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Classic French croissant recipe

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It’s all about the layers…

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With this recipe we want to give you the exact directions on how we go about making classic French croissants. The recipe is an adaptation from the recipe for Classic Croissants by Jeffrey Hamelman. We started out largely following the instructions for his recipe, changed everything to our beloved metric system and found out some worthwhile croissant knowledge of our own along the way. Hopefully enough to justify sharing it all with you and inspiring you to give croissant baking a shot yourself.

Before you start we can recommend watching our croissant making video to get a general feel for the recipe. You can also check out our croissant making log where we keep track of our own croissant baking adventures. For answers to your croissant questions you can check out the Frequently Asked Croissant Questions section.

This recipe will yield about 15 good croissants plus some leftover bits which you can use to make a few, slightly odd shaped ones, or other inventive croissant-like creations.

If at first you don’t succeed, maybe you can take comfort from the fact that our first efforts were not very ‘croissant worthy’. But as you can see we persevered and got better…But we have to admit it is and always will be a tricky process. You have to work precise and be focused to get good results. So away with screaming children, hyperactive animals and all other things distracting! Put on some appropriate croissant making music and lets get to it…

Please read the following tips;

There is no way to hide little mistakes in your technique when making croissants. Do not expect to get perfect croissants the very first time you try our recipe, most people need to make them 3 to 4 times to get the general feeling for the process. There is no substitute for practice and experience. But best of all and most important, enjoy the process!
Please try this recipe exactly as written down at least 3 times before starting experimenting with spelt, freezing, retarding, margarine, timing, sourdough etc. If you can make a croissant resembling the ones you see in the pictures you are ready for the next step. Learn to walk before you try to run!
Every type / brand of flour and butter type also makes a difference. Try a few flours to find the one in your area which hits the balance between strength and flexibility. The same with butter, it needs to be pliable but not too soft. We use an organic butter with a low water content. A higher water content tends to make butter hard, which promotes tearing and breaking and ruins the layers. The butter we use has written on the package ‘at least 82%’ butterfat’.

According to Raymond Calvel croissants laminated with margarine are formed into the crescent shape, while croissants laminated with butter are left in the straight form. We say, use whichever shape you like best, but do use butter!

The croissant recipe

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Ingredients for the croissant dough

500 g French Type 55 flour or unbleached all-purpose flour / plain flour (extra for dusting)

140 g water

140 g whole milk (you can take it straight from the fridge)

55 g sugar

40 g soft unsalted butter

11 g instant yeast

12 g salt

Other ingredients

makes 15

280 g cold unsalted butter for laminating

1 egg + 1 tsp water for the egg wash

First time croissant baker? Choose a cold day with a room temperature below 20 ºC / 68 ºF . This way you will have more time for the whole process and less chance of your precious butter being absorbed by the dough. The key is to keep the butter solid between the layers of dough, this is what gives the croissant its flaky layers.

Day 1

Making the croissant dough
We usually do this part in the evening. Combine the dough ingredients and knead for 3 minutes, at low to medium speed, until the dough comes together and you’ve reached the stage of low to moderate gluten development. You do not want too much gluten development because you will struggle with the dough fighting back during laminating. Shape the dough like a disc, not a ball, before you refrigerate it, so it will be easier to roll it into a square shape the following day. Place the disc on a plate, cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge overnight.

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Day 2

Laminating the dough
Cut the cold butter (directly from the fridge) lengthwise into 1,25 cm thick slabs. Arrange the pieces of butter on waxed paper to form a square of about 15 cm x 15 cm. Cover the butter with another layer of waxed paper and with a rolling pin pound butter until it’s about 19 cm x 19 cm. Trim / straighten the edges of the butter and put the trimmings on top of the square. Now pound lightly until you have a final square of 17 cm x 17 cm. Wrap in paper and refrigerate the butter slab until needed.

Use just enough flour on your work surface to prevent the dough from sticking. However keep the amount to a minimum, otherwise too much flour will be incorporated between the layers and this will show in the end result.


Take the dough out of the fridge. With a rolling pin roll out the dough disc into a 26 cm x 26 cm square. Try to get the square as perfect as possible and with an even thickness. Get the slab of butter from the fridge. Place the dough square so one of the sides of the square is facing you and place the butter slab on it with a 45 degree angle to the dough so a point of the butter square is facing you. Fold a flap of dough over the butter, so the point of the dough reaches the center of the butter. Do the same with the three other flaps. The edges of the dough flaps should slightly overlap to fully enclose the butter. With the palm of your hand lightly press the edges to seal the seams.

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Now the dough with the sealed in butter needs to be rolled out. With a lightly floured rolling pin start rolling out, on a lightly flour dusted surface, the dough to a rectangle of 20 x 60 cm. Start rolling from the center of the dough towards the edges, and not from one side of the dough all the way to the other side. This technique helps you to keep the dough at an even thickness. You can also rotate your dough 180 degrees to keep it more even, because you tend to use more pressure when rolling away from you than towards yourself. You can use these techniques during all the rolling steps of this recipe. Aim at lengthening the dough instead of making it wider and try to keep all edges as straight as possible.

Fold the dough letter style, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes (fold one third of the dough on top of itself and then fold the other side over it). Repeat the rolling and folding two more times (ending up with 27 layers of butter in total), each time rolling until the dough is about 20 cm x 60 cm. After each fold you should turn the dough 90 degrees before rolling again. The open ‘end’ of the dough should be towards you every time when rolling out the dough (you can see this in our croissant making video at around 3:40 minutes). 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!

Sometimes the dough will resist to get any longer than for example 45 cm, stop rolling and pressing the dough, it will only hurt your layers. At any stage when the rolling of the dough gets harder you can cover the dough and let the gluten relax for 10 to 20 minutes in the fridge before continuing.
  • Roll out to 20 cm x 60 cm
  • Fold
  • Refrigerate 30 minutes
  • Rotate 90 degrees
  • Roll out to 20 cm x 60 cm
  • Fold
  • Refrigerate 30 minutes
  • Rotate 90 degrees
  • Roll out to 20 cm x 60 cm
  • Fold
  • Refrigerate until day 3
  • Rotate 90 degrees
  • Roll out to 20 cm x 110 cm

Also see complete time table at bottom of page

Each laminating step should not take more than a few minutes. However if, due to initial inexperience for example, it should take you longer, you can fold your dough letter style, cover it and refrigerate it for 20 minutes and continue the rolling process after this rest. It is very important the butter stays solid.

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Day 3

Dividing the dough
Take the dough from the fridge. Lightly flour your work surface. Now very gently roll the dough into a long and narrow strip of 20 cm x 110 cm. If the dough starts to resist too much or shrink back during this process you can fold it in thirds and give it a rest in the fridge for 10 to 20 minutes before continuing. Do not fight the dough, when the dough refuses to get any longer, rest it in the fridge! It is such a shame to ruin two days of work.

When your dough has reached its intended shape, carefully lift it a few centimeters to allow it to naturally shrink back from both sides. This way it will not shrink when you cut it. Your strip of dough should be long enough to allow you to trim the ends to make them straight and still be left with a length of about 100 cm.

Shaping the croissants
For the next stage you will need a tape measure and a pizza wheel. Lay a tape measure along the top of the dough. With the wheel you mark the top of the dough at 12,5 cm intervals along the length (7 marks total). Now lay the tape measure along the bottom of the dough and make a mark at 6,25 cm. Then continue to make marks at 12,5 cm intervals from this point (8 marks total). So the bottom and the top marks do not align with each other and form the basis for your triangles.

Now make diagonal cuts starting from the top corner cutting down to the first bottom mark. Make diagonal cuts along the entire length of the dough. Then change the angle and make cuts from the other top corner to the bottom mark to create triangles. Again repeat this along the length of the dough. This way you will end up with 15 triangles and a few end pieces of dough.

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Using your pizza wheel, make 1.5 cm long notches in the center of the short side of each dough triangle.

Now very gently elongate each triangle to about 25 cm. This is often done by hand, but we have found that elongating with a rolling pin, very carefully, almost without putting pressure on the dough triangle, works better for us. You can try both methods and see what you think gives the best result.

After you cut a notch in the middle of the short end of the triangle, try and roll the two wings by moving your hands outwards from the center, creating the desired shape with a thinner, longer point. Also try and roll the dough very tightly at the beginning and put enough pressure on the dough to make the layers stick together (but not so much as to damage the layers of course).

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Proofing and baking
Arrange the shaped croissants on baking sheets, making sure to keep enough space between them so they will not touch when proofing and baking. Combine the egg with a teaspoon of water and whisk until smooth. Give the croissants their first thin coating of egg wash.

Proof the croissants draft-free at an ideal temperature of 24ºC to 26.5ºC / 76ºF to 79ºF (above that temperature there is a big chance butter will leak out!). We use our small Rofco B20 stone oven as a croissant proofing cabinet by preheating it for a minute to 25ºC / 77ºF. It retains this temperature for a long time because of the oven stones and isolation. The proofing should take about 2 hours. You should be able to tell if they are ready by carefully shaking the baking sheet and see if the croissants slightly wiggle. You should also be able to see the layers of dough when looking at your croissants from the side.

Preheat the oven at 200ºC / 390ºF convection or 220ºC / 430ºF conventional oven.
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Right before baking, give the croissants their second thin coat of egg wash. We bake the croissants in our big convection oven for 6 minutes at 195ºC, then lowering the temperature to 165ºC, and bake them for another 9 minutes. Hamelman suggest baking the croissants for 18 to 20 minutes at 200ºC, turning your oven down a notch if you think the browning goes too quickly. But you really have to learn from experience and by baking several batches what the ideal time and temperature is for your own oven. Take out of the oven, leave for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Latest way of baking; We heat up our double fan big convection oven at 200ºC, when heated up put the croissants in the oven and directly lower it to 175ºC. We bake them for 10 minutes at 175ºC, they will have a nice brown color by now, then lower the temperature to 150ºC, and bake them for another 6 minutes.

Best eaten while warm and fresh of course. Croissant we don’t eat or share within a day we freeze. We put them in the preheated oven (180ºC / 355ºF) for 8 minutes straight from the freezer. Nothing wrong with that, croissants eaten nice and warm, almost as good as the fresh ones…almost!

We used the excess dough we trimmed from the edges to make, a bit odd shaped but still very delicious, ‘pain au chocolat’, using our favorite Valrhona Caraïbe dark chocolate. The trimmed dough parts are still worth using, it would be a shame to throw them away!

Croissant Time Table
Times are an indication and also depend on your experience with the recipe
Try to work swift but precise and take extra fridge time if needed!

Day 1 – Make initial dough

  • 21.00 h – Knead for 3 minutes and store in fridge for 12 hours

Day 2 – Laminate the dough

  • 09.00 h – Make butter slab and refrigerate till needed
  • 09.05 h – Roll dough disc into square
  • 09.10 h – Seal butter in dough
  • 09.15 h – Roll out to 20 cm x 60 cm and fold
  • Refrigerate 30 minutes
  • 09.50 h – Rotate 90 degrees
  • Roll out to 20 cm x 60 cm and fold
  • Refrigerate 30 minutes
  • 10.25 h – Rotate 90 degrees
  • Roll out to 20 cm x 60 cm and fold
  • 11.00 h – Refrigerate until day 3

Day 3 – Dividing, Shaping, proofing and baking

  • 09.00 h – Roll out to 20 cm x 110 cm – part 1
  • 09.05 h – Often needed! Take 20 min. fridge time if length not in one go
  • 09.25 h – Roll out to 20 cm x 110 cm – part 2
  • 09.30 h – Divide and shape the croissants
  • 09.40 h – First coat of egg wash
  • 09.45 h – Proof to perfection (indication 2 hours)
  • 11.45 h – Second coat of egg wash
  • 11.50 h – Bake for 15-18 minutes
  • 12.10 h – Ready!

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Comments

  1. Hello！I followed your recipe and it was a big success’ thank you very much! I am also wandering, that I can only bake in winters given my skills, can I make the dough, cut into triangles and freeze them so I can enjoy them in summer when it’s impossible for me to laminate? Does it matter that I freeze the flat pastry or roll then to croissant-shape then freeze? Thanks Darren

    Reply

    • Hello Darren,
      Thank you very much for your kind comment. Unfortunately there is a limit to how long you can store dough in the freezer. So you would be able to do as you suggested, but we would always recommend to use it within weeks rather than months. But at least it will be possible for you to try some things out during the changing of the seasons.
      We also share our method of freezing and retarding croissants at the bottom of this one day version of the croissant recipe: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…nt-recipe/
      Hope this might be helpful!
      Ed & Marieke

      Reply

  2. Hi
    I tried this recipe three times but the layers in second fold getting broke so what should i do? Also I’m facing problem in finding the flour, i found in grocery store only flour with 13% protein and 11.8 which is the best?

    Regards

    Reply

    • Hello Amna,
      What do you mean exactly with the layers getting broke? Is it the butter that breaks into pieces? make sure to use the right butter with enough fat like we say in the recipe. The flour that we would advice to try first would be the 11.8% protein one.

      Reply

  3. Hello, I find after the second fold the dough becomes spongy and butter bursts out.
    Any suggestions?

    Reply

    • Hello Lenny,
      It seems to us that your dough might benefit from extra fridge time to avoid this and also try to be gentle with the dough, not pressing too hard. If you take up too much time while laminating, everything starts to warm up and butter will burst out more easily. So before this happens let your dough relax in the fridge for 15 o 20 minutes and then continue.

      Reply

  4. Hi, Thank you so much for your recipe and blog. I am currently in the process of making you croissants. I was wondering if it is ok to leave the dough that has been laminated with the butter and completed the first fold in the fridge for more than 30 minutes? If I leave it in the fridge for 7 hours would it change the taste, flakiness or layers of the croissant? I was also wondering, how do I proof the croissants if the lowest temperature my oven can be set is 75 degrees Celsius, fan-forced?

    Thanks!

    Reply

    • Hello Aleena,
      We would always recommend sticking to the recipe, especially the first few tries. And yes, it will make a difference of course in the end result if you change a recipe.
      If you do not have time for the recipe, choose another day / period so it can have your undivided attention. Alternatively use the tips that you can find at the bottom of our one day version recipe about the use of fridge and freezer for retarding and storing. www.weekendbakery.com/posts…nt-recipe/
      When using your oven as a proofing cabinet with croissants, it is important you are able to measure the inside of the oven with a digital / infrared thermometer. The dough should never go above 26 C to avoid butter leakage. So you can warm up your oven for a minute or so to get to a certain temp, then turn it off and check and if safely at or slightly under the desired temperature, you can put the croissants in.

      Hope it will all work out well!

      Reply

  5. Hi
    Thank you so much for your recipe and blog.
    I’ve made many batches and your recipe and technique definitely works for me.
    My question is- why my croissants are flatter when they’re baked. They are properly proofed and are jiggly and full when I bake them at 200degC. They are nice and high until around 10 mins. Then they lose the nice height.
    Could it be that I open the oven to turn the baking sheet 180 degrees for even browning?

    There is minimum butter leakage and the croissants are light but not as light as they can be. I am aiming for the beautiful honeycomb crumb structure.

    Proofing time 2.5 hours at 24-26 degC
    Dough rested overnight prior to lamination. Kitchen temperature 18 DegC and marble kitchen bench. Butter used 83.1% fat

    This photo below shows the proofed croissants prior to baking:
    share.icloud.com/photo…rnsby,_NSW

    share.icloud.com/photo…rnsby,_NSW

    This photo shows how they flattened after baking.

    I hope you can give me your opinion and help.

    Thanks!

    Reply

    • Hello Mary,
      Thank you for your comment. Yes your croissants look wonderful prior to baking and still quite OK after, but they are a little flat. So we do have some suggestions:
      First is to indeed not open the oven door during the baking process although we know you do this for even browning but opening the door too soon with the structure not yet stable could lead to a bit of deflation possibly. Or you could try a different (brand of) flour, which could make a difference and could lead to a less heavy result if your current flour has a higher percentage of fibre that weighs the dough down. And our last tip is to add some vitamin C to your flour for extra strength. Due to the properties of vitamin C, it can be used as a dough (gluten) strengthener during fermentation, helping to improve the structure of the dough. You can buy vitamin C 1000mg tablets and in general use one third of one tablet in a dough with 500 grams of flour. You grind the piece of tablet to a powder and add it to the flour.

      Lots of success with the pastry baking, hope you will get your honeycomb!

      Reply

  6. Where can you get the correct flours in Australia? I don’t know if you live here, so you may not be able to help- I have pastry/cake flour that I use for brioche and plain White Wings flour, should I use one of those or buy some new flour online?

    Sorry if this doesn’t really make sense, but I hope you can help.

    Reply

    • Hi Ash, we live in Holland, in Europe and do not know about flour in Australia, but look at the bag you have and look up the percentage of protein. It should ideally be around 11%, it could be your pastry flour has a % lower than that. If so it could be a good idea to use a combination of your pastry flour and the bread flour Mary is kindly mentioning.

      Good luck with it and enjoy your baking!

      Reply

  7. I do not have a large convection oven, but I do have a Rofco B40. Can croissants be successfully baked in the Rofco?

    Reply

    • Hi Elisabeth,
      For our pastry and croissants, cookies and cakes we use a professional convection oven and get great results with that. We also made croissants in a normal household oven, also with good result.
      So although we know it is possible to bake other things next to bread in the Rofco, we, due to lack of experience with it also, cannot truly comment on the results of other baked goods. We consider it first and foremost a bread oven and for small batches we would sooner advice you to use a household oven with fan option.
      We do know of a small baker who made croissants in the Rofco in the past and got quite good at it, but was constantly playing with the settings / temp to get it right. Later he told us he was happy to be able to use a deck oven for his pastry, because the process in the Rofco was so laborious. But we cannot tell you what he did exactly.

      Hope this helps somehow…

      Reply

  8. I am having a problem that I hope you could help with. I am on my third attempt at making croissants, the last 2 had very bread like crumbs and I realized it was from rolling it out too hard. Now on my 3rd attempt I am trying very hard not to add too much pressure, but my dough will not comply. It seems to bee very stiff and will always spring back after rolling it. I have given it many rests in the fridge (about 20 minutes to an hour) to let the gluten relax but when I take it out and start rolling again it still is very elastic and springs back to its original shape. I can’t get it to the 20cmx60cm or even close. Any suggestions??

    Reply

  9. I have a few dozen croissants in my time but this by far the best recipe and method. Be patient and do it this way well worth the wait./

    Reply

    • Hello,
      I made croiassants two times, and i always run into the same problem.When they come out of the oven the outside is brown and flaky but the inside is almost raw.I bake them after your instructions.do you have ani idea or advice that could help?I would appriciate your help.

      Thank you!
      Have a good day.

      Reply

  10. Hello—one of my most common problems when laminating dough is when rolling it out I will get small tears on top of the dough—seemingly exposing the layer below. Is this a common occurrence? Does it negatively affect the lamination? And any tips to avoid this?

    Reply

    • Hello Scott,
      Yes, it will have a negative effect on the end result. Could it be your dough is too dry or are you putting too much pressure on the dough when rolling? Also make sure your butter is evenly distributed, so no lumps and bumps or cracked up islands of butter. Also gently elongate the dough and at signs of resistance, cover the dough and let the gluten relax for 10 to 20 minutes in the fridge before continuing. Also use the right type of flour and butter with high fat content.
      You can read more about it in our FACQ section:
      www.weekendbakery.com/posts…questions/

      Reply

  11. I made the dough yesterday evening but now I don’t have time for laminating . The dough has risen enough, can I just let the dough sit in the fridge until I can work with it or put it into the freezer to stop the rising? Is that ok to freeze fully proofed croissants so I can have a freshly baked one without waiting for it to rise?

    Reply

    • Hi April,
      It depends on how much longer it will be in the fridge. If it is hours, then you should be alright. If it is another day, then we would advice the freezer.
      On your other question we can show and tell you exactly what we do when it comes to retarding and freezing at the bottom of our one day recipe version here:
      www.weekendbakery.com/posts…nt-recipe/

      Hope it will be wonderful. Enjoy your baking.

      Reply

  12. Thank you for providing this recipe (and also all your responses to the comments/questions – very helpful!) – I’m on about my fifth attempt and am finally getting great croissants – got to keep working on the patience and not be afraid to put them back in the fridge to chill a little before rolling again….Thanks again!

    Reply

    • Hello Dan,
      Thank you for your comment. We can only say, you give the best advice to yourself 🙂
      Hope it will be even greater and you will have the most wonderful croissants to eat and share.

      Enjoy the pastry journey!
      Ed & Marieke

      Reply

  13. “The key is to keep the butter solid between the layers of dough, this is what gives the croissant its flaky layers.”

    I really never got this. The butter should be solid but after all the work you had to keep it solid, you’ll let it proofing in room temperature for 2 hours.
    How come the butter in room temperature won’t spoil its flakiness when proofing but will do so in any other moment of the process??

    Thank you for sharing

    Reply

    • Hello Rodrigo,
      Good question! While working with the butter, and doing so at room or warmer temperatures, it would never be able to get a good distribution and it would possibly leak out. So it should be at the exact right temperature where it is pliable and workable without spilling out or forming islands or pools.
      At all stages of the process you can look at it this way: By rolling out you are effectively ‘kneading’ the dough and the butter needs to be cold to keep the layers in tact. At the final stage, the proofing, the dough gets warmer, but at this stage, you are not touching or working the dough anymore, so the butter stays in place. That is why you are not spoiling the flakiness, presuming you have carefully built up the layers at the right temperature (plus working evenly and precisely) in the previous stages.

      Hope your croissants will be great!

      Reply

  14. My dough get crack while rolling. When crossaint proofing they are shape less n crack
    Why it’s so

    Reply

  15. Yesterday I baked the croissants I have started on Sunday, for 15 minutes at 200C. From the outside they looked amazing, but inside they didn’t have the same structure as yours, it looked like the top layers fell over the others, and all croissants ended up with a big hole inside, at the top, and a lot of layers piled up over each other at the bottom. I’m not sure how to explain that in other words other than that hehehe

    Anyway, do you have any ideia what might have caused this? I wonder if the oven should be at higher temperatures, or maybe if this has something to do with the butter distribution over the dough.

    Reply

    • Hello Pedro,
      First it is good to check your ‘real’ oven temperature. You can read how this works here: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…your-oven/
      This way you can also decide if you should adjust your oven settings for all your bakes. But we think your problems are indeed caused mainly by an uneven distribution of butter and uneven layers.
      So try to work on this for next time. One thing that is sometimes done is to sprinkle some flour on the butter block, which would help with the layering (we have to point out we never do this, but maybe it could help you).
      Mainly very important: Try to work on your layering by keeping the laminated dough cool, work fast and do not press on the dough when rolling it but gently elongate it.

      Good luck with it and keep practicing!

      Reply

    • I made the dough yesterday evening but now I don’t have time for laminating . The dough has risen enough, can I just let the dough sit in the fridge until I can work with it or put it into the freezer to stop the rising? Is that ok to freeze fully proofed croissants so I can have a freshly baked one without waiting for it to rise?

      Reply

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