EASY croissant recipe (YOU CAN DO IT!!) (2024)

FAQs

What makes the best croissant? ›

"A perfect croissant, it's a very crispy croissant with a lot of puff pastry, and it smells a good taste of butter inside," Duchêne says. "A bad croissant is very soft, like a brioche, and you can't have a very good smell of butter, it's not creamy inside. "It takes a lot of time and process to make a good croissant."

First and foremost, you should use European or European-style butter which consists of 83% to 84% of butterfat. It should be 68° Fahrenheit and in the consistency of cream cheese, spreadable with a spatula.

More than 3x3 turns is not recommended for croissants. For example: 2x3 and 1x4 turns = 36 layers of butter = only suitable for cream pastries due to the tight honeycomb texture. ROLL OUT THE DOUGH IN VARIOUS STAGES. Slice the thicker side after each fold, not just at the beginning.

A classic French croissant has 55 layers (27 layers of butter), achieved with a French fold followed by 3 letter folds. Less layers will mean a different texture (less tender, more chewy, with more defined layers). Too many layers bring a risk of the butter getting too thin and melting into the dough.

Although you can produce excellent croissants from all-purpose flour, bread flour, or frozen packaged white dough, the high gluten content makes for hard and rubbery rolling out. A mixture of 2 parts unbleached pastry flour and 1 part unbleached all-purpose flour gives a dough that is much easier to handle.

A natural improver for pastry and croissant

LB Improver enhances consistency of the puff pastry in a pleasant balance between crunchiness and softness. This enzymatic improver also intensifies the croissant taste with lactic notes.

It is a very delicate recipe because there are dozens of elements that affect the result. Everything from the types of…

A croissant is typically made of yeast-risen dough. The dough is first layered with butter and then rolled. It is folded many times in a process called lamination. Then the dough is cut into triangles, rolled to form a crescent shape and baked. The lamination process gives croissants its flaky texture and fluffy shape.

Your butter needs to be pliable and at the same time not too soft at the moment of usage. Help, butter leaks out when baking! Your croissants were probably under-proofed.

For the best croissants you really do want to use European butter. It truly makes a huge difference. But that's quite an investment on your part. If you're stuck using American butter it's advisable to add some flour to the butter when making the block to help absorb some of the excess water.

Can you use regular butter to make croissants? ›

A mix of clarified and ordinary unsalted butter works well. I used clarified butter that was simmered for a long time to be sure the water was thoroughly removed, just to the point where it stops sputtering, and the solids in the bottom begin to brown.

Unlike a lot of croissant recipes, I prefer the shaped croissants to be cold going into the oven. They won't spread as much. They will rise and proof for the 1 hour at room temperature and continue to do so in the refrigerator for another hour. The croissants are ready to bake after that!

After shaping leave your croissants to proof for one hour at room temperature to kick start the proofing process. Then place them in the fridge overnight.

After the second turn, again give it a 30 minute rest in the fridge. After the third turn you leave the dough in the fridge overnight until day 3, the actual croissant making day!

The law is usually said to mandate that straight croissants must be made with butter. The crescent-shaped croissants are said to not be regulated, but to usually be made with oil or margarine.

Before baking, chill proofed croissants for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 375°F. Using a pastry brush, gently brush egg wash on each chilled croissant, avoiding cut sides that may have exposed layers of dough. Bake for 20 minutes.

As a croissant bakes, the butter melts and the water content in the butter turns into steam. It's that steam being trapped by the gluten in the dough that creates the delicate, flaky layers in a perfect croissant. The fat in butter can also extend the shelf life of your baked goods.

Butteriness: A good croissant is rich in butter, which not only contributes to its flavor but also helps create those distinct layers. The butter melts during baking, leaving behind air pockets that result in the pastry's airy texture.