4 cups (500g) of all-purpose flour, with additional for rolling and shaping

granulated sugar, 1/4 cup (50g)

two salty teaspoons

1 teaspoon dry or instant active yeast

360 millilitres (1.5 cups) of chilled whole milk

Instructions

Before proceeding, read the recipe. Make room for a baking sheet in the refrigerator. You'll need space for two baking sheets in steps 6 and 13 both.

creating the doughIn the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment (or you can use a handheld mixer or no mixer, but a stand mixer is preferable), divide the butter into four 1-tablespoon pieces. Salt, yeast, sugar, and flour should be added. Set the mixer to low to medium speed and blend the items slowly for 1 minute. Pour the milk in gradually while the mixer is running. Turn the mixer to medium speed when all the milk has been incorporated, and beat the dough for at least five minutes.

Knead the dough by hand for five minutes if you don't have a mixer.) It will be a soft dough. When you poke it with your finger, it will generally pull away from the bowl's sides and bounce back. If the dough is still too sticky after 5 minutes, continue running the mixer until the dough separates from the bowl's sides.

Take the dough out of the bowl and form a ball with floured hands. Place the dough on a baking sheet, parchment paper, or silicone baking mat that has been lightly dusted with flour. (A silicone baking mat is strongly advised because you may roll out the dough directly on top of it in the subsequent stage without it sliding about.)

Lay the dough out gently, as I demonstrate in the video below, and wrap it in aluminium foil or plastic wrap. Place the entire baking sheet in the fridge, cover the dough, and let it rest there for 30 minutes.

Take the dough out of the fridge and shape it. Since the silicone baking mat is nonstick and serves as a helpful measuring guide, I prefer to roll the dough while keeping it there.

Start spreading the dough out with your hands. In this stage, you'll roll it out into a rectangle, so moulding the dough with your hands beforehand will aid the stretchy material. Form a 14 by 10 inch rectangle out of it. After only 30 minutes in the refrigerator, the dough is not too cold, so it will feel more like soft play-doh. When measuring, be accurate. The dough will naturally want to be oval-shaped, but keep rolling and shaping the edges with your hands until you get the desired size rectangle.

back onto the baking sheet (this is why I like using parchment or a silicone baking mat because you can transfer the dough quickly). The flattened out dough should be covered with plastic wrap or aluminium foil, and the entire baking sheet should be placed in the refrigerator to chill the dough for four hours or overnight.You may wait up to 24 hours.

Start the butter layer 35 minutes prior to the next step to give the butter time to cold for 30 minutes.

Butter and flour should be mixed thoroughly in a large basin using a stand mixer or hand-held mixer with a paddle or whisk attachment. Place the mixture on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. (Silicone baking mat is ideal because the next step involves effortlessly peeling the butter off.) Create a 7 by 10-inch rectangle by smoothing with a spoon or small spatula. This measurement should be as accurate as you can make it. The butter layer should be chilled for 30 minutes while the entire baking sheet is in the refrigerator. It doesn't need to be covered for just 30 minutes. The butter layer should be solid but flexible. Allow it to sit outside if it becomes too firm.

The following stage of laminating the dough will be more challenging the firmer the butter layer is.

The next step is to laminate the dough, which involves rolling it out into a sizable rectangle. Roll out the dough instead of using your silicone baking mat; lightly dust the counter. The silicone baking mat is usually smaller than the required size, and the counter is normally a little cooler (excellent for keeping the dough cold).

Take the butter and dough layers out of the fridge. Fold each end of the dough over the butter layer after placing it in the middle of the dough. Use a pizza cutter or a sharp knife to smooth out the edges if the butter's shape wasn't exactly 7 by 10 inches. Use your fingers to as tightly as possible press the dough edges over the butter layer. Roll the dough into a 10 x 20-inch rectangle on a surface that has been lightly dusted with flour. The shorter end of the dough should be facing you as you roll back and forth, as I demonstrate in the video below. If you must, use your fingers.

It will take a lot of arm strength to roll the dough because it is so chilly. The dough will once more want to be oval in shape, but keep kneading and rolling it with a rolling pin until you get the desired size rectangle. As though folding a letter, fold the dough in thirds lengthwise. The first turn was this.

Place folded dough on the baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap or aluminium foil, and chill for 30 minutes before the second turn if the dough is now too warm to handle.Usually, I'm not required to.

The second turn should be made with the short end facing you. Once more rolling out the dough into a 10 x 20-inch rectangle, fold it in thirds lengthwise as if you were folding a letter. The dough needs to be chilled between the second and third turns because it has already been handled extensively. Before the third flip, place the folded dough on the baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap or aluminium foil, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Third turn: Extend the dough once more to form a 10 by 20-inch rectangle. As though folding a letter, fold the dough in thirds lengthwise.

Long rest: Place the folded dough on the prepared baking sheet, wrap it in foil or plastic, and place it in the refrigerator for four hours or overnight.You may wait up to 24 hours.

You'll need two baking sheets that have been lined with parchment paper or silicone baking mats for the following step. You've already got one prepped; the dough is on a lined baking sheet in the refrigerator.

Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it into croissant shapes. Roll the dough into an 8 by 20-inch rectangle on a worktop that has been lightly dusted with flour. If you must, use your fingers. Again, the dough is quite cold, so rolling it will require a lot of arm strength. The dough may initially want to be oval-shaped, but keep kneading and rolling it with a rolling pin until you get the desired rectangle form. Slice the dough in half vertically using a pizza cutter or a good knife. The width of each narrow rectangle will be 4 inches. After that, make three straight horizontal cuts, creating eight 4 x 5 inch rectangles. See the image up top for a visual. Remove each rectangle.

to form two triangles, diagonally. You currently have 16 triangles. One triangle at a time, work on it. Stretch the triangle to a length of approximately 8 inches using your fingers or a rolling pin. You don't want to flatten the layers, so proceed carefully. Make a tiny cut at the triangle's wide end, then tightly roll the triangle into a crescent shape, making sure the tip is on the underside. The ends should be slightly bent towards one another. Repeat the process with the remaining dough, putting 8 croissants per sheet on 2 prepared baking pans. Place in the refrigerator after loosely covering with plastic wrap or aluminium foil and allowing to rest for an hour at room temperature (no warmer--I recommend keeping on the counter).

or freeze; for tips on freezing.) I like the croissant shapes to be cold when they go into the oven.

Oven should be heated to 400°F (204°C).

Egg wash: Combine the ingredients in an egg wash with a whisk.Take the croissants out of the fridge. Egg wash is lightly applied to each.

Bake the croissants for about 20 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Halfway through baking, turn the pans. Reduce the oven's temperature to 375°F (190°C) if croissants appear to be darkening too soon.

Croissants should be taken out of the oven and placed on a wire rack to cool somewhat before serving. As they cool, they will somewhat deflate.

The same day a croissant is baked is when it tastes best. Any extra croissants should be covered and kept in the refrigerator for up to a week, or at room temperature for a few days. Additionally, you can freeze for up to three months, then defrost overnight in the fridge or on the counter. As you please, warm up.