Homemade Croissants (French recipe)

After having tasted thousands of croissants and tested several homemade croissants recipes, I finally offer

you MY homemade croissants recipe, which is (almost) impossible to fail. 

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PREP TIME
2d

COURSE CUISINE SERVINGS CALORIES

Breakfast French 8 548 kcal

INGREDIENTS   

Détrempe
500 g flour
7 g dry yeast
60 g sugar
10 g salt
140 g water cold
140 g milk cold
50 g butter

Tourage
250 g butter cold

Egg wash
1 egg yolk
30 ml milk

INSTRUCTIONS  

DAY 1

The détrempe
Mix the dry ingredients (flour, dry yeast, salt and sugar) well. Then pour in the water and cold milk.
Knead everything well in your kitchen machine using the dough hook attachment for 5 minutes at low
speed.
 Let the dough rest for 10 minutes so that the flour absorbs the liquids.

Then add the butter cubes to the dough and knead again for 5 minutes on low to medium speed.

Take the dough out of your bowl, flour your work surface and form a nice ball of dough.

Put your dough back in a bowl, cover with a clean cloth and let it rise for at least 1 to 2 hours in a slightly
warm place, like near a radiator.

Then, chill for 30 minutes in the fridge so that the dough is cold before adding the butter.

The tourage

Prepare the beurre de tourage

Cut your cold butter block into cubes. Place the cubes on a piece of parchment paper so that they form
about a square.

Fold the parchment paper over the butter so that the sides are 20 cm long.

Then tap the cold butter with a rolling pin to soften it slightly and finally spread the butter with the rolling
pin so that it spreads well in the parchment paper pocket.

Keep the butter in your fridge until needed.

Incorporate the butter

Once the détrempe has double in size and cooled again, place it on your lightly floured surface. Roll it
out gently to form a rectangle of about 40x 20 cm (16 x 8 inches).

Place the flat butter in the center of the dough. Fold the edges of the dough inward to completely cover
the butter.

Then roll the dough to flatten it gently. Turn a quarter turn and roll out the dough to form a rectangle
again, about 40x 20 cm (16 x 8 inches).

If your dough is too warm, you can let it cool off 15 minutes in the freezer covered with a plastic wrap.
This step is optional ans really depends on your dough at this stage.

1st fold
Fold 1/4 of the dough to the middle and fold the other edge, then fold the whole in half.

Turn the dough a quarter of the way and roll out the dough gently in the length. Place the dough in cling
film or a plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes in the freezer (30 minutes in the refrigerator).

2nd fold
Roll out the dough slightly. Fold in 1/3 of the dough and the other third on top.

Turn the dough a quarter and roll out the dough gently. Form a rectangle of about 40x 20 cm (16 x 8
inches) again to pre-shape your dough for the following day.

Wrap the dough in cling film, place on a baking tray to keep to flat and let the dough rest in the
refrigerator for one night to 24 hours.
DAY 2

Create warm and humid environment

To let your croissants rise before baking them, you need a warm and humid environment.

The best way to do it is to bring about one liter of water to a boil in a skillet. Place the skillet with the hot
water in your oven and close the oven until you need it. Your oven should be turned off and let the
evaporation of water warm up your oven.

Cut and shape

Remove the dough from the fridge. Flour your work surface slightly and gently roll out your dough with a
rolling pin. Form the dough into a long rectangle as straight as possible.

Then, cut 4 big bands in the direction of the width using a pizza cutter or a dough cutter.

Cut these bands in half on the diagonal to obtain isosceles triangles (triangles with a right angle).
Readjust the triangles to make it straighter with your hands.

Then, roll the dough from the wide end to the point to get a nice crescent shape. The point should be
under the croissant so that it stays closed after baking.

Freeze your croissants (optional)

If you want to freeze some of the croissants, this is the time to put them in a bag and place them as is in
the freezer. Make sure they don’t touch each other. I like to freeze them two by two.

Once you want to bake them, remove them from the freezer the day before and place them in the
refrigerator. Then, place your croissants in your warm and humid oven (see above) and resume the
recipe at that point.

Final rise
Place the croissants on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and let them rise for 1.5 to 2 hours in
your warm and humid oven (see above).

Once the croissants have expanded size, take them out of the oven. Preheat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F,
convection oven).

Egg wash
For the egg wash, mix an egg yolk with a little milk.

Brush the croissants very delicately with pastry brush to avoid damaging them as they are really fragile
at this point. I also advise you to brush only the top part and not the layers directly.

Bake
Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

NOTES
I recommend to read the whole article or/and watch the video as I give you some additional tips.

NUTRITION
Calories: 548kcal Carbohydrates: 57g Protein: 8g
Fat: 32g Saturated Fat: 20g Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g
Monounsaturated Fat: 8g Trans Fat: 1g Cholesterol: 107mg
Sodium: 737mg Potassium: 119mg Fiber: 2g
Sugar: 9g Vitamin A: 1004IU Vitamin C: 0.003mg
Calcium: 49mg Iron: 3mg

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