Description
Buttery French croissants bring Paris right to your kitchen with golden, layered perfection. Delicate pastry sheets fold into crisp crescents that crumble deliciously with each heavenly bite you’ll savor.
Ingredients
Scale
Main Ingredients:
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 cup whole milk
- ½ cup water
- 1 large egg
Leavening and Seasoning:
- 2 ¼ teaspoons (1 packet) instant yeast
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
Additional Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Liberate milk and butter from refrigeration, cube butter into bite-sized portions.
- Cleanse a spacious mixing vessel with cooking spray.
- Populate stand mixer basin with flour, integrate sugar and salt using whisk or dough hook.
- Activate yeast: If instant, sprinkle directly into flour mixture; if active dry, hydrate in tepid water until frothy.
- Transform ingredients into cohesive dough, kneading at medium-high velocity until silky and elastic. Adjust flour or water incrementally if texture seems temperamental.
- Nurture dough’s development by forming a gentle sphere, nestling in prepared bowl, and draping with plastic membrane. Allow tranquil rest in warm environment.
- Craft butter square by whipping cubed butter with flour until creamy and uniform.
- Mold butter into precise geometric square using plastic wrap, then refrigerate.
- Unfurl proofed dough across flour-dusted workspace, rolling into symmetrical square.
- Position chilled butter diagonally within dough’s center, enveloping completely by folding corners and sealing meticulously.
- Hibernate dough packet in refrigerator, permitting thermal relaxation.
- Execute precise lamination: roll into rectangular landscape, fold like correspondence, return to cold sanctuary.
- Repeat lamination ritual twice more, ensuring intricate layering.
- After final turn, cocoon dough overnight in refrigerated seclusion.
- Exhume dough, bisect rectangle, trim edges surgically.
- Slice dough into triangular segments with surgical precision.
- Commence rolling from broad base, tapering toward delicate point.
- Arrange croissants on prepared baking terrain, allowing gentle expansion in warm environment.
- Awaken oven to precise thermal parameters, lovingly brush croissants with beaten egg.
- Bake until golden perfection emerges, rotating midway for even transformation.
- Transfer to cooling rack, permitting thermal equilibration before indulgence.
Notes
- Patience is key when making croissants, as the process involves multiple chilling and folding steps to create those signature flaky layers.
- Use high-quality butter with a high fat content for the most luxurious and tender croissant texture.
- Temperature control matters significantly – keep ingredients cool and work quickly to prevent butter from melting during preparation.
- Precise measurements and careful technique are crucial for achieving the perfect laminated dough structure.
- Freeze unbaked croissants for up to a month, allowing you to enjoy fresh-baked pastries anytime with minimal preparation.
- Allow croissants to fully proof before baking to ensure maximum volume and delicate, airy interior.
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Breakfast, Snacks
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: French
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 12
- Calories: 290
- Sugar: 5 g
- Sodium: 200 mg
- Fat: 17 g
- Saturated Fat: 10 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 6 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 30 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Cholesterol: 40 mg