Butter Croissants [Recipe] (2024)

Yes. I made croissants. From scratch. With my bare hands. VICTORY! 😀

You have no idea how happy I was!

I decided to make these because I came across This Challenge on another blog, and couldn’t help myself; I’ve been wanting to make these for a while anyway, and that was just the “Umph” I needed to roll up my sleeves and make it happen.

So, here’s what I did… And here’s how I did it. Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a buttery ride.

(I doubled this recipe – As listed, it makes about 12 large croissants)

Method:
Let the butter rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Cut the brick in half lengthways and place between two sheets of wax paper.

Tip: 1-1/2 c. of butter is exactly 3/4 of a 1-lb brick. 1-3/4 c. of butter is exactly 7/8 of a 1-lb brick,which can easily be measured by marking it into 8 sections, cutting off the last one, and used the rest for this recipe.

Using a rolling pin, pound, roll, and shape the butter into an 8″ square. Wrap in wax paper and chill until cold.

Combine 1 c. flour with 1 c. lukewarm water and 1 tsp. dry active yeast. Stir until the lumps are dissolved, cover with a tea towel, and let rise for 1 hour.

Add the rest of the flour, salt, and milk. Stir to combine, cover and let rest again 20 minutes. Knead by hand or with an electric mixer 20 minutes. Cover again and let rise for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough into a 9″x18″ rectangle, and place the chilled square of butter on one end of it. Fold the dough over the butter to encase it (1), pinching the edges to seal, and pound/roll piece out to be a 9″x18″rectangle again.

Fold the lower half of the dough up 1/3 of the way, and then the top half over that, like an envelope (2). Rotate 90 degrees to the right (so that the folded edge of the dough is to your left), and roll the dough out again into a rectangle (same size again). Fold ‘er up again (3). If the dough is getting warm or difficult to work with at this point, cover it and let it chill for at least 20 minutes or until cold.

(Since I couldn’t very well take pictures while rolling the dough, I took them at each folded stage instead… Hopefully these pictures are helpful and not confusing!)

Repeat the last process again; roll (3) into a rectangle, fold, rotate, roll, and fold again (4). Wrap the folded piece of dough in plastic and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured surface into a 9″x18″ rectangle (5). Cut the dough in half lengthways, and then into triangles, with the base of each one being about 5″ in width (6).

Note: Pictured is my first batch, in which I made the croissants a little smaller. Feel free to do that if you like! For a regular, large croissant, this amount of dough would be cut into a total of about 12 triangles.

To shape the croissants, cut a little slit into the base of the triangle, roll the edges out towards the sides, and roll up, wide end to short end. Make sure the tip of the triangle is tucked underneath, and curve the edges around to form a half moon shape.

Cover the shaped croissants and let rise 1-3 hours, or until doubled. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Beat 1 egg with about 1 tsp. cold water and brush on top of the risen croissants.

Place the pan of croissants in the oven, reduce the temperature to 375 degrees, and bake for 25-35 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

Look at those layers!! 😀

Few things compare to the thrill of tearing open a croissant that YOU made. Wow. 😀 😀 😀

Not bad for a first try, eh?

Let me know if you make them! It’s quite a thing to attempt, but wow. So rewarding. 🙂

What’s the most difficult thing you’ve ever made in the kitchen?

–Naomi