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]”
Ok I love croissants and I had no idea so much butter was involved — but that explains why they taste so damn good.
An alphabetical response:
A) The blow-by-blow photos on this post are amazing. Seriously. I was sitting here at my desk gawking in a very unattractive way.
B) I think the commentary on said freaking gorgeous photos takes the cake (in keeping with the pastry theme). I was totally picturing you covered from head to toe in flour, yelling at the rolled-up dough. Hiiii-larious.
C) Thank you for enduring this for us, your invisible internet friends. Although you got to eat a bunch of croissants, so I’m not that sorry for you. :-P
That LOOKS intense. Croissants are one of those things that I’ve always wanted to try to make at home but have always felt like it would be far too overwhelming a process. Your process pictures alone tell me that this is a true story. Haha.
They look INCREDIBLE though! I definitely WOULD have cried if I saw those baking up like that. They’re perfect!
Gangster. Like, really. I hope you were really proud of yourself! I don’t think I would ever make these, but if I did, I’d strut around with a smug look on my face for days after…weeks, even!
I am not sure if this post inspired me or just scratched croissants off my list forever. Lol. It does sound like ‘a labor of love’ and all that but wow – 10 hours…. I am not sure I am ready for that – even if my finished product is as good as yours.
Wow what a feat. I’m excited that you made it through the whole thing. They look incredible, I can’t even pick which kind looks best. Plus I totally watched It’s Complicated last night and fast forwarded to that exact croissant making scene (food movie nerd alert). And seriously why is Alec Baldwin strangely attractive in this movie?
I know. Why?!
It’s the eyes, ladies. Damn them and their electric brightness!! The eyes, and the way his hair falls across his forehead like a little boy, and then that smile! He will be sexy til he dies, I’m afraid.
And OMG. BUTTAH. *headdesk*
ok, I was in love with croissants before, but now I am even more!!! I dream now of the cinnamon sugar one, looks delicious, and I totally love them plain, maybe with a cup of caramel capuccino! :)
I totally believe you but you definitely make croissant-making look like a breeze. Love the pumpkin filling!! These are truly gorgeous!
Ok, I want a croissant, like now! They look a-ma-zing! Not sure I would have a patience for it… but now I see it can be done, maybe… if I’m snowed in this winter, with 3 sticks of butter and some flour, I’ll do it :-)
Wow—these look like they’re from a bakery!! Not sure if I would tackle this (yeast still frightens me) but you did a fantastic job! Kudos to you!!
I’ve been wanting to try making croissants too! I worked at a classic french bakery (in Maine) for the past year and got to see some superb croissant-making going on there. Your pastries came out great! THe pumpkin one sounds amazing.
At first I wasn’t convinced, but now I know for sure…..You’re a genius!
Chocolate in a croissant….!
I am salivating at my computer now! I must add these to my try list.
How did you know I was looking up croissant recipes last night? None as honest as the impending insanity you describe so I will leave you the hero for this one and pick up some pain au chocolates from the local patissiere downtown! I already have no patience, this might drive me over into a different category! hee hee
Okay, I feel like you’ve crossed over into a new level of baking here. Don’t they give ribbons to people who actually MAKE croissants? They should…they definitely should.
I love It’s Complicated – even more so because I was living in Montecito (where the movie was set, and part of it filmed) until a few months ago. Between this post and your wine country adventure, you have managed to make me very home sick. Overall, we’re really loving Pittsburgh, although I am beyond frustrated with the wine selection.
Another giant step in Jessica’s kitchen. Don’t you love it though? You can conquer anything now! Way to go. Croissant making SEEMS very intimidating. Now I want to be in Paris. Thanks. Thanks alot. I guess I will have to enjoy my pumpkin spice latte W/O a croissant. :D
God bless you for this recipe! What a complicated science project of a baking effort! But look at what it yielded?! Pure beauty in pastry form.
I watched the Julia Child video on YouTube yesterday. I thought it looked pretty easy but VERY time consuming to make one batch of regular but you made variety. You are an adventurous woman! They turned out lovely. You must have been so excited. The photos look great. All those layers. I can almost hear the flaking and crispness of the warm croissants as you pulled them apart to butter and then eat them. Oh dear. I might not be able to wait until the weekend to make these.
I was just looking at a croissant recipe this morning. I keep putting it off but I know I want to make them. They look delicious. I will have to give it a try one day when I’m feeling adventurous.
seriously? wow.. I should make these.. or maybe you should just make them for me… yeah that would be a beautiful thing.
You are my hero. I had the best croissants ever when I was in Spain with my Nana, and it almost makes me want to tackle these. But I think I’m too lazy and impatient, so now I want to go back to Spain for one.
Amazing girl, you did it! And they look fantastic, your directions are great, and the pictures really help it all make sense, thank you, thank you! I guess now all those many months of dreaming of Pain au Chocolate will come to an end. I’m going to try to make them, thanks to you, Hugs!
Jacque Torres (I think) once said that he’s been making croissants for his whole career and STILL feels like he’s yet to master them. Every time he makes them he learns something new about the process. But yours look amazing! Your butter shattered (the butter crumbles you mention) because it was too cold when you were doing your turns. You can either leave the dough out for a few minutes to come closer to room temperature before rolling, or try conditioning it with your rolling pin by pressing down gently like you did for your very first turn.
And you know that magical stuff that is puff pastry? Well, it uses almost the exact same technique (with the butter and the folding and the oy). If you can tackle croissants, you could definitely give homemade puff pastry a shot!
Shadoobi. Shattered. Shattered. Okay, sorry. I couldn’t resist! Do you think the butter needs to be room temp, or just closer to room temp? Because I am totally going to give this a shot.
Just closer to room temp. You still want it to be cold. I would leave it out for just a few minutes and then use your rolling pin to just press firmly (but still gently!) down on the dough before rolling it out. Hope this helps!
This is IMPRESSIVE. You’ve inspired me to consider making these…someday.
These look delish, Jessica. I love that movie for the same exact reason. Every time I watch it, I fantasize about owning my own gluten free bakery. Maybe someday…
I <3 that movie!!! These look amazing – you rock on girl!!!!
I am SO impressed with you right now. I have looked at croissant recipes so many times, but have never taken the plunge. Plus I’m afraid I would eat the entire batch as croissants are possibly my favorite food on earth. Yours look perfect. Seriously. I’m writing from Paris so I know what I’m talking about. And I see that you really don’t need me to send you croissants after all…how about some chocolate?
Oh I’ll still take croissants from Paris… ;)
I’m incredibly impressed with your determination on these! I would love to spend the entire day making crossaints. It’s pretty damn cool you can say you made these from scratch. ;)
Goodness, I feel like you should win some sort of award for making homemade croissants. I thought only women in the French countryside who drink wine at 11am were brave enough to try their hand at these badboys from scratch. YUM!
Ha, well I still wish I was one of those women. :)
Nope, I won’t be trying to make homemade croissants anytime soon, but I think you are amazing for doing it! Those bad boys look seriously good.
I remember when I learned that croissants were essentially equal parts butter and dough layered and rolled up. At first I was horrified, then I realized it’s what made me love them even more. Making croissants at home has been on my list of things to try ever since then. Actually, I made it one of my goals for 2011 to make these and bagels at home. Good to know I’ll now have to clear an entire weekend to do it ;)
I’ll take the whole batch for breakfast, please! They look absolutely lovely. Great job, Jessica!
Okay, once I run my marathon in October, croissant making is what will replace my long runs. Can’t come soon enough!!!
These look incredible! And, the process reminds me of making puff pastry. I’ll have to give these a try!
Wow…congrats Jess! I worked for a french hotel company for a number of years so I know how much work goes into these. My favorite thing to do was take butter croissannts and dip them in Hollandaise sauce! Needless to say, I gained some poundage working there but nothing can compare to those croissants (except maybe freshly baked boule or baguettes!
The french do their chocolate and filled croissants in a rectangular fold instead of the regular fold….probably to keep the filling from spilling out (thus more filling!).
Thanks Mimi! I wondered how the heck to get more chocolate in there.
I just wanna roll around in ’em! Honestly this is so brilliant, I am THRILLED to see all the pictures, and you have inspired me. My daughter’s 15, loves croissants, and needs to learn to cook. We are totally gonna try this over the weekend.
Now THAT is a labor of love!!!! I don’t know if I have the patience to try these, but I really want to! These pictures are making my mouth water :)
BRAVO!!!
You are a brave woman. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more beautiful croissant!
WOW, intense and delicious! They look amazingly good! Any thoughts on how to make these whole wheat? I would really like to try these, but am limited by diet to wheat (not white). Any suggestions would be most welcome!
I really do not think they would work with whole wheat just because it is so dry and gritty. However, I haven’t tried it and am not familiar with flours/baking at all really… you could always search and see what you come up with. :)
Ok, so I never comment on blogs but I have to say, the first time I saw that scene of the bakery I fell in love. I am by no means a pastry chef and my actual occupation is completely unrelated, but I love love love to bake and my dream would be to live in that bakery! I want one now. And I want a croissant. I think my project for the day will be croissant making, I can’t wait :)
Thanks Lisa! And thanks for commenting!
I’ve been wanting to make croissants too….except now I have fair warning that I will go insane. Thanks for the heads up!
these are amazing!
Um, these are amazing as is your photography! When I try to photograph the “steps” of my cooking, not only are the photos a disaster, but I get flour all over the camera. I could use a few lessons from you :)
Definitely going to try to make these chocolate ones. Yum. And making your meatball sliders this weekend too! You are so great.
Wow, thanks Maya! I definitely think these photos stink, but I’m glad you are liking them. :)
Your pastries look amazing and I totally respect your patience and talent. Thankfully Williams Sonoma sells them for people like me! Ha! They are shipped frozen, thaw/rise overnight and bake in the morning. They are simple and totally delicious. But I imagine yours are even better! Thanks for sharing.
I didn’t know that – gotta try them sometime!
I have been wanting to make my own croissants for a while but have been waiting for a time when I have a whole day to contribute to it – I’m still waiting. Glad you were able to get out of it alive and with delicious croissants!
holy. schmoly. you are awesome! i would love to make homemade croissants…but then i end up just buying those dang chocolate ones from traders joes. which are fabulous.
and i love love it’s complicated. i think i could watch it everyday!
I’ve never bought them from TJs! Now I must.
I love that you made croissants. I tried a couple of months ago, and they totally worked…. except that the house I was doing it in was about 75F, so while I was letting the croissants proof after being croissant-shaped the butter started melting out… the kitchen there is just too warm (I frequently have buttercreams nearly melt on me) but its not my house so I can’t do anything about it until I move this weekend… Your croissants look amazing, so I think I’ll give it another try! And also, OMG Pumpking + Creamcheese = you are amazing.
I know this is total sacrelige (sacrelidge? wtf?), but I am TOTALLY trying these with Earth Balance. Do you think you could make these without a stand mixer? I haven’t yet reached the point of maturity in life where I actually own a dough hook :(
GORGEOUS photos, by the way!
I honestly am not sure… you have to knead it for at least 7 minutes so if you can thoroughly do that by hand, go for it!
I love that movie, and I love croissants! You rolled these suckers out right on your counter top, right? I’m trying to feel better about not owning a pastry board.