baranbakery.com
Homemade Croissant Recipe
There is quite literally nothing as satisfying as making homemade croissants. They’re crispy and golden brown around the edges while being light and airy in the center. They’re so beautiful with all the layers when you slice them open and can be served alone or in so many different ways.
Prep
1h
Cook
17 min
Total
11h 17m
Serves
16
Instructions
- 01
Place the flour, sugar, yeast and salt in the bowl of the Cuisinart Precision Master 5.5-Quart Stand Mixer. Whisk them together
- 02
Using the hook attachment, with the mixer at low speed, stream in the water.
- 03
Allow the mixer to combine the dough for 2 minutes at low speed and then increase the speed to medium for 5 minutes, until the dough completely peels itself away from the edge of the bowl.
- 04
Slightly dust a silpat mat or a parchment paper with flour and stretch the dough out into a rectangular shape. Move it to a baking sheet and cover it completely with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rest in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or refrigerate overnight.
- 05
*Use a large sheet or two small sheets of parchment paper and fold it into an 8x10" rectangle. Slice the butter in half, lengthwise so it's thinner and place it into the folded parchment paper. Use the rolling pin to roll the butter out into the shape of the parchment paper. See photos and video for reference.
- 06
Refrigerate the butter for 5-10 minutes (while you roll out the dough in the next step). You want the butter to be at a temperature where it's still malleable (bends without breaking) but not greasy.
- 07
Remove the dough from the fridge and on a lightly floured surface, roll it out to 16x10".
- 08
Remove the butter from the fridge & place it on top of the dough, right in the center so that the 10" length of the butter aligns with the 10" length of the dough.
- 09
Fold the top and bottom 1/3 of the dough over the butter so they meet in the middle and seal the edges together.
- 10
On a lightly floured surface, turn the dough 90 degrees now and gently roll the dough back out to 16x10".
- 11
Fold the dough into thirds again, this time like a paper going into an envelope - so the top 1/3 comes down over the middle and the bottom 1/3 overlaps with the top.
- 12
Cover the dough completely with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 10 minutes. Repeat this second folding process 2 more times and after the last fold, cover the dough and refrigerate it again for at least 2 hours (preferably 4 or more).
- 13
Remove the dough from the fridge and allow it to rest at room temperature for about 15 minutes, so it's not too firm to roll. Gently roll the dough out to about 24x12" and use a knife or a pizza cutter to trim the edges into a perfect rectangle.**
- 14
Slice the dough into long skinny triangles from long edge to long edge. You should get at least 12 croissants or 16 smaller ones.
- 15
Flatten the tip of each triangle and then roll them up starting at the wide end and ending with the croissant sitting on top of that flat tip so it's sealed.
- 16
Place 4-6 croissants on a lined baking sheet and cover them completely with plastic wrap (not tightly - leave room for proofing). Allow them to proof at room temperature (not super warm, around 70F) for about 2 hours.
- 17
The croissants are done proofing when you press on it gently and your finger leaves a slight indent in the dough. They should be slightly larger but don't have to be quite doubled in size. If you gently shake the pan, the croissants should wobble a little.
- 18
Preheat the oven to 400F (204C) convection (375F/181C conventional). Beat the egg with a fork or a whisk and use a pastry brush to gently egg wash the croissants. I like to go over them twice to give it a generous coating.
- 19
Bake the croissants for 15-18 minutes until they're golden brown (I like them just slightly darker). If you pick them up, the croissants should not feel heavy, they should feel light and airy. Allow them to cool on the pan for 10-15 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- 20
Croissants are best served at room temperature on the day they were baked. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days or refrigerate for up to a week.
Nutrition
per serving · 1 g
- Calories
- 253
- Protein
- 4g
- Carbs
- 25g
- Fat
- 15g
- Fiber
- 1g
- Sugar
- 3g
- Sat. fat
- 9g
- Sodium
- 362mg
- Cholesterol
- 48mg
Variations & swaps
Ingredients & Substitutions
- *full recipe is in the recipe card at the bottom!
- Flour: I use bread flour for croissants. I haven’t tested this with all-purpose flour but to be honest, I’ve never had any bread recipes give me major problems when I subbed in all-purpose flour so it should be fine. Bread Flour has more gluten so it will give it a better structure and more of a chewy texture.
- Sugar: I used granulated sugar in the dough. The sugar lightly sweetens the dough and makes it a little more tender. It also helps with browning. I don’t recommend swapping it, but the recipe does work well if you want to reduce it a little.
- Yeast: Instant yeast or active dry yeast works fine. Just sub for equal amounts.
- Salt: I like fine sea salt.
- Water: I like using cool water, it makes the dough a little less sticky.
- Butter: I recommend a good, high quality butter with high fat content like Kerry Gold, Danish Creamery European Butter, Plugra. The highest butterfat you can find would be best. I prefer to use salted butter for croissants since it gives more flavor. I have not tested this with dairy free butter but if the butterfat content is over 80% then you should be good.
- TIP: I HIGHLY recommend using a digital scale, as dry ingredients are almost always over measured.
Croissant Variations
- I wouldn’t touch the base of these beauties without a fully tested recipe, but if you want to take your croissants to the next level, you can always fill them or top them with different flavors.
- Some ways I’ve filled them in the past:
- Nutella or Cookie Butter: Use a piping bag to pipe Nutella/Cookie Butter into the center, then spread a tiny bit on top and finish with chopped hazelnuts or crushed Biscoff cookies. You can also lighten up the filling with a little whipped cream if you want it lighter.
- Tiramisu: Slice the croissant in half, dab a little espresso on each half, make a mascarpone cream and add espresso powder to half of it. Spread the espresso cream between the two halves and pipe the plain mascarpone cream on top, followed by a dusting of cocoa powder.
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