important steps to make croissants from scratch
There are not a lot of fancy or hard to come by ingredients in this homemade flaky croissants recipe. In fact, you probably already have everything you need in the pantry and refrigerator.
What makes butter croissants so wonderful – and also intimidating – is the time and patience it takes to develop the croissant dough.
prepare
Plan Ahead – I recommend making the dough the day before you want to serve croissants, because the dough is best when it has time to refrigerate overnight.
Make Space In The Refrigerator – You will need to refrigerate the dough as you work. The baking sheet you use to chill the dough will take up some room.
Use Good Butter – I recommend good quality butter because it has a higher fat content. Thus resulting in light and flaky croissants.
make and laminate the dough
Prepare the Dough – The dough comes together easily in a stand mixer, you don’t have to knead it forever by hand, and it just needs time to proof and rise.
Make the Butter Square – The magic in this croissant recipe! The butter square is easily prepared by just mixing butter and flour. It is chilled, then placed on top of the dough after it has proofed and is rolled out.
Wrap the Dough Around The Butter Square – The dough encases the butter. And once you start rolling and folding the dough, the butter is distributed into every layer.
Roll, Fold, Chill, Repeat – Otherwise known as laminating dough. Laminating dough refers to the folding process of the dough. This gives the dough many, many layers, and is critical for making croissants with tons of flaky layers. The rolling and folding part is often referred to as ‘turns’. We make 3 turns of the croissant dough. Then we chill the dough after each turn. We don’t want the butter to melt!
refrigerate the dough
Refrigerate the Dough Overnight – After your final turn, I recommend refrigerating the dough overnight. This allows the dough to rest, the butter to chill, and flavors to develop.
rolling the croissants and the final proof
Roll Out the Chilled Dough – Roll the chilled dough into a large rectangle, then cut into triangles to make the croissants.
Final Proof the Croissants – Once you have your shaped croissants, they need more time to rest and proof.
bake and enjoy the croissants
Bake the Croissants – I have included instructions in the recipe if using a standard oven or convection oven. This may be the only recipe on the blog (so far) where I give this information. And that is because this is the only recipe where I have tested both!
Enjoy! – As with any homemade baked treat, like bagels, flaky croissants are best enjoyed the day they are baked!
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