Classic Croissants
These croissants are really delicious. I have tried lots of times. These are crispy from outside & soft from inside.
These croissants are really delicious. I have tried lots of times. These are crispy from outside & soft from inside.
- Carbohydrate 63.889818748992 g
- Cholesterol 84.77 mg
- Fat 21.8315958333204 g
- Fiber 2.50193753631324 g
- Protein 9.53856958319689 g
- Saturated Fat 13.201706874998 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (131g)
- Sodium 15.4650833333069 mg
- Sugar 61.3878812126788 g
- Trans Fat 1.80725979166237 g
- Calories 491 calories
Step-by-step
- Place the yeast, flour, sugar, vanilla, salt and the milk and mix for 2 minutes until forms a soft moist dough. If most of the flour isn''t moistened, add more, a tablespoon at a time until it is moistened and smooth, using up to 4 tablespoons. knead for 10 to 8 minute.
- Turn the dough out of the bowl onto a floured board, cover with a damp tea towel and allow it to rest for 15 minutes to relax the gluten. Remove the towel and, using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 10 by 9-inch rectangle 6-inch thick. Wrap in plastic then cill to overnight.
- Ten minutes before the dough is done resting in the refrigerator, prepare the butter. Beat it with your rolling pin on a floured surface to soften it and form a rectangle 6 by 8 inches. Place it between parchment paper or plastic wrap and set aside.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it on a floured work surface into a 10 by 15-inch and 1/4-inch thick rectangle. Brush any excess flour off the dough. Place the shorter side of the dough parallel to the front of your body on the work surface. Place the butter in the middle, long-ways. Fold the bottom up over the butter and brush off any excess flour and then fold the top down over the butter to overlap and encase the butter. Press down lightly with the rolling pin to push all the layers together and make sure they have contact.
- Continue rolling the laminated (layered) dough to form a new 10 by15-inch rectangle, patching any holes with a dusting of flour where butter may have popped through. Fold into thirds, like a letter, brush off any excess flour and mark it with an indentation made by poking your finger once at the corner of the dough meaning you have completed the first "turn".
- Wrap well in plastic and chill 1 hour . Do this again three more times marking it accordingly each time and chilling in between each turn.
- After the fourth turn, you can let the dough chill overnight, or, for 1 hour, or, roll it out to a 13 by 24-inch square that is a little less than 1/4-inch thick and cut out your croissants and shape them.
- I roll out my dough and cut it with a pizza cutter wheel into 6-inch strips then cut them into triangles, 6 inches wide at the base of the triangle
- Stretch these triangles again 9 inches long, then
- Roll the triangles up towards you starting at the wide end and place them 2 inches apart on a parchment lined sheet pan with the tip tucked under and the ends slightly curved in to make a crescent shape. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and milk and brush the croissants with this egg wash.
- To proof the croissants, place them in an oven that is warm but not turned on, with a pan of hot water in the bottom to create a moist environment like a proof box. Set aside to proof for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours until puffed up and spongy to the touch. Remove from the oven.
- Spritz a preheated 425 degree F oven with water, close the door, and get the croissants. Place the croissants in the oven and spritz again, close the door and turn the oven down to 400 degrees F. After 10 minutes, rotate your pan if they are cooking unevenly and turn the oven down to 375 degrees F. Bake another 5 to 8 minutes until golden brown.
Unsalted butter acts as the primary structural agent in yeast-leavened laminated dough, containing roughly eighty percent milk fat and minimal water content to prevent premature steam expansion during lamination. Keeping the butter pliable yet cool ensures it maintains distinct sheets between the dough layers rather than melting into the flour matrix. The initial dough requires thorough kneading to develop a resilient gluten network capable of trapping carbon dioxide without tearing when rolled thin. Resting the dough under a damp towel for fifteen minutes relaxes those gluten strands, allowing the mass to stretch easily into precise geometric dimensions without snapping back.
Maintaining thermal control throughout the four distinct turns prevents the butter from breaking through the exterior layers. If the butter softens excessively during rolling, place the wrapped dough into the refrigerator for twenty minutes to firm the fat back up. When cutting the final triangles, a sharp pizza cutter wheel prevents dragging and sealing the delicate edges, which would otherwise inhibit proper oven spring. Brushing the shaped pastries with an egg wash containing both whole egg and milk provides proteins and natural sugars that promote rapid browning and deep color development.
Creating a humid proofing environment using a pan of hot water inside an unheated oven encourages the yeast to produce gas efficiently without melting the butter layers prematurely. Baking begins at four hundred twenty-five degrees Fahrenheit with a burst of steam to maximize expansion before stepping down the temperature to four hundred and then three hundred seventy-five degrees. This progressive reduction ensures the interior crumb cooks thoroughly while the exterior develops a crisp, shatteringly fragile crust.
Day-old croissants lose their crispness as moisture migrates from the interior crumb into the exterior crust, softening the delicate layers. Restoring that original textural contrast requires returning the pastries to a three-hundred-degree oven for five minutes to drive off excess internal moisture and recrisp the outer shell. Serve these warm pastries alongside sharp savory elements like cured meats or a bright citrus salad, where the high fat content and rich buttery flavor provide a necessary counterweight to acidic and salty accompaniments.
