Go Back
–+ servings
Print
Freshly baked croissants with golden crust and flaky layers.

Croissants Recipe

Flaky, buttery Homemade Croissants fresh from your own oven bring crisp edges and soft layers to the table. Roll, fold, bake, and enjoy them warm.

Course: Bread
Cuisine: French
Servings: 25
Author: Recipe by Pierre Hermé

Ingredients

For the Dough

  • 750 g – 6 cups all-purpose flour
  • 14 g – 2 packets yeast
  • 110 g + 2 tsp sugar
  • 70 g – 5 tbsp milk
  • 18 g – 1 tbsp salt
  • 53 g – 3 ¾ tbsp butter – at room temperature
  • 23 g – 1 ½ tbsp milk powder
  • 300 g – 1 ¼ cups water

For the Beurrage

  • 490 g – 4 ⅓ sticks butter – divided into two, at room temperature

For the Egg Wash

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 pinch salt

Instructions

Dough Preparation

  1. Sift the flour into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a hook attachment. Add the salt, 110 g sugar – 9 tablespoons, milk powder, milk, and the 53 g – 3 ¾ tablespoons of soft butter.
  2. Dissolve the yeast in half of the water, making sure it is lukewarm, and add the 2 teaspoons of sugar. Set aside to activate. When frothy, add it to the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
  3. Knead the dough only until the ingredients are just combined. Do not overwork it, as you do not want to develop the gluten too much. Add the remaining water as needed to obtain a smooth dough.
  4. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a bowl. Cover with cling wrap and let it rise for 1 to 1 ½ hours, or until doubled in size.
  5. Punch down the dough, pressing it with your fist to return it to its initial size. Cover with cling wrap again and refrigerate for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.
  6. Punch the dough down once more to its initial size.
  7. At this point, either continue with the recipe or store the dough in the refrigerator until the next day. In both cases, chill the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Preparing the Beurrage

  1. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it into a long rectangle using a rolling pin. Cover with cling wrap and return it to the fridge while preparing the butter.
  2. Take 2 sheets of baking paper and measure them against the rolled-out dough. Prepare 2 paper rectangles, each measuring 2 ⅔ of the length of the dough.
  3. Fold each sheet of baking paper in half, then fold 2.5 cm – 1 inch inward on the three open edges, starting with the two sides, to form a sealed butter packet.
  4. Divide the butter into 2 equal portions and place them inside the paper packets. Close the packets and roll the butter from the outside until it fills them evenly.
  5. Return the butter packets to the fridge to firm up completely. Both the butter and the dough must be very cold before continuing to prevent leakage during lamination.

Laminating the Dough

  1. Once the butter has firmed up again, remove the paper from only one butter packet. Take the cold dough out of the fridge and position the rectangle of butter over the lower two-thirds of the dough.
  2. Fold the bottom third of the dough up over the butter, then fold the top third down over itself, forming a simple three-fold. You should now see 3 layers.
  3. Roll the dough out again into a long rectangle and repeat the same three-fold, without adding any more butter.
  4. Cover the dough with cling wrap and place it in the freezer for 30 minutes, then transfer it to the fridge for 1 hour.
  5. Roll the dough out again into a long rectangle of the same size. Repeat the three-folds, first using the remaining butter and then once more without butter.
  6. Flour the work surface as needed and brush away excess flour before each fold.
  7. At this stage, you should have completed 4 single turns in total. This includes one turn with butter, one without butter, a resting period, then one turn with the second butter packet, and a final turn without butter.
  8. Cover the dough and refrigerate overnight. This resting time makes shaping easier and allows the butter to firm up properly.

Shaping and Baking

  1. The next day, roll the dough out into a 2.5 mm – 0.1 inch thick slab. If it begins to warm up, return it to the fridge to cool.
  2. Divide the dough into 3 portions and work with one at a time, keeping the remaining dough refrigerated.
  3. Cut triangles measuring 18 cm – 7 inches tall and 10 cm – 4 inches wide. Make a small slit in the centre of the base of each triangle.
  4. Roll each triangle from the base, gently pulling to elongate it slightly. Curve into croissants and place on a parchment-lined baking tray, leaving 5 cm – 2 inches between each one.
  5. Leave the shaped croissants to rise at room temperature for 1 ½ to 2 hours, loosely covered with cling wrap.
  6. Repeat with the remaining dough.
  7. Once the croissants have risen, brush them with the egg wash using a pastry brush.

  8. Bake for 20 minutes in an oven preheated to 220°C – 430°F, lowering the temperature to 190°C – 375°F immediately after placing the croissants in the oven.

    Note: The croissants will appear dark once baked, but the full baking time is essential for a soft and airy interior.

  9. Allow the croissants to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe Notes

Since croissants take time to prepare, it’s best to make the full batch. The shaped croissants can be frozen before they rise by wrapping them individually in plastic wrap and storing them in a zip-top bag. When ready to bake, take them out the night before, let them come back to room temperature, then allow them to rise and bake following the instructions above.

You can also bake the full batch the same day. Once completely cooled, freeze the croissants. To serve, take them straight from the freezer and reheat in a preheated oven at 190°C – 375°F for about 5 minutes.