Buttery, flaky, and utterly delicious, these homemade croissants are well worth the effort. Given some time & patience, you'll have a yummy breakfast pastry!Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction
Course Side Dish
Cuisine French
Keyword 18th Century Baking, Bread, Croissants, Paris, Yeast Bread
Prep Time 1 hourhour30 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Resting Time 10 hourshours10 minutesminutes
Total Time 12 hourshours
Servings 16croissants
Calories 300kcal
Author Tammy Spencer
Equipment
two half sheet baking pans
Silpat silicone mat or parchment paper
stand mixer fitted with dough hook or hand mixer
stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment
rolling pin
Ingredients
Dough
¼cupunsalted buttersoftened to room temperature (4 Tbsp, 60g)
4cupsall-purpose flourplus more for rolling/shaping (17½ oz, 500g)
¼cupgranulated sugar(3½ oz, 50g)
2tspkosher salt
1Tbspactive dry or instant yeast
1½cupsmilkcold (12 oz, 340g)
Butter Layer
1½cupsunsalted buttersoftened to room temperature (12 oz, 345g)
2Tbspall-purpose flour(½ oz, 16g)
Egg Wash
1large egg
2Tbspmilk(1 oz, 30g)
Instructions
Read the recipe before beginning. Make room in the refrigerator for a half sheet baking pan. In step 6 and again in step 13, you will need room for 2 baking pans.
Make the dough: Cut the butter in four 1 Tbsp pieces and place in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment or bowl for a hand mixer. Add the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Turn the mixer on low-medium speed to gently combine the ingredients for 1 minute. With the mixer running, slowly pour in the milk. Once all of the milk is added, turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and beat the dough for at least 5 full minutes. (If you don’t have a mixer, knead by hand for 5 minutes.) The dough will be soft, and will (mostly) pull away from the sides of the bowl. If you poke it with your finger, it will bounce back. If after 5 minutes the dough is too sticky, keep the mixer running until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl. You really want to develop the gluten structure in the dough.
Remove the dough from the bowl and, with floured hands, work it into a ball. Place the dough on a lightly floured Silpat silicone mat or lightly floured baking pan. Gently flatten the dough out and cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Place the entire baking pan in the refrigerator and allow the covered dough to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Shape the dough: Remove the dough from the refrigerator. You can roll it out directly on the Silpat...you’re rolling it out into a rectangle in this step, so shaping it with your hands first helps the stretchy dough (it'll be soft). Begin flattening out the dough with your hands. the roll it into a 14- x 10-inch rectangle (be precise with your measurements) -- the dough will want to be oval shaped, but keep working the edges with your hands and rolling pin until you have the correct size rectangle.
Long rest: Place the rolled out dough back onto the baking pan (you can easily transfer the dough using the Silpat or parchment paper). Cover the rolled out dough with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, place the entire baking pan in the refrigerator and allow the covered dough to rest in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight (even up to 24 hours is fine).
Make the Butter layer: Begin this step 35 minutes before the next step so the butter can chill for 30 minutes. In a large bowl using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment or hand mixer, beat the butter and flour together until smooth and combined. Transfer the mixture to a baking sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper (a Silpat is preferred because you can easily peel the butter off in the next step). Using a spoon or small spatula, smooth out the butter into a 7- x 10-inch rectangle. As before, be as precise as you can with this measurement. Place the entire baking sheet in the refrigerator and chill the butter layer for 30 minutes. There's no need to cover it...you want the butter layer firm, but still pliable. If it gets too firm, let it sit out on the counter for a few minutes to gently soften. The more firm the butter layer is the more difficult it will be to laminate the dough in the next step.
Laminate the dough: In this step, you will roll out the dough into a large rectangle. Do this on a lightly floured counter instead of rolling it out on your Silpat. The counter is typically a little cooler (great for keeping the dough cold) and the Silpat is smaller than the measurement you need. Remove both the dough and butter layers from the refrigerator. Place the butter layer in the center of the dough and fold each end of the dough over it. If the butter wasn’t an exact 7- x 10-inch rectangle, use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to even out the edges. Seal the dough edges over the butter layer as best you can with your fingers. On a lightly floured counter, roll the dough into a 10- x 20-inch rectangle. It’s best to roll back and forth with the shorter end of the dough facing you. Use your fingers if you need to. The dough is very cold, so it will take a lot of arm muscle to roll. Again, the dough will want to be oval shaped, but keep working it with your hands and rolling pin until you have the correct size rectangle. Fold the dough lengthwise into thirds as if you were folding a letter. This is the 1st turn.
If the dough is now too warm to work with, place folded dough on the baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, and refrigerate for 30 minutes before the 2nd turn (although you may not need to).
2nd turn: Turn the dough so the short end is facing you. Roll the dough out once again into a 10- x 20-inch rectangle, then fold the dough lengthwise into thirds as if you were folding a letter. The dough must be refrigerated between the 2nd and 3rd turn because it has been worked with a lot by this point. Place the folded dough on the baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, and refrigerate for 30 minutes before the 3rd turn.
3rd turn: Roll the dough out once again into a 10- x 20-inch rectangle. Fold the dough lengthwise into thirds as if you were folding a letter.
Long rest: Place the folded dough on the lined baking pan, cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight (again up to 24 hours is fine).
At the end of the next step, you’ll need 2 baking pans lined with a Silpat or parchment paper. The dough is currently on a lined baking pans in the refrigerator, so you already have 1 prepared.
Shape the croissants: Remove the dough from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured counter, roll the dough out into an 8- x 20-inch rectangle. Once again, the dough is very cold, so it will take a lot of arm muscle to roll. The dough will want to be oval shaped, but keep working it with your hands and rolling pin until you have the correct size rectangle. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, slice the dough in half vertically. Each skinny rectangle will be 4-inches wide. Then cut 3 even slices horizontally, yielding 8 4- x 5-inch rectangles. Cut each rectangle diagonally to make 2 triangles. You have 16 triangles now. Work with one triangle at a time. Using your fingers or a rolling pin, stretch the triangle to be about 8-inches long. Do this gently as you do not want to flatten the layers. Cut a small slit at the wide end of the triangle, then tightly roll up into a crescent shape making sure the tip is underneath. Slightly bend the ends in towards each other. Repeat with remaining dough, placing the shaped croissants on 2 lined baking pans, 8 per sheet. Loosely cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and allow to rest at room temperature on the counter for 30 minutes, then place it in the refrigerator to rest for 1 to 3 hours...the shaped croissants should be cold going into the oven. When you poke the dough with your finger, it will slowly bounce back. That means they are ready to be baked.
Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
Whisk the egg wash ingredients together. Remove the croissants from the refrigerator. Brush each lightly with egg wash.
Bake until the croissants are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Rotate the pans halfway through baking. If croissants show signs of darkening too quickly, reduce the oven to 375°F (190°C).
Remove the croissants from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for a few minutes before serving. They will slightly deflate as they cool.
Croissants taste best the same day they’re baked. Cover any leftover croissants and store at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. You can also freeze for up to 3 months, then thaw on the counter or overnight in the refrigerator. Warm up to your liking.
Notes
Make ahead tip: Croissants are perfect for getting started ahead of time. The dough can rest for 4 hours or overnight in step 5 and again in step 11. You can also freeze the dough after the 3rd turn in the lamination process (after step 10). Instead of the 4 hour rest in the refrigerator in step 11, wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap or aluminum foil, place in a freezer zipped-top bag, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and continue with step 12.Make sure the dough is ALWAYS cold. If it warms up too much, stop what you’re doing and place the dough back in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.Lightly flour the work surface, your hands, the dough, and the rolling pin as you work.Are there air bubbles in your dough as you roll? That's ok. Pop them with your fingers or a toothpick, then lightly flour where you popped the air bubble.Do you want these croissants for brunch? I recommend starting the recipe the day before in the early afternoon. Complete steps 1-10, then let the laminated dough have a long rest in the refrigerator overnight (step 11). Begin step 13 2-3 hours before brunch.I could have used unsalted Kerrygold Irish butter (which would have been closer to what Magnus would have stocked in the pantry...remember the Great Butter Bake-off Battle?).I used 1 cup 1% milk and ½ cup of heavy cream instead of whole milk. Use whatever you have on hand, but the richer the milk, the richer the dough.Did you make this recipe? Please share your pictures with the world on your social media…tag @outlandercast (on Instagram and Twitter) and use the hashtag #howtheymadeitoutlander. I can’t wait to see your creations!