Today we’re conquering our fears and making homemade croissants! If you’re about to run away screaming, I understand. I’m not sugarcoating it: croissants aren’t easy. Croissants require time, patience, and a lot of rolling. However, just because this recipe is advanced doesn’t mean that YOU have to be an advanced baker to try it. You can absolutely handle this quintessential baking bucket list recipe. ♥
Let me hold your hand through the whole process. I’m sharing step-by-step photography, a full video tutorial, plenty of tricks based on what I’ve learned, and the croissant recipe. I started working on croissants earlier this year. I studied a couple recipes, tested them, tweaked what I found necessary, and played with this dough for weeks. The croissants are golden brown, extra flaky, crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, and unbelievable warm from the oven. One bite of this delicate French pastry will immediately transport you to a quaint French bakery. I’m confident in this homemade croissants recipe and I’m confident in YOU baking them.
The good news! You need zero fancy equipment and zero special ingredients. If you’re looking for a weekend project, know how to read directions, and crave a fresh homemade pastry (don’t we all?), then stick around. You’ll be rewarded with the BEST treat ever!!!
Let’s get right into it. Making croissants is a labor of love. The long recipe directions and all these step-by-step photographs seem intimidating, but let me walk you through the basic process so you aren’t nervous.
The Process
- make easy dough from butter, flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and milk
- roll out dough into a large rectangle
- make the butter layer (I have an easy trick for this!!!)
- enclose the butter layer inside the dough
- roll out the dough into another large rectangle, then fold it back together
- roll out the dough again, fold it back together again
- roll out the dough one more time, fold it back together
- shape the croissants
- bake
There’s resting time between most steps, which means most of the time is hands off. To help us develop all the layers, croissant dough needs to rest in the refrigerator often. That’s why I call making croissants a project. Do it over a couple days with long breaks between the steps.
All that rolling out and folding back together? That’s called LAMINATING.
What is Laminated Dough?
Laminating dough is the process of folding butter into dough many times, which creates multiple alternating layers of butter and dough. When the laminated dough bakes, the butter melts and creates steam. This steam lifts the layers apart, leaving us with dozens of flaky airy buttery layers.
Just like we do when we make a croissant bread loaf, We’re going to laminate the dough 3 times, which will create 81 layers in our croissants. Yes, 81! Let me paint that picture for you.
- Start with dough, butter layer, dough = 3 layers
- Roll it out and fold it into thirds = 9 layers
- Roll that out and fold it into thirds = 27 layers
- Roll that out one last time and fold it into thirds = 81 layers
So we’re only laminating the dough 3 times, but that gives us 81 layers. When the croissants are rolled up and shaped, that’s one 81 layer dough rolled up many times. So when you bite into a croissant, you’re literally biting into hundreds of layers.
Isn’t that SO COOL???
Croissants Video Tutorial
Watch me make croissants in this video. I talk you through the whole video too.
Now let’s see everything come together in step-by-step photographs.
DOUGH
Croissant dough begins with butter, flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and milk. Unlike most yeasted doughs that require warm liquid to activate the yeast, you’re going to use cold milk. The yeast will work its magic later on in the recipe. In the beginning steps of croissants, the dough should always be cold. If, at any point, the dough becomes too warm… stop. Stop what you’re doing and place the dough back in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
The mixer will beat the dough for about 5 minutes. Stand by your mixer as it works the dough. This dough isn’t particularly heavy, but your mixer will still get a workout. Did you see my Instagram story when my mixer FELL OFF MY COUNTER? I walked away at the wrong time and the whole thing danced off the counter. Unplugged itself and everything. Don’t make my mistake!
We made the dough, now we’re going to cover it and let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Now let’s roll out the dough into a 14×10-inch rectangle. Use a clean ruler or measuring tape. The ruler or measuring tape, besides your rolling pin, is the most crucial tool when making croissants.
I recommend using a silicone baking mat. While we will still lightly flour it, the mat is nonstick and it’s a handy guide for the exact measurement. You also need to transfer the dough to a baking sheet and the silicone baking mat makes that possible.
The dough isn’t extremely cold after only 30 minutes in the refrigerator, so it will be easy to roll out. Be precise with the 14×10-inch measurement. The dough will want to be oval shaped, but keep working the edges with your hands and rolling pin until you have the correct size rectangle. You can see how I do all this in the video below.
Cover the rolled out dough and chill it for 4 hours or overnight. Literally pick up the silicone baking mat, put it on top of your baking sheet, cover the dough, and chill it. I usually chill it for 4 hours because there is one more 4 hour or overnight chill period coming up. That’s when I typically chill it overnight, making this a 2 day recipe.
BUTTER
Many croissant recipes instruct you to shape extremely cold butter into a rectangle or square. Have you ever tried to manipulate cold sticks of butter into another shape? It’s really hard. I learned the following trick from Zoe at Zoe Bakes. Please go follow Zoe, she is the absolute best. ♥
Start with softened butter, beat it with flour so it has some stability, then spread into a rectangle and chill it. It’s 100x easier to shape softened butter than it is to shape cold butter. Thank you, Zoe!
You can use any butter you like best. If you’re going to spend money on European style butter, croissants are when to do it. If I’m being honest, I use store-brand butter and love the croissant’s flavor. It’s butter. It’s going to be good regardless.
The butter rectangle is 7×10 inches, half the length of the dough and the same width, so it fits into the dough. We will chill the butter rectangle right on the silicone baking mat. After it’s chilled, we can peel it right off and place it on the dough to begin lamination.
Make sure you only chill the butter for about 30 minutes. Our goal is to have the croissant dough and butter be the same temperature. It makes lamination possible. Butter solidifies much quicker than a soft dough, so that’s why our dough will chill for 4 hours and our butter will only chill for 30 minutes. Make sense?
Because you shaped the butter into the precise 7×10-inch size, it fits nicely on the 14×10-inch dough. (After the butter rectangle chills, you can always cut sharp edges with a pizza cutter or knife to make it the appropriate size.)
Fold the cold dough over the cold butter. Use your fingers to seal the butter inside.
Now we’re going to laminate the dough 3x with a 30 minute break between the 2nd and 3rd time. Why between the 2nd and 3rd time? Because our dough has been out of the refrigerator for long enough by this point and needs to be chilled again. 30 minutes is plenty.
I do not have step-by-step pictures of the lamination process because it’s time sensitive and the dough just became too warm as I tried to set up the shot. However, you can see me laminate the dough and talk through the process in the video below. (3:20-5:15 minutes) Watching me work through this step is more helpful anyway.
Our dough has been rolled out and folded 3x, now it’s time to rest.
Cover the laminated dough and chill it for 4 hours or overnight. This is when I usually chill it overnight.
Roll out the dough 1 more time. This time you’ll roll it into an 8×20-inch rectangle.
Use your pizza cutter and slice the rectangle down the center to create two 4×20 rectangles. Then slice across 3x to create eight 4×5-inch rectangles.
Look at all these layers!!!!
Now slice each of the 8 rectangles into 2 triangles. Using your fingers or a rolling pin, stretch the triangles to be about 8 inches long. Do this gently as you do not want to flatten the layers. Cut a small slit at the wide end of the triangle, then tightly roll up into a crescent shape making sure the tip is underneath.
Loosely cover the shaped croissants and allow to rest at room temperature (I suggest just keeping them on the counter) for 1 hour, then place in the refrigerator to rest for 1 hour. Unlike a lot of croissant recipes, I prefer the shaped croissants to be cold going into the oven. They won’t spread as much. They will rise and proof for the 1 hour at room temperature and continue to do so in the refrigerator for another hour.
The croissants are ready to bake after that! FINALLY.
Brush them with egg wash (egg + milk).
Bake.
Indulge. Because after making the dough and rolling it out a million times, you completely deserve to. Enjoy them plain or with jam or homemade raspberry sauce. Interested in chocolate croissants? Of course you are!
If you happen to have any leftovers, day old croissants are perfect so soak up flavors in an easy breakfast casserole.
FAQ: Why Are There Are Chunks of Butter in my Dough & Why Did Butter Leak Out of the Croissants?
These are 2 common questions and I’m happy to sum it all up for you. Some butter leakage during the baking process is normal and expected, however if your baking croissants are sitting on pools of butter, your butter layer may have been too cold. It would make sense to give the best temperature for the butter layer, but you’re really looking for texture. You want the dough and sheet of butter to be similar in softness. If the butter layer is too hard, it will crack and split under the dough. Let it sit at room temperature to soften before the laminating process (step 7) OR reduce the chill time in step 6 down from 30 minutes to about 15.
See Your Croissants!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂
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How to Make Croissants
- Prep Time: 12 hours, 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 13 hours, 10 minutes
- Yield: 16 croissants
- Category: Pastries
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: French
Description
Buttery, flaky, and perfect homemade croissants!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons; 60g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 cups (500g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for rolling/shaping
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 Tablespoon active dry or instant yeast
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) cold whole milk
Butter Layer
- 1 and 1/2 cups (3 sticks; 345g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 Tablespoons (16g) all-purpose flour
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) whole milk
Instructions
- Preliminary notes: Watch the video below and use the step-by-step photos before you begin. Read the recipe before beginning. Make room in the refrigerator for a baking sheet. In step 6 and again in step 13, you will need room for 2 baking sheets.
- Make the dough: Cut the butter in four 1-Tablespoon pieces and place in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment (or you can use a handheld mixer or no mixer, but a stand mixer is ideal). Add the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Turn the mixer on low-medium speed to gently combine the ingredients for 1 minute. With the mixer running, slowly pour in the milk. Once all of the milk is added, turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat the dough for at least 5 full minutes. (If you don’t have a mixer, knead by hand for 5 minutes.) The dough will be soft. It will (mostly) pull away from the sides of the bowl and if you poke it with your finger, it will bounce back. If after 5 minutes the dough is too sticky, keep the mixer running until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Remove dough from the bowl and, with floured hands, work it into a ball. Place the dough on a lightly floured silicone baking mat lined, lightly floured parchment paper lined, or lightly floured baking sheet. (I highly recommend a silicone baking mat because you can roll the dough out in the next step directly on top and it won’t slide all over the counter.) Gently flatten the dough out, as I do in the video below, and cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Place the entire baking sheet in the refrigerator and allow the covered dough to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Shape the dough: Remove the dough from the refrigerator. I like to keep the dough on the silicone baking mat when I’m rolling it in this step because the mat is nonstick and it’s a handy guide for the exact measurement. Begin flattening out the dough with your hands. You’re rolling it out into a rectangle in this step, so shaping it with your hands first helps the stretchy dough. Roll it into a 14×10-inch rectangle. The dough isn’t extremely cold after only 30 minutes in the refrigerator, so it will feel more like soft play-doh. Be precise with the measurement. The dough will want to be oval shaped, but keep working the edges with your hands and rolling pin until you have the correct size rectangle.
- Long rest: Place the rolled out dough back onto the baking sheet (this is why I prefer a silicone baking mat or parchment because you can easily transfer the dough). Cover the rolled out dough with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, place the entire baking sheet in the refrigerator and allow the covered dough to rest in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight. (Up to 24 hours is ok.)
- Butter layer (begin this 35 minutes before the next step so the butter can chill for 30 minutes): In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter and flour together until smooth and combined. Transfer the mixture to a silicone baking mat lined or parchment paper lined baking sheet. (Silicone baking mat is preferred because you can easily peel the butter off in the next step.) Using a spoon or small spatula, smooth out into a 7×10-inch rectangle. Be as precise as you can with this measurement. Place the entire baking sheet in the refrigerator and chill the butter layer for 30 minutes. (No need to cover it for only 30 minutes.) You want the butter layer firm, but still pliable. If it gets too firm, let it sit out on the counter for a few minutes to gently soften. The more firm the butter layer is the more difficult it will be to laminate the dough in the next step.
- Laminate the dough: In this next step, you will be rolling out the dough into a large rectangle. Do this on a lightly floured counter instead of rolling out on your silicone baking mat. The counter is typically a little cooler (great for keeping the dough cold) and the silicone baking mat is smaller than the measurement you need. Remove both the dough and butter layers from the refrigerator. Place the butter layer in the center of the dough and fold each end of the dough over it. If the butter wasn’t an exact 7×10-inch rectangle, use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to even out the edges. Seal the dough edges over the butter layer as best you can with your fingers. On a lightly floured counter, roll the dough into a 10×20-inch rectangle. It’s best to roll back and forth with the shorter end of the dough facing you, like I do in the video below. Use your fingers if you need to. The dough is very cold, so it will take a lot of arm muscle to roll. Again, the dough will want to be oval shaped, but keep working it with your hands and rolling pin until you have the correct size rectangle. Fold the dough lengthwise into thirds as if you were folding a letter. This was the 1st turn.
- If the dough is now too warm to work with, place folded dough on the baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, and refrigerate for 30 minutes before the 2nd turn. I usually don’t have to.
- 2nd turn: Turn the dough so the short end is facing you. Roll the dough out once again into a 10×20-inch rectangle, then fold the dough lengthwise into thirds as if you were folding a letter. The dough must be refrigerated between the 2nd and 3rd turn because it has been worked with a lot by this point. Place the folded dough on the baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, and refrigerate for 30 minutes before the 3rd turn.
- 3rd turn: Roll the dough out once again into a 10×20-inch rectangle. Fold the dough lengthwise into thirds as if you were folding a letter.
- Long rest: Place the folded dough on the lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. (Up to 24 hours is ok.)
- At the end of the next step, you’ll need 2 baking sheets lined with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. The dough is currently on a lined baking sheet in the refrigerator, so you already have 1 prepared!
- Shape the croissants: Remove the dough from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured counter, roll the dough out into an 8×20-inch rectangle. Use your fingers if you need to. Once again, the dough is very cold, so it will take a lot of arm muscle to roll. The dough will want to be oval shaped, but keep working it with your hands and rolling pin until you have the correct size rectangle. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, slice the dough in half vertically. Each skinny rectangle will be 4-inches wide. Then cut 3 even slices horizontally, yielding 8 4×5-inch rectangles. See photo above for a visual. Cut each rectangle diagonally to make 2 triangles. You have 16 triangles now. Work with one triangle at a time. Using your fingers or a rolling pin, stretch the triangle to be about 8 inches long. Do this gently as you do not want to flatten the layers. Cut a small slit at the wide end of the triangle, then tightly roll up into a crescent shape making sure the tip is underneath. Slightly bend the ends in towards each other. Repeat with remaining dough, placing the shaped croissants on 2 lined baking sheets, 8 per sheet. Loosely cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and allow to rest at room temperature (no warmer– I suggest keeping on the counter) for 1 hour, then place in the refrigerator to rest for 1 hour or up to 12 hours. (Or freeze, see freezing instructions.) I prefer the shaped croissants to be cold going into the oven.
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
- Egg wash: Whisk the egg wash ingredients together. Remove the croissants from the refrigerator. Brush each lightly with egg wash.
- Bake the croissants: Bake until croissants are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Rotate the pans halfway through baking. If croissants show signs of darkening too quickly, reduce the oven to 375°F (190°C).
- Remove croissants from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for a few minutes before serving. They will slightly deflate as they cool.
- Croissants taste best the same day they’re baked. Cover any leftover croissants and store at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. You can also freeze for up to 3 months, then thaw on the counter or overnight in the refrigerator. Warm up to your liking.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Croissants are perfect for getting started ahead of time. The dough can rest for 4 hours or overnight in step 5 and again in step 11. You can also freeze the dough after the 3rd turn in the lamination process (after step 10). Instead of the 4 hour rest in the refrigerator in step 11, wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap or aluminum foil, place in a freezer zipped-top bag, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and continue with step 12. You can also freeze the shaped croissants after they rest for 1 hour at room temperature in step 13. (Before placing in the refrigerator.) Cover them tightly and freeze for up to 1 month. Thaw completely in the refrigerator, then bake as directed.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Stand Mixer | Rolling Pin | Pizza Cutter | Pastry Brush | Silicone Baking Mat | Baking Sheet
- Yeast: I use and recommend Red Star Platinum, an instant yeast. You can use active dry yeast instead if needed. No changes to the recipe or prior proofing required; just mix it in as instructed. (Most modern yeasts are already active!) Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
- Keep Dough Cold: Make sure the dough is ALWAYS cold. If it warms up too much, stop what you’re doing and place the dough back in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
- Floured Surface: Lightly flour the work surface, your hands, the dough, and the rolling pin as you work.
- Air Bubbles: Are there air bubbles in your dough as you roll? That’s ok. Pop them with your fingers or a toothpick, then lightly flour where you popped the air bubble.
- Croissants for Brunch: I recommend starting the recipe the day before in the early afternoon. Complete steps 1-10, then let the laminated dough have a long rest in the refrigerator overnight (step 11). Begin step 13 2-3 hours before brunch.
- Dough adapted from Joy of Baking, Fine Cooking, and Epicurious
Keywords: croissants, homemade croissants
I’ve been making homemade croissants for years and these are some of the best I’ve tried. Great flavor. To anyone saying this dough doesn’t have enough time to rise isn’t following the clear directions. The dough has plenty of time to rest and after shaping them it rests and rises for 2 hours or up to 4 hours (room temp then fridge). Butter leaking is due to butter being too warm to begin with. Sally, this recipe is perfect and thank you for laying everything out so clearly.
★★★★★
This recipe was a waste of my time. I followed the directions to the tee, taking up most of my weekend, but the croissants did not turn out. The dough never had enough time to rise at all. As soon as I placed them in the oven, the butter started leaking everywhere. I know from reading other comments that it is because this recipe does not allow enough time for proofing. As well, the bottoms of the croissants burned without the tops cooking at all. I’m not sure if the rack needed to be higher or if I should have doubled the pans, but either way the directions for the baking step are not complete. I would not recommend using this recipe.
★
Hey there baking friend! This recipe is a great croissant recipe for beginners!
It’s supremely rare that any non-professional making croissants is going to get it even close to perfect in your first 3-5 attempts. It doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong with the recipe – baking can be a tough world, man!
I’ve used this recipe in the past and have had amazing (and not so amazing haha) results with it. I’ve been baking professionally for about 10 years now and have only recently been getting my croissants to my standards. They’re a very finicky baked good with lots of steps – lots of steps means lots of room for error. People work for years trying to perfect their croissant game (ugh! it’s not an easy feat).
I have found it best to bake these croissants right from the fridge (helps with the butter leakage), my oven racks placed mid to high in the oven. The colour of your pans and whatever you’re using to line the pans with will also play a factor in the bottoms burning. I use my lightest sheet lined with my silicone mat.
That being said – all ovens are different. Try a lower temperature for your oven if you were going to try this again. 🙂
Happy baking – thanks Sally for the recipe! You do great work – love your site!
Hi Sally! I started making the dough for the croissants, and after mixing with the dough hook for 10 minutes, it pulled away from the sides of the bowl but still very sticky to handle. I measured ingredients exactly and followed the recipe. Any suggestions on how to get it to be less sticky? I wasn’t sure if putting it in the fridge in the mixing bowl for 20 minutes would solve my problem.
Hi Liz! I’m just seeing this question now and I’m happy to help. You can definitely put the dough in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes to help it firm up before handling or add around 1/4 cup more flour to rid some of that stickiness. Either way will help.
Hi Sally,
Can I use this basic croissant recipe and replace the butter layer with almond paste to make almond croissants instead of plain ones ?
THanks!
Eva
Hi Eva! I wouldn’t replace all of the butter with almond paste. Instead, you can trying beating some almond paste with the butter before you shape it into a square. I haven’t tried this, but that’s where I would start.
Hi Sally!
That sounds like a plan or perhaps leave the recipe as is and then just add the almond paste prior to rolling them..that maybe be a better plan!
BTW I made your famous blueberry muffins and they were phenomenal! Best muffin ever and completely made from scratch! What a huge hit! Thank you for sharing your baking talents!
Eva
Hi! Just made this dough and it’s resting in the fridge. Not sure if this is a problem – I’m noticing the granules of yeast are still visible in the dough and not dissolved. Are these going to get incorporated in the dough during the later steps? I’m worried that I should stop and get instant yeast (I used active dry yeast). If when I roll out the dough they are not getting incorporated, I’m going to start again I think.
My dough looks like that too– it’s no problem! Continue on with the recipe.
Beautiful crispy flaky buttery croissants!
I love croissant and wanted to master making them for a while. During the last week, I made it three times.
In my first two batches, i stick to the recipe my croissant looked like bread with lots of butter leak.
I researched why what i made are not as lovely as they should… I elongated the proofing time from 30 minutes to 3 hours and voila … The BEST CROISSANT EVER… Thank you Sally..
★★★★★
Wow! The croissants were very delicious, I made them. Thanks to sally’s baking addiction…yummy. It’s worth the 12 hrs preparation. I baked them today early in the morning, the prep was done yesterday. Awesome!
★★★★★
Excellent recipe! I am so happy with how my croissants turned out! Buttery, flaky, so delicious! They are not easy to make, but well worth the effort. The instructions and tutorial are simple though, and easy to follow. I splurged and used European butter and it definitely made a difference here. I did it over 2 days and just threw the dough back in the fridge when the butter started weeping and it was just fine. I actually thought the batch baked on parchment turned out better than the Silpat (I only have one). Cant wait to make the chocolate croissants now!
★★★★★
Hello Sally,
This is the first time I have made croissants and I must say, your recipe is very thorough and the step-by-step pictures are wonderful. To the others with over/underdone croissants – get an oven thermometer. That has improved my baking tremendously. Even my oven is correct at some temps and incorrect at others. Simple insurance.
I had a question I hope you can answer. I would like to make and par-bake these to take on a trip with us. I could freeze the croissants after proofing but I would rather have them ‘almost’ done and just give them a finish in the oven. I know the people we are going to see would be amazed if I could do that. If that is possible could you tell me the time needed to par-bake? I would guess 15 minutes, then cool on counter and freeze but was wondering your thoughts? Thanks!
★★★★★
Hi Michelle! So so so happy you love and enjoyed this recipe. Par-baking would definitely work– I recommend 12-15 minutes, cool, cover, (freeze & thaw if you’d like/if needed), then finish baking. You’ll have fresh-baked croissants! There’s nothing like them.
I’ve always wanted to try croissants. I was always intimidated by the lamination and time. I finally decided to go for it and wow! They turned out amazing! Sally gave great directions, pictures and videos. If you follow her, you can’t go wrong! It’s a long, time consuming process but the results are worth it!
★★★★★
Follow the tutorial and all the instructions carefully and you’ll have perfect croissants. Anyone with butter leaking, your butter could have been too soft when laminating. This dough was perfect. Thanks Sally, great recipe. I will be back for more!
★★★★★
I made croissants for the very first time with this recipe, and it was not as hard as I thought! Sally, your recipe is very thorough and easy to follow. I used Irish butter and they came out SO delicious! I had to restrain myself to not eat half the batch in one sitting! I think next time I will try increasing the proofing time after they are shaped, since I used active dry yeast, just to try to get a little more airiness. Will definitely make again!
★★★★★
After my labor of love making these, I was so looking forward to a classic French crossiant. I ended up with really good tasting cresent rolls. I followed this recipe to a tee too!
★★★
Everyone one in our family loves Croissants. I do all kinds of baking. But looking at all the complicated moves to make your own was too complicated, two to three day recipe. Just over a year ago my 11 year old granddaughter who wants to be a baker. Asked me to make Cinnamon buns as well as Croissants. Well I made my Cinnamon buns. Not having the time or finding the right recipe to do it. Well this year I said that we would conquer the Croissants recipe. Your video, has very clear pictures. She did it ALL by herself. Took her 3 days to do it. Very flaky. Turned out awesome. EVERYONE loved them. going to try Chocolate next time. Victoria
★★★★★
I rarely post reviews, but I use recipes from this site all the time and I LOVE them so I thought I should share how awesome this recipe works.
I have made croissants with several different recipes. I have made one day versions and up to three day versions. This recipe just produced some of the best croissants I have ever made.
I did need to bake mine a few extra minutes but that’s because of the high elevation I live at. The recipe itself: perfect!
★★★★★
Fabulous recipe, thanks! We started them yesterday and finished them today just in time for brunch! Quick question: we found they needed salt. Can we use salted butter?
★★★★★
Certainly! You can use whichever kind of butter you like best. Thank you for making my recipe, David!
Absolutely perfect recipe! Turned out way beyond my expectations. Crunchy, layery, perfect. Were an absolute hit and will be coming back to this recipe every time! Thank you!!!!
★★★★★
I am in the process of making this again but gluten free. Let you know tomorrow how they turn out.
★★★★★
Well they are done. The gluten free ones did not absorb the butter as well and they did not puff up very big. But that is the problem with gluten free. They do taste good though. I will try again but I will beat the dough 10 min instead of 5. We love love the all purpose flour croissants.
I’m hoping you can help me. Everything was going beautifully until I went to put the egg wash on and popped them in the oven. The egg wash dropped onto the tin foil of my baking sheet and burned all of the croissants bottoms to a black color. This happened the first time I tried the recipe (egg wash spilling onto tin foil and burning only a couple of the bottoms). Should I do the egg wash differently or not do it on the tin foil lining of the baking sheet?
Hi Sara! Happy to help. I recommend baking the croissants on parchment paper or a silicone baking mat instead of aluminum foil.
Thank you so much, I appreciate you for your help on this recipe. I have this project that has everything to do with foods and we’re having a party before we take our exams. I wish you can teach me more recipes with croissants because I just want to try something new with them.
★★★★★
Hi Faith, You can use this recipe to make chocolate croissants also!
They look very doughy in the middle, is there something I can do to make them more flaky like a traditional croissant?
Hi Anna! Make sure you’re following the recipe including each particular folding/laminating step. If the croissants are doughy in the middle, I fear they aren’t cooked long enough.
OMG!!! I was looking for a crossiant recipe to email to my daughter-in-law. I stumbled onto your recipe. I make morning buns because I don’t cut the crossiants out very well. But your method is fool-proof. Winner winner chicken dinner
I have one small easy tip for the butter block. I place it in a freezer bag roll it out place in fridge. When the dough is ready place on top of dough and roll out. Hope that helps
★★★★★
Hi Sally
Thanks for the recipe. My croissants did turn out however they were a bit dry. I had to use more flour in my dough as it was really runny and I think that’s what made it dry. It lacked that real buttery taste. However they did come up nicely and everyone enjoyed them good for my first time.
★★★★★
Hello Sally!
I’ll be making the chocolate croissants for a company thing soon but figured since I never made something so complex, I’d start with this recipe to practice.
I haven’t gotten to the baking part but I laminated my dough last night and have it chilling in the fridge until I get home from work tonight. I ran into a few issues.
The first 4 hour rest, I let the dough rest overnight – less than 24 hours but definitely more than 12. I then made the butter layer which ended up being slightly too big for the dough somehow even though I was measuring at every step. So I just sliced off some pieces of butter and stacked it on top of the layer of butter. After rolling the dough out, I have a lot of big chunks of butter throughout the dough including some areas where pieces kind of popped out. It definitely doesn’t look as smooth as the surface of your dough. Perhaps I let the butter chill too long? What is the butter supposed to feel like before lamination? Should it be creamy enough to incorporate through dough?
Like I said I’ll try baking tonight but do you think there’s any way to save this specific batch? If not and it doesn’t turn out, I guess that’s what practice is for.
Thank you!
Hi Paul! Happy to help. The butter shouldn’t be too hard inside the dough– it should be cool and relatively soft and pliable. (Not creamy to mix with the dough, no.) If it’s too hard, not all is lost. You’ll still have some wonderful lamination. You can continue on with your batch. I know you’ll still have some delicious layers.
I made these this weekend and it was so much fun! I followed the recipe to the letter and they didn’t raise very much at all and some butter came out in the baking. I fear that when I am stretching the triangles out before rolling them into shapes I am distrubing the butter layers? Any suggestions for next time?
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Hi Lauran! I am just seeing your question now- what always helps keeping that butter in the shaped croissants is to chill the shaped croissants before baking. Chilling for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator helps. Also, you could be stretching the triangles too much– just give them a light pull to shape them.
I’ve done this twice and had so much fun! And they’ve gotten better each time. But They are always a tiny bit dry. I love crackly croissants, but how do I balance crackly with tender? And how do bakeries make the top glossy and not dried out?
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Hi Meg! A brush of egg wash promises a lovely shiny top!
These croissants turned out Amazing!! Buttery, flaky and delicious! This was my first time making them. I have a question. This morning when I got the dough out of the fridge (I did my long rest, step 11, overnight) I noticed the dough had risen. I was slightly panicked because I wasn’t sure this was supposed to happen. I decided not to freak out, I rolled and shaped my croissants- I made half plain and half chocolate…. then I left them on the counter for 30 minutes and in the fridge for just over an hour. They did NOT rise At All during this time even though I was expecting them too rise- still didn’t panic lol. I egg washed them and put them in the oven and they doubled in size during the baking process!! Why did they Not rise after shaping? Does this have anything to do with the rise that happened in the fridge? Is that ok if it happens that way?
Hi Erin, I’m so glad that you tried these and that you enjoyed them so much! The long first rise is perhaps why they didn’t rise as much the second time, but if the end result was successful then there wasn’t anything wrong with it!
Yes, they turned out perfect… my second batch turned out even better. I rolled my dough thiner, got my more rolls in the shaping process for both the plain and chocolate croissants. My third batch of dough in on its first rest now. Lol, my husband is now having flashbacks to when I had to perfect my French Macarons – when I make up my mind to perfect something I pretty much think of nothing else lol. And, I am testing a few proof ones from batch two in the freezer to see how they bake up from frozen in a couple days time. I’ve been buying lovely all butter croissants from our local Harris Teeter grocery store- tastes just like being in France- then bakery manager allows me to buy them frozen, already proofed, and they go into the oven at 375 for 25 minutes and are delicious for a quick French craving fix, sadly they don’t have chocolate croissants so my quest has been to make and freeze proofed ones to satisfy my occasional need to feel like I am sitting in a cafe in the south of France sipping my latte while flakey butter layers filled with Valrhona chocolate add pounds to my thighs… winters coming it’s time to bulk up lol
Thanks again for such a well written and documented recipe. I always know I can count on you for outstanding results. I always use a kitchen scale when I bake and find working in grams the absolute best way to go so I really appreciate that. We’ve lived in Munich a couple of times and I can always refer my European and other expat friends to your recipes because they don’t have to convert anything! Just read and bake!!!
Best croissant recipe, hands down! I made the chocolate ones, but I also made a ham and cheese one, and an apple pie version. I’m going to have a coronary, eating all this butter! This is a pretty no-fail recipe. I’ve baked them twice this week with outstanding results. Hubby loves them, too, of course. Thank you!
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I’m in the middle of making this now, in between the 2nd and 3rd lamination. My dough is a mess! The butter keeps oozing out, and there are thin layers peeling every once in awhile while I’m rolling. I’m going to continue with it. At the very least, it should taste good, right?
If the butter is simply too warm– refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes before trying again. How do they taste?
May i know the brand and size of the baking pan you used?
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Hi Kathrina, This is just a half sheet pan. The brands I own and recommend are #1 on this list: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/stock-your-kitchen-with-these-8-baking-pans/