How To Make Croissants. [and lose your mind while doing it]
Please say yes, because you will be rewarded with this.
This was a… project. To say the least.
I have been dying to try homemade croissants for ages, but after mention of them when I made almond joy scones, I could hardly wait.
I have a very nostalgic reason for loving croissants: since I was young, each summer my grandma would always pick up a croissant from the Bread Box Bakery in Boyne City. It was such a treat and we ate them plain – simple, delicious and buttery. No eggs, no jam, nothing to take away from their fabulous flavor. Croissants always make me think of her.
But I also have a superficial reason for loving croissants: It’s Complicated. I wish I could live inside that movie. I’m in love with Steve Martin, I want to own Meryl Streep’s bakery and Alec Baldwin has some super weird sex appeal that creeps me out and makes me crazy about him at the same time. It is not a stretch to say I’ve probably seen the movie 100 times. I’m easily entertained.
Too bad they don’t mention that it takes like 14 hours to really make croissants. I wish I was joking… but I’m not. I was able to narrow down the recipe I made to about 10 hours, but only because I’m wildly impatient and was sick of pacing back and forth in my kitchen all day. Not to mention… there was flour EVERYWHERE.
I’m not about to tell you “oh! croissants are SO easy! you can totally do it!” because seriously… they are not. However, I think it is similar to roasting a chicken – the first time sucks the life out of you but it gets easier and more enjoyable time after time after time. At least that’s what I’m hoping. Plus, the end result is totally worth it and you know I’m not just saying that. I have never had a croissant so fresh that I burnt my tongue on it… until now.
Oh… and I made four flavors of croissants: traditional, chocolate, cinnamon sugar and pumpkin spice. Hop on for the ride. Yes, I’m insane.
Easy enough… it all starts with some yeast and flour.
I know you have all of the ingredients in your kitchen, which means you should probably start right now.
The dough feels a bit sticky after mixing at this point, but remove it from the bowl anyway and knead it with some flour. I love that feeling on my hands.
Form the dough into a soft, little pillow-like lump and then wrap it in plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge for about an hour. Start being impatient now.
After the hour is up, you can start beating the crap out of this butter. I had no clue this was how croissants were made, and up until now was completely naive on why croissants are packed with calories. I thought, “umm… isn’t is just all flour and like, pastry stuff?”
No. Apparently not.
All of this butter goes into the croissants. I.freaking.love.it. Don’t you even try to reduce the amount. I mean… these are CROISSANTS.
Using a rolling pin and cold, but not hard-as-a-rock butter, you press it in between two sheets of plastic wrap (or towels – the recipe called for towels, but uh… mine weren’t clean) and mash it into a square. Then use a dirty tape measure from the garage to make sure it’s a rectangle. <– dirty tape measure optional. [P.S. for someone who loathes following a recipe, making these croissants and actually measuring them our to a T was a challenge… pretty sure I have multiple personalities considering I fought with myself about four different times.]
After rolling out the refrigerated dough, you place the butter slab in the middle, like the bottom right photo above.
Then you fold it up like a letter. Top comes down, bottom comes up. This amused me. Mainly because I was starting to lose it and was only two hours in.
Using a rolling pin and having the short end of the new dough rectangle face you, press down with the pin to help roll out the dough.
You roll it out to a super skinny rectangle, fold it like a letter again, then stick it in the fridge. This is considered the first fold.
You have to do FOUR FOLDS. With 1-2 hours of refrigeration in between. Totally doable, but not when you want to do it all in natural daylight to photograph for your invisible internet friends. My recommendation would be to make the dough and do the four folds in the late afternoon/evening, refrigerate overnight then wake up and make the actual croissants.
You have to do this for someone realllllly important. Like yourself.
Sidebar: I should mention that I could totally be doing this wrong, and if you’re a pastry chef you most likely are cringing right now. But… it worked.
This is what my dough looked like after four folds and refrigeration, right before I rolled it out for the last time. See all those little butter crumbles in the dough? Yeah. I’m pretty sure it’s not supposed to be like that at all. I was nervous and almost threw in the towel, but I had come so far. Moral of the story: if this happens to your dough, continue anyway.
I rolled the dough into a final skinny rectangle, then sliced triangles with a pizza cutter.
Then it’s time to cut a little slit in the straight end, and roll that baby up. It reminded me of… an elephant. My rolling skills clearly are lacking.
After rolling, brush the croissants with a little beaten egg wash, and into the oven they go.
Man… I was so nervous. I thought for sure they were not going to turn out.
Before we get to the finish line, here are the rest of the flavors.
I stuffed the traditional croissants with a chunk of chocolate, other traditional ones with a pumpkin spice cream + a good roll of pumpkin spice sugar, and the final in layers and layers of cinnamon sugar.
I almost cried when these were in my oven. They smelled so amazingly good. The minute they came out, I tore into one and was stunned by the layers and layers of flakes, as I was sure I had done something wrong in the process. Maybe these are a bit foolproof?
I could have cared less about plating. Who cares about flakey crumbs? Not I.
While photographing, I ended up eating another whole one + a few bites to taste test the others. Within minutes, I was feeling not so hot. I packed them up and drove them over to my mom, because she and my dad also love croissants. I knew this was a better choice than eating croissants for every meal the next four days.
But that didn’t work.
Because the day after, I drove over to their house solely to eat one.
Then the next day, I drove over again. I ate the last one since they plowed through them pretty quickly. The bane of my existence is stale pastries, but these were still pretty delicious on day 3. The trauma is wearing off, so hopefully it won’t take me 10 years to make another batch.
Croissants
[dough from epicurious, method from cooks.com]
makes about 20-24 croissants, depending on triangle size
1 1/2 cups warm whole milk (about 105 degrees F)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoons + 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
3 3/4 – 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) cold, unsalted butter
1 egg + 1 teaspoon whole milk, beaten for brushing
1. To make dough, combined milk, sugar and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer attached with a dough hook, and let sit until foamy – about 5-10 minutes. If it doesn’t foam, start over. Once foamy, add 3 3/4 cups flour and the salt, and mix on low speed until dough comes together and is soft, about 7 minutes. Transfer dough to your workspace and knead by hand for a minute or 2, using more flour to make it silky and not sticky. Form dough into a 1 1/2 inch thick rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for one hour.
2. Once dough has chilled, set butter sticks next to each other with their sides touching. Pound it down with a rolling pin to soften it a bit, then set it between two towels or two sheets of plastic wrap. I found this to be the most challenging part. Using the rolling pin, continue to press down on it with the rolling pin and roll. I also used my hands to press it down and form it into 8 x 5 inch rectangle. Once done, wrap in plastic wrap and chill while rolling dough.
3. Remove dough from plastic wrap and sit on a lightly floured surface. Using your hands, stretch the dough (especially the corners) into the 16 x 10 inch rectangle. I was wary of this but it actually works pretty easily – just be sure to measure! Place dough with a short end near you. Set butter slab in the middle of the dough, then fold the ends up like a letter: top half down and bottom half up. Turn dough again so the short side is facing you, and use the rolling pin to press down equally on the dough to help flatten it. Roll dough into a 15 x 10 inch rectangle, rolling out to the ends but not actually over the ends. Again, fold the dough like a letter: top have down and bottom half up, and stretch so the corners are square. This should form a 10 x 5 inch rectangle (roughly). Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for one hour.
4. Repeat step 3 THREE more times, for a total of four folds, chilling the dough for one hour after each fold. After the fourth and final fold, wrap dough tightly with plastic wrap and chill for 8-12 hours, no longer. I chilled mine for 6 and it was fine.
5. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. When dough is ready, roll out to a very long and skinny rectangle, about 20 x 32. (If your counter is small, you can break the dough in half and do this in 2 sections). Using a pizza slicer (or sharp knife) cut the dough into triangles. Cut a small vertical slit right into the middle of the straight end, and using both hands, roll croissant up pushing the sides out to either side. Place on a baking sheet about 2-3 inches apart, cover with a towel and set in a warm place to rice for 1-2 hours. I did not see a great change, but they rose a bit. Brush with beaten egg then, bake for 12-14 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool before removing from baking sheet.
For chocolate croissants: in step 5, place a 1/2 – 1 ounce of chocolate in the middle of the dough before rolling up.
For cinnamon sugar croissants: you have two options. If you’d like every croissant to be cinnamon sugar, layer each fold of dough with a cinnamon sugar mixture (about 2 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon). If you just want to make a few cinnamon sugar croissants, completely coat the triangle in cinnamon sugar before rolling up. Brush with beaten egg, then coat with cinnamon sugar again. Be sure to use a non-stick baking sheet, as sugar will caramelize a bit and croissants may stick. Make sure they cool completely before trying to remove.
For pumpkin spice croissants: in step 5, drop 1-2 teaspoons of pumpkin spice cream into the middle of the dough before rolling. For cream, combine 1 part cream cheese with 1/2 part pureed pumpkin, 1/2 part sugar, and a heavy sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice. Either layer each fold or roll each triangle through a pumpkin spice sugar mixture (2 parts sugar to 1 part pumpkin pie spice), then brush with beaten egg and coat with pumpkin spice sugar. Be sure to use a non-stick baking sheet, as sugar will caramelize a bit and croissants may stick. Make sure they cool completely before trying to remove.
[Note: these additional flavors can definitely be decorated in cuter ways, I was just totally done at this point. ]
Whew. That was intense.
302 Comments on “How To Make Croissants. [and lose your mind while doing it]”
I am so impressed, if you were standing in front of me I’d probably bow to you. and then stand back up and ask for a croissant. lol.
I wanted to make them at one time but not as much as I do brioche…I’m gonna try that someday..when I have no idea. hopefully before I need my walker and wheel chair.
Congrats.
I made croissants a while back, and GOODNESS, it is tough. Very time consuming and a lot of “crap, this doesn’t look right”… but it ends up being SO. WORTH IT.
It may take some time, but look at the zillion flaky layers you have! These are fantastic! Croissants are on my life-time-list-of-things-to-make, too! One day….one day…..
I cannot BELIEVE what the end result looks like. I am so freaking impressed right now!!! The other flavors were pretty much exactly what I would have chosen. You probably want to make these next week…don’t ya!? ;)
I love you, but not that much. ;)
I never do good with anything related to a rolling pin. Hell, I use my bread machine for bread because I get so frustrated kneading dough. I think my problem is I just don’t understand it enough. Or maybe lack of patience? Either way, I’m TOTALLY tackling these! I don’t like Croissants but I know my husband does… and I have to wonder if maybe I’d like them fresh like this?
On a completely different side note, I’d like to thank you for all of your wonderful recipes. The chicken with mushroom sauce and herb butter bread has become a staple in my family. I need to lose some weight so I’ve been watching calories and your meals, at least the ones I have been making, are so low in calories and yet so freaking delicious. So thank you so very much. You provide amazing food, memories for my daughter and I (we are in love with the red velvet chocolate chip cookies), and a good laugh whenever I read your stories. So thank you so very, very much!!
Those look so delicious! Meryl Streep and Steve Martin def make croissant making look way too easy!!!! I love it’s complicated… I actually recently posted about my love for it :)
I wish I could make these… They look so good!!! Le sigh!
You deserve a round of applause, and those look like they turned out great. Can you imagine a botched oven time after all that work?
You are so brave to tackle making croissants at home! I put croissants in the same category with puff pastry- you can make it yourself but why? So much work…too little time. I’m sure they were delicious, though! :-)
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I love this post, because I also LOVE It’s Complicated. I actually watched it last night for like the 10th time; did you know it is on HBO right now? When I saw that movie, I was like, I need that bakery and I need to move to California so I can have that garden. Meryl really makes it look very easy to make Chocolate Croissants. I am impressed with how much work you put in.
I was in South Beach this past August and went to Paul (http://www.paulusa.com/) every morning (and most afternoons) for a coffee and chocolate croissant. They were the best I have ever had!! And the 100 degree South Beach in August weather (I was at a conference, I would never recommend going at that time of year by choice) made the chocolate all melty and sooo good. I cannot wait to give these a shot, although I am not sure when I will have the spare 14 hours.
I also meant to tell you, I saw your post about Habitat. My husband and I went to Spoon a couple weeks ago and had a delicious meal. I am not sure if you have been there or not, but I would definitely recommend it.
We have been to Spoon! Love it. :)
This looks amazing. Chocolate croissants are one of my biggest weaknesses. I am going to have to give this a try.
There ought to be a law against posting anything that looks that delicious!
These look amazing… I love making homemade croissants!
You are a brave, brave woman. No way in hell I’d make my own croissants. That’s what bakeries are for!
wow! 10 hour marathon baking session, and thankfully you were amply rewarded for the effort. Last photo of all those gorgeous layers is an impressive sight to behold.Definite food porn. I totally would’ve been hunting down and munching those last few croissants myself too, if I had been crazy enough to give them away (what were you thinking?!). Gives you new respect for the bakers toiling away in our favorite pastry shops, doesn’t it?
Those crumbles of butter are what makes a croisant so flaky. Without them it would be like any other pastry.
Nicely done! I’m a pastry chef at a popular bakery. I make croissants all day, and would never even dream of tackling this project at home. BRAVO!
That makes me feel great – thanks Betty! :)
I made croissants about 8 years ago and I don’t know if I will ever do it again. They were awesome. But I agree, phew! There was so much butter and I was using flat sheet pans and some of the butter melted and ran off the sheets and burned in the bottom of the oven. It was a huge mess. They were good though. Boyne City, MI? My husband is from there. :)
Holy shit. You are impressive.
After I read this post I contemplated making croissants this weekend for about .4 seconds and then came to the conclusion that I would most likely cry into the dough due to all the stress from such a long baking process and therefore ruin the creation. However, I will be buying a croissant this weekend. So thanks for that little idea!
I just made croissants for the first time and I agree that it is quite the process. I was sure I did something wrong too, but they were amazingly good. I love all the different flavors you made…I’ll have to try that next time. I was cracking up that you drove to your parent’s house just to eat one. I had to give mine away too!
I tip my hat to you; I’m pretty good with baking, but anytime yeast comes into play, I end up with some weird tasting, questionable bread products. Puff pastry, particularly, has always terrified me. Seeing you struggle, (and succeed!) with them has given me courage to try it out, too! Thank you! <3
I don’t have a stand mixer. Think it is doable in a food processor with the dough blade?
I would think so but am honestly not sure as my food processor doesn’t have a dough hook and I’m unfamiliar with it.
I have been wanting to make these but I don’t know that I have the patience for it….
Wow! I’ve made croissants in culinary school and in restaurants but I’ve never attempted them at home (although maybe you’ll inspire me to do so)!
Good job!!
Also, my eyes got to the picture under it before I actually read this sentence: “Sidebar: I should mention that I could totally be doing this wrong, and if you’re a pastry chef you most likely are cringing right now.” and I was indeed cringing. Ha! They turned out beautifully though!
dude, that looked intense! lol. i would never have mustered up the courage to make croissants. and that to with 3 sticks of butter.. but i sure do love them. :-) it’s different when you don’t know the amount of fat there is in something, vs when you do know. i love how you kept driving to your mom’s to get more and more croissants. too funny! great job!
Very cool!
So I took up the gauntlet and made the croissants, they are fantastic! I must admit that I burned the holy terror out of the first batch but I ate them anyway. Now I too must find people to give them to, in the past 10 minutes I have eaten 5! But I made them small, that makes it okay, right?
So glad you made them!! Go you!
Amazing. I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time; with three boys and hubby it’s very hard to time something like this :) I just have to tho. Yours look sooooo good; I want to eat a picture :) btw, the butter chunks you saw in the dough, that’s what makes it so flaky. It was exactly as it should be. If you had pea-size bits of butter, you wouldn’t have had such flaky dough. Congrats!!!
I have been wanting to try my hand at croissants for a while now. Thank you for the tempting nudge and the heads up on loosing my cookies during the process {giggle} xoxo
Ohmygosh, their beautiful!!! Amazing job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And to anybody whos nervous about making croissants, dont be. the dough is kinda really foolproof. I make 5 batches weekly to sell at a farmers market… And mess it up every time. and I’m 14. childs play, right? :D Mine never turn out as pretty as these though…maybe its the recipe? gonna try this one :D tytyttyty
This is a wonderful first attempt! Congratulations! I noticed in one of your photos that your butter block broke. When making croissants or any laminated doughs it is important that the butter and dough always stay the same texture. When you lock in the butter with the dough make sure they are the same, if the butter or dough arn’t wait!!!! Put the dough in the fridge if its warm/ softer than the butter and visa versa.
Once you have locked in during the resting period between folds keep moving your dough in and out of the fridge so the butter and dough stay the same texture. I know this can be a pain but having the most wonderful flaky pastry is worth it. If you let the butter break then your layers when baked will not be as nice.
If this seems like too much work your can repeat your results in a much easier way, look up the blitz method. It is similar to laminating pie dough, with chunks of butter mixed into your dough instead of a block that could break.
Also dont forget that this is a yeasted bread! You know how once you shape your rolls just before baking you let them proof at room temperature? You should try doing this to your croissants too just make sure to keep the rolls lightly coverd in plastic wrap so they dont dry out.
Your croissants look great! Just try these tips to take your croissants from home made to professional quality.
Making croissants take a good saturday afternoon, once they are shaped refridgerate the dough on the trays your plan on baking them and you can pull them out to proof sunday morning for a breakfast your family wont forget.
Congratulations! I found your blog through tasting table, i look forward to trying your croissant recipie i never thought of rolling spices in!
Omigosh, Jessica! I also love It’s Complicated and find Alec Baldwin strangely alluring. As for the chocolate croissant scene, I think that ranks in the top three moments of the entire movie for me, all of which involve food, I’m pretty sure. PS – your croissants look amazing!
I am ashamed to say, that I am stuck on the first instruction.
My milk-sugar-yeast WILL NOT FOAM.
What am I doing wrong?
Of course, I’m in Germany right now for my junior year abroad, and they are lacking in packed brown sugar, cups, and Fahrenheit. Therefore I had to construct a maple syrup/ white sugar mixture for the packed brown sugar, translate everything to grams, and use my finger as a temperature tester. So maybe somewhere along the line I messed up?
How long does one knead with bread hook? What should it look like after being mixed?
Please answer! My life is in your hands. For obviously, if I do not eat a homemade croissant in the next 24 hours, I will surely perish.
Thanks!!
hmm I am not a yeast expert but let’s try to figure this out… is your water warm enough? is your yeast old?
These look incredible. My dad used to bring home frozen croissants from the grocery store my family owned. My mom would leave them on the counter to defrost/rise overnight, then put them in the oven in the morning for Sunday breakfast. Maybe you could do that with these – pop them in the freezer after Step 4? It would make the marathon assembly process worth it to be able to have fresh croissants just a defrost away whenever you wanted them (instead of trying to eat them all before they go stale).
I figured it out (: I was beating the yeast prior to letting it foam. Somehow, I understood the “with a dough hook attached” to mean “beat the crap out of that yeast and milk.” But thank you, the dough is rising properly now, and I only have one fold left!! Croissants for breakfast tomorrow (:
Great!
I love croissants but have never, ever thought about trying to make them – you have inspired me to try them on the next free afternoon I have. Thanks for the recipe and the great story :)
I am so glad you posted this! I’ve been craving homemade croissants for a week now and was too scared after seeing the recipe on Epi but, thanks to your “how-to” pictures, I’m now half-way through making these. On a VERY related note I’m pretty sure tomorrow is going to be the best Monday morning ever!
I made these croissants last night and this morning, and they were delicious! This is my first time commenting, but I love your blog, this recipe was great! My arms and hands are sore though, I had no idea how much of a workout using a rolling pin could be. Thanks for the easy to understand steps, I’ve always wanted to make croissants before but always thought the recipes were way too confusing. If I (a 22 year old college student with no kitchen training) could make these, anyone can :)
Great job! So glad they were worth it.
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Wonderful post. I’m trying to decide how crazy I’m feeling right now. Hmmmmm…
Yummmm – looks delicious.
This looks amazing, I can’t wait to try it!
You are better than me…my patience is so slim for bread, rolls and any pastry. It is such a process….but your’s turned out lovely! Good job:)
I StumbledUpon your site and this page. Holy smokes – these look AMAZING, and I really enjoy the way you right – I was laughing and yet totally feeling the anguish with you. I can taste that hot melted butter in a super warm croissant now. Lovely tutorial!
Jees – maybe I could not write a post half asleep and write “write” instead of “right”. <— Lame points for Heather.
Yesterday when I read this post I felt like you were in my head!! I was just thinking about tackling croissants for the first time. I did it!! Just took em out of the oven and I am extremely happy with them, they even made me happy for the first time since my husband has gone out of town. Because now I don’t have to share them with him! Can’t wait to do another batch.
Hello.
I wanted to recreate the awesomeness, but yes, things never go as expected. First I thaugt I need to separate the butter in 4 equal pieces, incorporating the butter in every fold.
Reading again, I found out this was not the case.
Second thing is that I folded the same way every fold, and now the butter goes through the dough. Is this a problem?
Wow! These really do look amazing! I wonder how good a dollop of Nutella would be in one of these, maybe with a drizzle of dark chocolate whiskered across the tan tops after baking. Mmm, I know what I am doing on my next day off. Thanks for the inspiring post. I hope these are as fool proof as you made them look!
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe! I spent all day making them, and they were so worth it! Absolutely delicious.
Hi,
Inspiring! Wondering how long the dough will keep. 20-24 croissants is a lot. Could I make batches of 6 and freeze or refrigerate?
My mouth is watering, seriously! I have 6 weeks off before I start graduate school and I just added making croissants to my list of things I want to do before going back to school! Thank you!