Introduction: Easy Croissants Recipe

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About: Hello and Welcome to In the Kitchen With Matt. I am your host Matt Taylor. My goal for the show is to teach you how to cook really good food at home for cheap. Eating out everyday can get expensive, but it doe…

In this instructable I will show you how to make Croissants. Don't let the idea of making croissants intimidate you. You don't have to be a professional baker to make these, although you will get professional results ;). This recipe for homemade croissants is really easy to make, if I can do it, you can do it. The steps themselves are really easy, but it will take some time. Time to impress your family and friends with this fantastic recipe. Let's get baking!

If you have any questions or comments put them down below and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Follow the easy steps below or watch the video tutorial or better yet do both!

Step 1: Ingredients

You may print the recipe here.

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour (290 grams)
  • 1/2 tbsp of salt (8.5 grams)
  • 2 1/4 tsp. of active dry yeast (you can use instant) (6.5 grams)
  • 2 tbsp. of white granulated sugar (25 grams)
  • 1 cup of milk (ideally whole, but you can use 2% or 1%) (240 ml)
  • 1 cup of unsalted butter (225 grams)

Please don't rely on my metric measurements, you may want to double check them, although I believe they are correct. :)

Egg Wash:

  • 1 egg (beaten)
  • 2 tsp. of milk (10ml)

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Step 2: Prepare the Yeast

First let us get our yeast going. We take our milk and heat it up in the microwave until it is about 105 to 115 degrees F. About 35 to 45 seconds. Then we add our yeast and a pinch of our sugar to the bowl of milk. The sugar will act as food for the yeast. Now we use a fork and gently mix it a bit, and then let the bowl of yeast sit for 5 to 10 minutes until it gets nice and foamy on top. If it doesn't get foamy, start over because it probably means the yeast was old/bad, or the milk was too hot or not hot enough.

Step 3: Mix Salt With Flour

Next step is to mix in the salt with the flour. You can use a fork or a whisk for this part.

Step 4: Add Sugar

Now we add our yeast/milk to a large bowl, then add our sugar and mix that together with a whisk or fork.

Step 5: Add the Flour

Now we add our flour a third of it at a time, then mix it together with a wooden spoon. Make sure to leave about 1/4 of a cup leftover, which we will incorporate while we knead the dough.

Step 6: Knead the Dough

Now we pour the rest of our flour on our surface, take the dough out of the bowl and put it on our surface, make sure to clean off the extra dough that might be clinging to your wooden spoon. Now we knead the dough. Fold it over, then push it down with your palm, turn it a quarter turn, fold, push, turn, etc. Do this for about 5 to 7 minutes until the dough gets nice and smooth, and when you poke it, it will come back. Now, place the dough in a bowl, I usually lightly spray mine with kitchen spray, then cover it with a damp cloth. The moisture in the damp cloth will help to keep the dough from drying out. It may not be necessary, I just always do it. :) Now let the dough rise in a warm place for about an hour. We also take our butter out of the fridge and let it sit at room temperate while our dough is rising.

Step 7: Wrap Dough and Chill

Now once our dough has risen, we will wrap it in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Step 8: Create Butter Slab

Now we want to make a small butter slab square/rectangle shape. We take our butter, unwrap it and place it on a large sheet of parchment paper. Next we fold over the parchment paper and pound it down with a rolling pin or meat tenderizer. As the butter starts to get a little softer it will be easier to work with. Once we have a nice squarish shape, wrap it up in your parchment paper and put that in the refrigerator to chill along with your dough for 30 minutes.

Step 9: Roll Dough Out

After 30 minutes we take our dough and butter slab out of the fridge. We roll out the dough to a square shape that is a bit larger then our butter slab. Position the butter slab on in the middle of your dough, and draw a line with your finger around it. Remove the butter, and then roll from the edge of your line outwards. What winds up happening is we have an elevated piece of dough in the middle, and then thinner flaps of dough on the sides. Brush off any extra flour with a pastry brush.

Step 10: Fold Over the Flaps

Now we place our butter in the middle, and fold over the flaps of dough.

Step 11: Roll, Fold, Wrap

Now we roll out our dough, fold side down, starting in the middle and working out. We want to roll our dough out so it forms a large rectangle, about 10 inches wide by 18 to 20 or so inches. Then fold it in thirds, like you would a piece of paper to go in an envelope. Now wrap the dough up in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. We do this because at this point the dough and butter has gotten a bit to warm and it is harder to keep rolling it out.

Step 12: Repeat Steps

Now we repeat our rolling, folding process a few more times. Take the dough out of the fridge, roll it out, dust off extra flour, fold, wrap in plastic wrap, chill for 30 minutes, then to it all over again, then on the final time, this time we will let it stay in the fridge overnight. I usually start my rolls the afternoon before I want to eat them. Then in the morning the dough will be ready to make into the croissants.

Step 13: Roll Dough Out One Final Time

Now the next morning, we roll our dough out, and make it a rectangle shape about 20 inches long or so by 8 to 10 inches. This doesn't have to be exact. Add flour as needed underneath your dough, to keep it from sticking.

Step 14: Cut and Roll

Now we take a knife or pizza cutter and cut out triangle shapes. If you want them all to be exactly the same, create a template from a piece of cardboard. Then once you have your triangles cut out, cut a little slit at the bottom of it, then stretch the ends away from each other a little bit and roll up the triangle into the classic croissant shape. Push the ends close together to get that crescent look, or just leave them straight.

Step 15: Let Croissants Rise

We place our croissants on a parchment paper or silicone mat lined bakings sheet and then we cover them with a cloth and let them rise for 2 to 3 hours.

Step 16: Baste Them With Eggwash

After they have risen they will look amazing. Also if you look closely, you can see the little layers of dough. Pretty cool! Now take one egg and beat it, then add a couple of tsp. of milk and mix, creating your egg wash. Using a basting brush bush the tops of the croissants with the egg wash. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. or 204 C. Now we just bake them for 20 to 25 minutes until they are nice and golden brown on the top. mmmm after coming out of the oven let them cool for about 5 minutes. Look at that one I pulled apart, super flaky, amazing!!

Step 17: Video Tutorial

Now watch those steps in action! You may print the recipe here.