It’s all about the layers…
Klik hier voor Nederlandse versie
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;
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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!
- 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
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.
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).
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.
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 / 385ºF, then lowering the temperature to 165ºC / 330ºF, and bake them for another 9 minutes. Hamelman suggest baking the croissants for 18 to 20 minutes at 200ºC / 390ºF , 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!
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!
ksaieh says
Made this recipe last week and it was a total success! Thank you so much!
I did find that the croissants did not keep crispy even when stored in an airtight container. I wonder how bakeries that have their croissants showcased in open air, manage to keep them crisp and flaky. Does it have to do with the oven temperature and length of time in the oven? Or maybe the type of flour used?
Any insight to this would be greatly appreciated!
Katanahamon says
I have found them to stay crispy at least twenty four hours in a bag, they soften after that but not unpleasantly so. Even freezing, upon opening I find them crispy. Absolute cooling (in open air, preferably on a rack with good aeration) must take place before storing them, or the steam or residual moisture will soften them. Thoroughly cool them, make sure they are dry before storing, perhaps you’ll have better luck.
Stu says
Looking forward to making these very soon… But I would like to ask, what may be an obvious question; If I make a half quantity recipe, do I roll out to half the length, whilst keeping width and depth the same, each time?
Many thanks
Katanahamon says
Yes, halve dimensions, but..I’d encourage expanding, not contracting the recipe. I usually do a double or triple batch..they freeze spectacularly.
Sarah says
I consider myself an competent home baker but have stayed away from laminated doughs. Tackled this one looking for a new at-home project and followed directions to the letter. Used grocery-store AP flour and butter, and 2% milk, because that’s what I had at home. Stuffed four croissants with ham and cheese, and rolled the trimmings up with cinnamon sugar. Proofed for over 3hrs as it’s chilly in my home– seemed to help to put the tray in the oven with the light on but needed to rotate as the croissants near the light rose quicker than the others. Baked one tray at a time in conventional oven at 425F for 6 minutes followed by 350F for 15 minutes.
They came out perfectly. I was expecting more challenges, but had no dough tears and no leakage. The layers are pronounced, and the flavour incredible. Thank you for this recipe. The detailed instructions make this a very doable project for anyone with a bit of patience and a long counter!
Weekend Bakers says
Thank you Sarah, wonderful to read your comment and the way you ‘tackled’ the recipe and got such wonderful results. Even though you had no experience with laminated dough, we are sure you were able to use your built up baker skills, understanding the what an how of the process, and especially the patience (very important) that led to the pastry perfection.
Wishing you lots more enjoyable baking moments and excellent pastry to share!
Ed & Marieke
Charlotte says
Thank you so much for this recipe! I was always a little too apprehensive to take on croissants, but your clear instructions have given me the courage to try. I have made these twice now and have just one question: the first time I made them I stuck to the 18-20 minutes on 200 and I got a this layer of wonderfully laminated crispness envelloping a lump of raw dough. Allright, so the temp. was too high. I made them again today and baked them for 10 minutes on 190, then 30 (!) on 140 and some of them still are not quite done. I am at a loss at what I am doing wrong, but there must be something. The croissants had a lovely wobble after the final proof and I followed your instructions to a tee. Can you help me?
Thanks again for this, and all your other recipes! As a budding amature baker, you are my heroes!
Katanahamon says
Before baking anything else, I’d suggest you get an accurate oven thermometer, and test your oven thoroughly, at each shelf height. Examine this aspect closely first, then we can talk..! Something is very fishy about your oven..
Charlotte says
Thanks for your reply! My oven is fairly new and so far I have baked many breads in it, it does seem to get 5-20° warmer than it says on the knob. Nothing that would explain the weirdness surrounding the croissants though…
Charlotte says
Oops! That should be 5-10! Not 20, silly phone
Katanahamon says
If it’s warmer, then it really makes no sense that they wouldn’t be getting done. I still suggest getting the most accurate oven thermometer you can, and testing the temp at each shelf. Be sure to thoroughly preheat before testing. Think about getting a thick pizza stone and keeping it on the lowest rack, this acts as a heat sink and helps keep an oven at proper temps, and cooking things evenly.
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Charlotte,
This advice of mr. K. is really good and we hope you will be able to check it with the a ‘true temp’ oven thermometer (they will cost about 5 to 10 euro or dollar). We would also suggest not to temper your oven this much (140 is too low) at the second stage of baking and we also hope and expect you do not open your oven door during baking (just making sure…)
And thank you for your kind words. We hope you will give it another go, because you are very close, just this last oven bit to get right and then they will be perfect!
Greetings from Holland
Ed & Marieke
Chrissie says
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe and ‚how to‘!
Baked croissants for the first time today and your step by step guidance made them turn out perfectly! Patience really is key!
Loads of love and gratitude all the way from Switzerland! <3
Weekend Bakers says
Thank you Chrissie, so glad we could be part of your pastry baking success in this way.
Did you see the one day version with tips on retarding and freezing?
Could maybe come in handy at some point:
www.weekendbakery.com/posts…nt-recipe/
Enjoy your baking and stay safe!
Ed & Marieke
Holland
Kat says
Hello! I wanted to ask what kind of butter did you use and where did you purchase it?
Katanahamon says
In the US there are several kinds available depending on what you like. I like organic stuff, I’ve found Straus organic Euro style 85% butterfat content, available at Whole Foods, or check the Straus website for availability. All the pics from me on this site were made with the Straus butter, they all turned out great. (The recent pics of croissants stacked untidily on an oven are mine. I went on a triple batch baking extravaganza..) There are several other Euro style, higher butterfat content ones available as well.
Leigh says
Once the croissants have been shaped, can you put them in the fridge overnight to proove, so they can be baked in the morning, please?
Katanahamon says
I believe the site has a question/answer section for croissants, you might check there, and the comment section for the one day version too. I don’t see why not, though, that would probably work fine if you cover them to keep from drying out and have the fridge space. Just make sure you allow them to warm up and rise fully if they haven’t already from their overnight rest..
Leigh says
Thank you.
I am going to try to have freshly baked croissants for breakfast on Saturday morning!
Weekend Bakers says
Hope it worked out fine Leigh.
More tips on retarding and freezing at the bottom of this recipe:
www.weekendbakery.com/posts…nt-recipe/
April says
It’s too late but I hope this will help. I have tried to proove croissants in the fridge and they came out nothing different from what had been before the prooving time. Croissants need to be proven in the warm area because yeast dough rises better in warm place and the most important thing is that when you refrigerate the dough, the high butter content chills down and becomes hard, which weights down the fragile air bubbles from the active of the yeast and makes it impossible for the dough to rise. I highly recommend prooving your croissants at room temperature for the promising results. I can make sure that the butter won’t melt because I live in a tropical land so if my butter doesn’t melt, there is no way your butter is gonna melt.
Lesley says
Hi! First time croissant maker here. I’m in Step 2, waiting to roll out a third time before resting dough overnight. I can’t bake both trays at the same time, they won’t fit in the oven together, so my question: Do you recommend I put second tray of proofed croissants in fridge while waiting for first tray to bake? Or even freeze overnight to make fresh batch the next morning? Or should I just keep them out on counter and exchange trays when the first one is done baking? Thanks! Also: I think my butter didn’t stay smooth while rolling; I can see it in sort of waves in the dough. Will that cause problems for the bake? Thanks fir the helpful guidance!
Katanahamon says
I always bake a single tray at a time..extra rise time never hurts. Unless you’re environment is too warm, you don’t need to worry about an extra twenty or thirty minute rise.. You’ll find many variations as to how the butter behaves..it can be different in three exact batches you’re doing at the same time. Luckily, these layered doughs are super forgiving. Enjoy!
Weekend Bakers says
Thanks for your helpful hints!
Katanahamon says
I’m disabled, so, I have plenty of time to look at the iPad. I figured that if I can get to a question quickly for someone, you probably wouldn’t mind. If you get sick of me, feel free to delete my responses..I’m just trying to be helpful! Bread baking is such a rewarding thing, I really wish more would try it. Then, these recipes like croissants wouldn’t seem so complicated to people. It’s really, really not difficult! Sure, there are steps, but, the three day recipe eliminates lots of manual labor all at the same time, plus, the overnight cold rests develop the dough and flavor in a superior way. I guess I’m just still excited by finding a recipe that produces such amazing results..!
Weekend Bakers says
Hello mister K,
We are very grateful for your help, it is a big task some days to answer all the questions we get online and via email. We welcome the help because it is our goal to always try and answer all comments.
We think other bakers will also welcome your perspective and sharing of experience, because we do not know everything and have not baked all possible combinations, versions and ways of recipes.
We hope you get enjoyment out of writing and sharing too, next to the baking.
Be safe and stay excited about the baking!
Ed & Marieke
Robert says
Excellent recipe.
Really worth the three days.
Will definitely do again.
Thank you for sharing.
Weekend Bakers says
Thank you Robert,
Wishing you lots of excellent pastry and the joy of baking to delight and divert you these days!
Ed & Marieke
Christy says
Thank you so much for sharing your technique. You’ve made the directions so organized and easy to follow. I do have a question… while laminating, my butter began to break up and I can see it through the dough. Did I press too hard while rolling out my dough? Please help.
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Christy,
This is a much asked question and we can tell you that we use organic butter with a high fat content and low water content (about 82% fat). A higher water content tends to make butter hard, which promotes tearing and breaking and ruins the layers. Your butter needs to be pliable and at the same time not too soft at the moment of usage.
Also check the comments below for suggestions for butter brands from other bakers.
For more answers to questions check our page:
www.weekendbakery.com/posts…questions/
Enjoy your pastry baking and sharing and stay safe!
Christy says
Thank you so much for sharing your technique. You’ve made the directions so organized and easy to follow. I do have a question… while laminating my butter it began to break up and I can see it through the dough. Did I press too hard while rolling out my dough? Please help.
Katanahamon says
I just made a triple batch, photos on this site, one of the three with the same dough, same butter, same temps did exactly what you’re talking about, just slightly separating, but no quality difference in the finished croissants.
There are so many variables, like how thick or thin the butter slab, temperatures, how far you roll out, etc. This happens some of the time. It’s only a “problem” if the chunks are big and break through the dough. (Still, while rolling it’s a cosmetic flaw, my beginning attempts where that happened still produced great croissants..you’ve gotta love the forgiving nature of butter doughs..) This is most likely caused by too cold butter, too thick butter, and butter not “beaten into submission,” as I like to say. Next time beat all the butter, trim, stack, beat again into a larger or thinner block, try to make sure all, all of the butter is homogenous in temperature and mobility. I shoot for a warmer butter temp than when I first started, (not melting) and pull the dough cold right from the fridge for the seal in and first turn. I feel this allows the butter to move smoothly, but the dough cools it to keep it firm.
This is a matter of practice and mindful observation. Putting the butter sheet in the fridge for just a few minutes can firm it up. (Too firm though…not good.) Once I start the turn process, I refrigerate only a few minutes in between turns…I’ve noticed definite separation of the butter if I chill long times between turns. If the dough doesn’t resist rolling, you can perform the turns.
Katanahamon says
One more thing..as you practice, you might change things as you see other chefs’ recipes. One thing I have changed, when sealing in the dough, I make a large, thin butter slab, and a dough rectangle twice as large. I place the butter on the left as close to the edge as I can, use my fingers to press the edges of the butter down to the dough, then bring the right side over to the left trying not to get any big air bubbles. (Not a problem..poke with a knife and bleed out the air and reseal) Just like a book. This way I get more even dough on both sides. The method described here, it’s really necessary to leave more dough in the center and more thinly roll the four edges that get folded over, or you end up with a very thin layer of dough on one side, and a thick one on the other. Perhaps this is why sometimes ppl see butter “breaking through” on one side especially. Another trick is that when you seal in the butter, if there are uneven edges that extend well beyond with no butter in between, just trim them off and place them on top as evenly as you can. They’ll roll right back into the dough no problem and leave you with a nice even dough with butter in the middle all the way to the edges. On the first turn, sometimes the ends are very uneven. One way to fix is to incorporate a double turn on the first turn, bring both of those uneven ends into the top third or fourth of the dough, this is merely cosmetic in rolling..I just noticed once when experimenting with double vs single turns that it evened up the dough ends for subsequent turns. What really helps even up your corners is to roll towards a point, or towards the corners, usually fortyfive degrees from the direction of rolling. To make corners more square, roll directly toward them.
Lesley says
Helpful!! Thanks for this.
Chris says
How long can the dough sit in the refrigerator before you begin rolling and laminating?
I made the dough Wednesday (now Saturday), so I’m on day 4 of the 3-day recipe!
The dough looks fine – not too developed
Katanahamon says
If you allow the yeast to consume too much, you run the risk of not having enough leavening power when you need it at the end to make the croissants rise. It’s better obviously if possible to follow the recipe. It’s a gamble at this point. I wouldn’t want to put in multiple days of effort and add that much quality butter to a dough that might not produce the best result. I’d put together another dough and start over..if you’re in a hurry, they have a one day version of this recipe. Just one baker’s opinion..
Jade says
Is it possible to make this recipe with Active Dry Yeast rather than Instant Yeast?
Weekend Bakers says
Yes Jade, that is very much possible. You need to increase the amount from 11 to slightly over 13 grams and follow the directions on the package to activate your yeast.
Hope it will be good!
Gina says
To add to my last comment I also rolled out/ laminated on a refrigerated coriander cutting board. Obviously this cutting board is not long enough for the 60 cm, I would just fold the dough up on itself with a sheet of parchment in -between the folds as I was rolling and moving my dough up/down the board allowing the folds to be at either the top or the bottom of the cutting board depending on my rolling direction. Then when I thought my dough was long enough I would lay it out across the board do my folds, turns, and marking and put it in a 2 gallon zip top bag to go back into the fridge.
Weekend Bakers says
Thank you GIna, for sharing your method. We are sure it will be helpful to other bakers with a worktop space challenge.
Hope you will bake many more excellent pastries to bring joy and comfort in these difficult times for many people.
Stay happy, healthy and safe!
Greetings from Holland,
Ed & Marieke