Croissant
Croissant
A laminated French breakfast pastry. This is a project. The butter has to stay cold. You will be proud.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: Croissant.
0 people cooked this in the public kitchen yet. Kitchen-tested by I Want Some Food. Not a purchased rating.
- Prep
- 1 hr
- Cook
- 20 min
- Total
- 13 hr 20 min
- Difficulty
- Expert
- Spice
- No chilli
- Cost
- Cheap nightUnder $8 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
A croissant is yeasted dough wrapped around a sheet of butter, folded, rolled, and baked until the layers steam apart. It is bakery science more than 'a bit of pastry'. Give it two days. If you want something croissant-shaped tonight, buy one from someone who already suffered.
Ingredients
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
Mix flour, water, milk, sugar, yeast, salt and 30g softened butter into a dough. Knead just until smooth, not bouncy-bread elastic. Cover and refrigerate 12 hours.
20 minTip: Cold fermentation is flavour and scheduling.
Step 2
Beat 250g cold butter into a 15cm square between parchment. It should be pliable-cold, like clay, not greasy-soft and not rock-hard.
15 minStep 3
Roll dough into a rectangle, encase the butter, seal edges. Roll to a long rectangle and fold in three like a letter. Chill 30–45 minutes. Repeat the roll-and-fold twice more, chilling between turns.
40 minWatch: If butter smears or breaks into shards, stop and chill. Temperature is the whole technique.
Step 4
Roll to about 4mm thick. Cut triangles, stretch gently, roll from the base, curve into crescents. Proof until visibly puffy and jiggly, 2–3 hours depending on the room.
30 minStep 5
Heat oven to 200°C. Egg-wash. Bake 15–20 minutes until deep brown. Pale croissants are underbaked layers.
20 min200°CStep 6
Cool at least 15 minutes. The inside is still setting. Then eat. You earned it.
Adapt this recipe
The canonical recipe stays intact. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are maths, not AI.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 24 August.
Substitutions
European butter → Standard supermarket butter
Higher water content can leak. Work colder and expect a little less flake.
Tips
- A marble board helps. A fridge that is actually cold helps more.
- Day-old croissants become almond croissants or bread pudding. Nothing is wasted except your Saturday, which was the point.
History & culture
The croissant as laminated Viennoiserie is a French craft with Austrian ancestry. It is breakfast, not a personality. Eat it the morning it is baked. Tear, don't saw, unless you are spreading jam like a monster (allowed).
Kipferl and Viennese bakers; Parisian lamination made the flaky crescent the world copies. Factory croissants exist. This recipe is the opposite hobby.
Traditional — Home oven, not a deck oven. Still real lamination. European-style butter (higher fat) behaves better.
Provenance: Editorial adaptation. Original editorial adaptation for I Want Some Food. Photograph: SUBARU sti 2020 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Croissant%20hk%20DIY.jpg
