Croissant Recipe

Step-by-Step Instructions

The kneading

1. It is very important that before starting the recipe, approximately one hour before, we have the 100 g of butter, out of the refrigerator, at room temperature.
   Place the flour in a large bowl, or the bowl of the mixer-mixer, if we have one.
2. We add the salt, sugar, milk, soft butter, and yeast, in this order. It is very important not to put the yeast in contact with the salt. We gradually mix and add the water. We continue mixing until the ingredients come together, and the dough separates from the container.
3. Now dump the dough on the work table or countertop. Now we are going to knead with our hands, for 10-12 minutes, until we obtain a smooth, homogeneous, and very elastic dough. If when you stretch it with your hands, the dough does not break, it is already perfect.
4. Let the dough rest for 5-10 minutes so that it relaxes.
5. Then, with our hands, or with the help of a rolling pin, we are stretching the dough until it forms a rectangle, 7-8 mm thick.
6. We wrap it with conservation plastic, and reserve it in the refrigerator for about 8 hours, or overnight, (the minimum is 4 hours). If you want, you can do this step the night before.

Prepare the butter plate

1. We take the 250 g of butter out of the refrigerator and place it between two baking papers, or between two plastics. With the help of a rolling pin, we are going to flatten and stretch the butter, with small taps. The goal is to form a rectangle of butter, which is about half the size of the dough. With the two papers, we cover the butter plate perfectly and store it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
2. After 4-8 hours of rest, we take the dough out of the fridge. On the floured work table, we place the dough, stretch it a little more in the shape of a rectangle about 6-7 mm thick. We place the butter plate in the lower half of the dough rectangle.
3. Cover the butter with the other half of the dough as if it were a book so that the butter is well covered.

Folds

1. We sprinkle a little flour on the work table and the rolling pin. We turn the dough ¼ turn so that the fold is on the right. We first stretch the dough longitudinally, and then we give it a little width. We stretch the dough, always starting from the center to the end, and from the center to the opposite side, until the dough is about 7 mm. thick. Be careful not to work the dough too much so as not to introduce the butter.
2. We turn the dough again, to place the fold on our right. Fold the bottom of the dough to 2/3. Then fold the upper part so that it touches the previously folded part. Fold the set obtained in 2, as if it were a wallet, to obtain 4 layers of dough. We make sure to remove excess flour between each fold. Wrap the dough with conservation plastic and reserve it in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes.
3. On the floured work table, place the dough with the fold to our right. Roll out the dough lengthwise again, to give it a 6 mm thick rectangular shape. Give it a little width, and fold a third of the dough on itself starting at the bottom, and cover with the top to obtain 3 layers of dough. Wrap the dough again and reserve it in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes.

Cut and shape the Croissants

1. Sprinkle the countertop again, with a pinch of flour. Roll out the dough to obtain a 28 X 64 cm rectangle and a thickness of 5-6 mm. Using a large sharp knife, or a rolling pasta cutter, cut 1 cm of dough from each side of the rectangle, to reveal the layers. The final rectangle of dough should now be about 25 X 64 cm.
2. With a large knife or a pasta cutter, cut some triangles 8 cm base by 25 cm long. We should get about 12 triangles. Place the dough triangles on a tray, and reserve them in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
3. Using a knife, make a 5mm incision in the middle of the base of each triangle. Slightly stretch the base of each one, and gently wrap the triangle around itself. The final point must always be placed underneath, closing the crescent.
4. We are going to place the croissants on two baking trays, 6 on each tray, with a considerable separation between them, since they will grow quite a bit with rising. 5. We paint the croissants gently, with a mixture of egg, yolk, and milk. We leave the croissants in a warm place for 2 hours and 30 minutes, until they were almost triple in size. The ideal temperature for raising is about 22-24º C.

To bake

1. About 20 minutes before the end of the raising, we preheat our oven to 200º C. When the croissants have grown enough, we paint them again with the egg glaze, very gently.
2. We bake for the first 6-7 minutes at 200º C. We lower the temperature to about 180º C and bake for 12 more minutes. Keep in mind that both the baking time and temperature are indicative since each oven is different. You must adjust your oven to the ideal temperature. Be attentive to cooking at all times, and remove the croissants, once they are well browned, and the color is homogeneous, that is, well browned on all sides. We already have our French croissant recipe is completed now, enjoy.

Watch the YouTube video to see the croissant recipe visually