Croissants are just one of those things where you will never fully appreciate one when you eat it, until you’ve put in the hours making them yourself.
They aren’t incredibly difficult but they really are a labour of love!
Once you’ve got the method of handling the dough down, you basically just need good time-keeping and patience for successful croissant dough.
I always find it SO HARD to concentrate on long recipe instructions, so normally end up ‘ad libbing’ my way through them based on instinct; but when it comes to French baked goods (macarons, puff pastry, croissants) there is just no way you can make that shiz up.
I dunno if other people feel the same way, but I decided to make you all another .gif guide, so that if like me, you too hate to read super long recipes, at least you have some moving pictures to guide you along.
And it’s worth it, look, they are SO PRETTY 😀
That’s why I’ve made an extra post here, where you can see more photos (yeah, I literally just put a post up containing only croissant photos because I am a cray face)
Yup im going to write it again, real big incase you’re skim reading this:
CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THE PRETTY, PRETTY CROISSANTAYS.
Ugh, I hope you enjoy this.
p.s. Also, by some super strange coinky dink, my friend Erica has also done a croissant tutorial (her’s seems easier than my method tbh) I think we must have a psychic food connection haha 🙂
Recipe + Method adapted from Nancy Silverton via Gourmet, here, here and here
To make the dough:
1 cup (250 ml) cold milk (I used 2%)
1/2 cup (125 ml) boiling water
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
3 3/4 cup (500 g) all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup + 2tbsp (9 oz/ 250 g) butter, frozen, then left at room temp. for 20-30 minutes
1. Pour the milk and boiling water into a large bowl. Stir in the yeast and sugar, leave for 5 minutes until frothy.
2. Add in the flour and salt, incorporate it with your hands into a shaggy ball.
3. Tip the contents out onto a clean work surface and knead until you’ve incorporated all the flour (this should only take about 2 minutes). Place the dough into an oiled bowl, and leave in the fridge to rest for 1 hour.
3. When your dough has been in the fridge for 30 minutes, take your frozen butter (which has been left at room temperature for 20-30 minutes), and grate onto a piece of cling film (aka plastic wrap)
4. Disperse the butter, and flatten into a rectangle, roughly 8″ x 5″. Fold up in the cling film and pat together well (seriously, like make sure it’s nicely compacted). Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Once the butter has been chilling for 25 minutes (cos he’s a cool dude, you know), tip the chilled dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll into a 16″ x 10″ rectangle.
6. Unwrap the chilled butter block and place into the centre of the dough. Fold the dough into thirds over the butter (like a business letter). Seal all the edges by pinching the dough together.
7. Rotate the dough 90 degrees, use the roiling pin to make regular indentations in the dough.
8. Roll into a 15″ x 10″ rectangle.
9. Fold into thirds like a business letter. Wrap the dough in cling film, and refrigerate for 1 hour. (steps 8+9 = ‘one turn’ of the dough)
10. Remove the dough from the fridge, unwrap and complete 1 turn (i.e. repeat steps 8 + 9). Re-wrap in the cling film, refrigerate for 1 hour.
11. Repeat step 10, two more times, so you have done a total of 4 turns.
12. Cut the dough into quarters. Wrap the quarters tightly in cling film and refrigerate for 8-12 hours, or freeze for up to 3 months (if you freeze it, let the dough defrost in the fridge overnight before shaping).
For a guide to shaping + baking Chocolate Croissants, click here!!
or
For a guide to shaping + baking Cinnamon-Raisin Danish Swirls, click here!!
or
Continue reading for a guide to shaping + baking plain Croissants
Shaping the dough
Remove one piece of dough from the fridge, unwrap it, and roll out on a lightly floured surface into a 16″ x 6″ rectangle.
Cut into thirds, forming 3 smaller rectangles. Cut each of these rectangles in half diagonally forming 6 triangles.
Take one triangle of dough (I recommend putting the others in the fridge while you shape each one).
Pull on the corners of the shortest edge, to even up the base of the triangle. Then gently stretch the dough a little
Cut a small slit in the base of the triangle, stretch it, then roll the dough up.
Place it, tip side down, onto a lined cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the triangles, placing them 2″ apart.
(at this point you can also freeze the shaped croissants on the baking sheet, then once frozen, transfer them to a plastic bag and leave in the freezer for up to 3 months, then defrost in the fridge overnight and proceed as below).
Bake:
Cover loosely with cling film and leave to rise in a cool place for around 2-3 hours ( if you’re making these the night before, you can actually shape them and leave them to rise in the fridge overnight instead).
Once ready to bake, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (22o degrees C) . Brush the croissants with beaten egg using a pastry brush and put into the oven. Immediately lower the temperature to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C), and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until well browned and puffy.
Let cool on a wire rack. Enjoy your 2 to I-literally-don’t-know-how-long-these-took-to-make-any-more day labour of love.
YAYYAYAY! This post is absolutely GORGEOUS! I wish I had your gif making skills!
Thank you!!! 🙂 believe me, you don’t want them, they take hours -_- haha
Wait a seccy, I’ll pop a link to your tutorial in too 😉 xx
80% through.. Now waiting for the overnight sit.. Wish me best of luck.. Btw urs is the best visually as well as precise recipe available online… : )
It was great to learn about the making of the croissants. wonderfully shown through pictures. The final shape is really too interesting and is unique. Thanks a lot. I shall try them out .
When reading recipes for croissants, I never understood the turning bit… but now I do! GIFs are the future haha
http://www.wakemeupwithasmile.wordpress.com
x
totally! I always end up having to read long recipes a few times to understand them properly! I’m fully in love with .gifs, they are my life :’)
cooooooooooooooooooooool
Hello! I just discovered your blog this evening, and I thought I’d say that I love your photos. Gorgeous! Also, this step-by-step with gifs is brilliant. Hope you have a Happy New Year!
Thank you so much! I love your blog 🙂
You too!!
Wonderful post!! You and Erica have inspired me to try my hand at croissant making. The step-by-step gifs are so helpful and vivid. They look great, but how did they taste? Would you make this recipe again or keep experimenting?
Maral
http://www.letslivelavida.blogspot.com
Good good! This was my first attempt so I was pretty pleased that they turned out quite well! I would definitely make them again, but I have to wait until I have another 2 days free to make them haha 😉
Beautiful croissants! Do you grate the butter so that it’s easier to shape into the rectangle? Also, because the butter is grated and not quite as dense do you find that it incorporates into the dough more easily?
Thanks Katherine!!
Haha, yeah, I found the idea of smashing butter around kind of daunting, so I just grated it instead!
I smushed it together quite well, but it definitely was less dense than a sheet of butter would be; seeming as this was the first time I’ve made croissants, I couldn’t say if it would be easier because I have nothing to compare the experience to, but it worked for me the two times I made it and was pretty easy to roll out 🙂
Me too. I’m not a big fan of smashing butter to make the butter packet for either croissants or puff pastry. Interesting technique. Will definitely try.
This is the greatest post of life!! You are a gif, how-to queen. Croissants are officially next on my to-bake list. Thanks!
ahahaha why thank you! it is also the post that has taken me the longest EVER to make (I literally have lost count of how many hours I spent on it now :/). They were always on my to bake list, but somehow kept getting pushed back in favour of cookies and such; now that I’ve made them, there are like 20 in the freezer, so I won’t have to make them again for quite a while, scorreeeeee 😉
This is awesome. Croissants are one of those things that seem really intimidating unless you can actually see what needs to happen in order to make them. (Often have I gazed lovingly at the croissant-making pictures in the Tartine bread book, but there still seemed to be a bit of mystery to the whole process, even with the step-by-step pictures.) The .gifs are perfect for making this look like a totally do-able process!
Thanks Carey! Ugh, they totally are; all the words jumble up and somehow I can end up completely misinterpreting methods because of my lack of concentration.
Yeah, when making this post I think I read about 5 different croissant recipes to make sure I understood the method, one of them being the recipe in the Tartine book; some of their pictures helped me, but I find it so much easier to understand by seeing movement rather than stills!
A few years ago I made croissants from Baking with Julia and they turned out! From what I remember, the directions seem pretty similar to yours, for the most part.
Even though I love a good shot of a baked, flaky, croissant, my favorite is the one of the rolled, raw dough where you can see all your infinite layers! Divine!
Wow! I was a bit to intimidated by her mega-long recipe to try it haha 🙂
Yes I know exactly what you mean! It’s so satisfying to see the actual butter and dough layers beforehand!!
Izy , these are beautiful! I love all of those flaky layers of bread; they pop out at me in every photo. I’ve made Pain au Chocolat before, and the technique was similar, but not quite as drawn out. The end result was less flaky and more buttery – one of my favorite recipes! I’ve always planned to try croissants at some point though, and I feel like you’re pushing me to do that right now, big time!
And your .gifs are always fun to look at. How did you learn how to do those? You really are inspiring. 🙂
Thank you Alexandra! Yeah I kinda went into the whole ‘croissant making thing’ full force, not realising how much waiting time there actually was, but I think it was worth it for the layers! Hahaha, croissants are pretty fun to make, and a good way to impress people 😉
I’m pretty much a huge computer nerd, so when I want to learn how to do something I google away for a few hours and read up on the best methods. After that it’s just down to practice, a tripod and someone to push the shutter button on the camera!
Oh… è delizioso questo tuo modo di descrivere una ricetta
altrimenti lunga da leggere, grazie
provo certamente i tuoi croissant , un abbraccio
Felice 2013
ciao Stefania
I just found your site from Foodgawker. I love the gif files!! It’s simply superb. Did you videotape it and then take screen shots from the video to make the gifs?
I also love the photography!
thanks! I use my camera to take a bunch of photos while making them and then turn it into a .gif (it takes a million years to do haha)
Wow – that’s really dedicated and really creative!
Thank you very, very much for your specific video presentation !
Great work & wish you a happy new year !!
Love the detailed post. But I love even more the animated gifs and the fact that you change beautiful nail polish color each time 😉
thank you!! haha, you’ve noticed! I always aim to have different nail polish on in each of my food videos / .gifs (although it’s usually chipped :/ )
Stunning post and now I am certainly craving croissants 🙂
thank you!!
WOW! I made croissant a couple of times and I have to tell you, yours are absolutely beautiful, I’m jealous actually!
thanks! I’m so happy that they turned out so well, they were my first attempt, I guess I was just lucky 😉
These are just fabulous! Love Your Blog!
thank you 😀
Beautiful Croissants and even more beautiful pictures!!! My compliments for this post!!! Amazing!!!!
aww thanks so much!
So gorgeous! Wouldn’t mind one or two of those right now.
thanks!! Luckily I’ve got a gazillion in the freezer now so I can eat them whenever 😉
They are so gorgeous! Well done! Perfect croissants 🙂
Thanks Natasha!!
This tutorial gave me the confidence to try my hand at croissant making, and the end result was AMAZING!!! Thank you SO much for this tutorial!! It is so user friendly and the end result it beyond worth it! My only modification was I did a half batch of pain au chocolat which came out beautifully!
Omigoodness, recipes WITH gifs?? You are awesome! I agree with the others – this detailed post makes me feel like I can actually make successful make croissants. Thank you so much!
wow. cool animated photos!
The gifs make it so much easier to understand! I’ll be trying this at the weekend! I wanted to check though – I’m assuming you use unsalted butter in these? And are the oven temperatures for a fan oven or should I reduce them?
Also, there’s a few farm shops around us that sell frozen croissants and pastries. They recommend putting the pastries on a baking tray the night before, and leaving out on the side to defrost and prove overnight. Then in the morning you don’t have to wait 2-3 hours for them to prove, you just heat up the oven, brush with milk/egg and pop them straight in. =) I plan on making a monster batch so I can do this with home-made pastries. I probably wouldn’t have tried this if I hadn’t seen your gifs.
Thanks! Yup I used unsalted butter and a fan assisted oven 🙂
Thanks for the tip!
Croissants had been on my baking to-do list FOREVER, and this was the post that actually pushed me to finally do it. Mainly because your amazing .gif’s were a godsend for us visual learners! These were worth every bit of time and energy spent – aMAZing. Mine didn’t puff up nearly as much as yours, I’m thinking maybe I stretched the dough too much when forming…?? I’m excited to try it again!
Thanks! So glad you tried them out 🙂 Yes, I think that would probably be the most likely cause, or maybe just underproving them before baking
What a great post! You’ve totally inspired me to give this a go this weekend! Love the gifs., completely demystified the whole process. Need to figure out how to do that too!
I follow a different method same result I’m sure. Just thought I’d toss in that I use European butter. Flavor is melting . Thanks for the bloggie.
Julia
I stumbled across your blog via Brown Eyed Baker and I love it! I was looking for a croissant recipe for an Oscar Party I am going to tomorrow (I thought this would go well with Amour). After lots of research…this recipe is just what I am after. And thanks for the lovely step-by-step!!!
Hi! Firstly, I want to say THANK YOU!!!! You read my mind the whole way through! This is something I’ve always wanted to try, particularly after my visit to Paris last year and being disappointed by the amount of butter standing at the bottom of the pastries over there! Your process was easy-to-follow and the .gifs were a GREAT idea! I had my iPad Mini on the kitchen counter with me every step of the way. I baked them off this morning and they were ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!!!! I wanted to ask you if you’d ever made bread out of the dough prior to the butter portion being added? If so, what type of bread does it make? I’ve made several types of bread and the dough is always a sticky nightmare! This dough was beautiful, even in the beginning. Thank you for taking the time to put this out there! This was a “bucket-list” item for me!!! 🙂
Thanks so much Bernie! I’m so happy to hear you tried them out and with such success! I’ve never baked the dough before adding in the butter so I have no idea what it would be like, sorry!
Made a vegan version of these (and re-blogged ’em), and they turned out great! Thanks for the awesome instructions and gifs! 🙂
awesomeeee, no problemo 🙂
This is such a great recipe! Thanks a lot for sharing. I’ve come across your blog and just use your recipe because I thought it was the most complete. Mine turned out good, the taste is good (it’s my first time too) but they haven’t risen up, I don’t know why :S.
Anyway, thanks a lot for the recipe!
It could be that the yeast you’re using is old – you can test it by putting 1 tbsp into a bowl with warm water and 1 tsp of sugar, stirring to dissolve, then leave it for about 5-10 minutes. If you don’t see any bubbles forming, it means the yeast is too old and won’t work 🙁
Other wise, it could be that you may have overstretched the dough in the final shaping process, or that the butter became too warm at some stage, meaning it may have blended into the dough during rolling/folding, so you don’t end up with the layers of butter and dough.
Thanks for trying it out though 🙂 croissants are still a bit of a pain to make because so many things can go wrong! :/
I think I found out what went wrong. The yeast I bought was a sort of industrial one we have in Spain, we one I use to bake cakes, and not the “home-made” (I don’t really know the expression in English, sorry) one that you can get from the bakery, etc. So I ended up using less yeast than needed, that’s why I guess. Otherwise they are delicious, I am baking the second round today. Thanks a lot for sharing the recipe, it’s really a must!
xx
I just had to pin this – it is on my bucket-list.
You blog is amazing! I can never figure out how to make good croissants and your fantastic gif explain so perfectly. Thank you so much and I am going to try it next week. Can you also tell me how you make these amazing gif? I love them.
Excellent tutorial, can’t wait to start working on the croissants. The gifs make such a big difference and the life much easier. I just added a link to my Google+ page. Thank you.
Love the photos! Can’t wait to make some 😉
Hey do you have to refrigerate the dough after each turn? or do you do the next 3 right in a row after the dough comes out of the fridge form the 1st turn?
Refrigerate between each turn of the dough! 🙂
Hey.. Recipies with GIF!?!? Wow.. ur a genius.. For all the effort u have put in.. I am gonna try and make croissants for the first time. Lemme try them. Will update yu with how it went!
Thanks
*•.¸(´*•.¸★¸.•*´)¸.•*´** ☆•.*Wow! I absolutely love your directions.
I am so pleased I have found your site.*•.¸(´*•.¸★¸.•*´)¸.•*´** ☆•.*
Sometimes I come on here just to watch gifs. This post is gif heaven and those croissants look phenomenal.
Doesn’t boiling water kill yeast?
not once it’s mixed with cold milk! haha
You did an excellent job with this recipe!My family LOVES it! I am making these for a second time today. & when I make them again, I’ll be using your recipe as a reference. your website is fabulous! I’m not a baker, but I do try a few things here and there. you have been one of my biggest inspirations for baking. thank you & keep up the good work!! 🙂
Hallo,
I’ll be trying these out this weekend, and have a quick question – you say that the shaped croissants can be individually frozen then stored in the freezer for up to three months. When defrosting overnight in the refrigerator, do I still need to have 2 to 3 hours for proofing before baking, or will defrosting suffice? Or alternatively, that I can defrost it during the day in the fridge, and leave it at night for the final proofing and bake it the following morning?
Thanks, they look delicious. Wish me luck for this weekend, NT
Hi,
This came to me like a miracle beacause it is mothers day tomorrow and the shops are closed.
So much thanx my mom will enjoy them.
Thank you , love the way you explain things and the pictures so detail oriented! They came out great. The only thing I changed was the Danish recipe. I used apricot preserve for filling. They came out better than the local bakery. Thank you, Be Bless!
Hi!
Thank you for the recipe and the gifs are super helpful. This is my first time baking pastries and I picked a good one! I am now in the turning stage of my dough, however it came out too dry. I wasn’t able to roll it as well as yours 🙁 Where did I go wrong? I followed the milk, water and flower ratios properly …
Thank you!
Hello,
wanted to say thanks for sharing the recipe and the gifs…they are really helpful. i will be giving it a try for the weekend…i have been looking for an easy way of making croissant and pain au chocolat, am glad i came across ur site. cant wait to taste them 🙂
Thanks
hi..
thank you for sharing a very wonderful recipe. 🙂
Brilliant! The .gif idea is simply inspired!
This recipe did not work in the slightest. I couldn’t get the shape right. Plus u taught how to make the triangles incorrectly. 16 HOURS WASTED! THANKS F
I’m sorry it didn’t work for you! It’s worked for plenty of other people. Croissants are hard, there’s a lot that can go wrong. There is no correct or incorrect way of shaping the triangles, and I was following the directions from the original recipe (which I linked to at the beginning of the post), and it worked for me, so I posted that.
Well, since I’m on break, i’m gonna have a try at making these! I’ll let you know how they turn ^-^
I just made some, and so far, It has taken me from nine in the morning to 5 in the afternoon to do this, and bake (i cut off an hour after i turned it the last time. would have been too late,_ BUT they taste awesome! Great recipe, and my first time ever having a croissant, so kudos to you!!
At first I wasn’t so sure about the gifs….but good golly ms. Molly it took any confusion RIGHT OUT!!! I think I’m going to make these the next time I’m off…..I love using croissants as sandwich bread. Any idea how big yours turned out?
I just prepaired croissants by a hungarian receipt I thought it’s a good idea, seemed original, but unfortunately
they looked like doughs rather then croissants here I read more fridgeing and days to prepare it but now I think this receipt is closer to perfect croissants… 🙂
I have these in the oven right now. Cant wait to eat them after the 2 day process lol. Love your post and the gif s were really helpful especially for a first time croissant maker 🙂
1st: Excellent post. It was through and the gif brilliant.
2nd: I tried these. It was an epic fail. When I got to the laminate stage it was thoroughly destroyed. My cousin who is cook extraordinaire was helping me, however he is not a baker and evidently he is too strong. With his first roll (which now that I think about it, it was more a FIRM roll) had my butter bursting through the sides of the dough (not the seams the actual flat sides). I tried to save it after a few internet searches which suggested that I fold the butter edges in. That didn’t help much. I ended up throwing the whole thing out after the butter started to burst through on top as well. Obviously I something terribly wrong. When I rechecked everything I realized that my cousin measured out a cup and a half of butter. Who knew 1/4 cup of butter could be so detrimental to the recipe? Oh well that was only my 1st try I’ll get it right next time.
Thnx a ton for this lovely recepie. I tried them , they tasted wonderful , texture came out so nice….thnx..
Hi, thanks for this lovely article, i Love it.. I’ll love to know if i need to add butter when making chocolate croissants..
Hi these are so cute! I’m really excited to make them! Just a few questions: Can you freeze them (and when would be the better time before or after they’re cooked)? and How many does a batch make?
thanks
m
Hi, I wanted to ask you if the croissants have a best flavor when they are done with milk? Or the flavor is better if they are done with water? or half?
Thanks for this recipe! I’m going to attempt these croissants this weekend, but wanted to check one detail.
In step 12, when cutting the dough into quarters, do I want to cut in a cross shape (from 12:00-6:00 and 3:00-9:00), or cut in half widthwise, then twice again in the same direction?
Wouldn’t want to waste a day of work on a bad cut. Thanks!
Hi!
Just wanted to say that I loved the way you have presented the recipe and video+snaps. Great going
Thanks a lot
Rajani
help me!!!! i followed your recipe to a t, using yeast bought that day, and everything proofed nicely/ looked as it should in pictures. but when i baked these- yikes!!! they did not puff up into layers of fluffiness (although my dough looked exactly like yours does in the picture!), nor did they taste anything like the incredible croissants i’ve had in europe!! i’m so upset 🙁 what could have gone wrong??
My girls are a sucker for croissants but I never had the guts to try making them. I loved your recipe and am now going to give it shot. Wish me luck!!! and Thanks.
Wonderful step by step tutorial. I am definitely giving these another try. It has been years and years but since watching this, I want to try again. No one makes them like the ones you get in Paris and I am craving them again!
Thank you so much for your tutorial. I have made croissants twice now, with improvement in between. My oldest daughter, away at college, has only seen them through pictures, but has requested them for her birthday. I used to think that they were too complicated, but you changed my thinking. Thanks again!
wow thanks so much these are marvelous !!!!!! you really made baking a lot more easier for me !!! and i’m only 11 u know !!! thank you!! theses gifs are amazing !!
Oh my goodness, this page is absolute genius!! I haven’t tried the recipe out yet, but now I’m absolutely tempted, and I will try it out!!
Hi, I used your recipe, the GIFs are a huge help! But I guess I messed up somewhere along the 2 day process…. cuz mine looks nothing like your perfectly flaky croissants! Thanks and I love your beautiful site 🙂
Wow, this is the most amazing tutorial I have ever seen! It took for freakin EVER to load up, but now I know why!! It was worth waiting for!
Awesome visual tutorial to make croissants. Croissants are probable one of our favorite indulgence treats.
Hi there. Great post and really well done blog.
Just came back from a terrible purchase of croissants at a bakery and was browsing around looking up recipes.
This sounds as a good recipe even though there’s no mention of milk in traditional french butter croissants recipes.
Cut to the chase, the point I wanted to make is: most people don’t know that french butter has no water in it [or at least so much less than the butter usually spread on bread], which makes it better for frying as it won’t burn as quick [which is caused by the excitement of water in fat and its molecules breaking] and gives it a different texture; so that’s where the pounding is called for, because french butter won’t come apart that easily.
All in all, I feel like the grating is a time consuming practice, and you’d get the same results by warming the butter to soft, gently shaping it flat, then chilling it again, maybe sprinkling it all with flour instead of mixing it in.
Sorry for the ordeal, keep up
Matt
omg so I literally just found your blog and omg I think I’m in love….
everything is just so beyond amazing
and this particular recipe/tutorial has completely blown me away
I’ve been waiting for so long to find a decent tutorial that would make me less scared of croissants and this is it, I’m already in the kitchen getting out all the ingredients. so yay. well done you, you’re amazing, keep up the great work!!:)
For Kay: I am just doing this recipe. On youtube you can find a gordon ramsay makin it, but his process is different. They take finished croissants before they are baked to warm place to activate a yeast and even my very low experience in kitchen telling me, that its always better to do not rely on gain in oven. As you can see on video on youtube every croissant is in final scale before baking. – Try it this way. Also my another experience with this recipe – you really need to be extra gentle and work with dough always cold. IF you do not do that, you will have same problem as me : Layers are not perfectly separate after baking.
Just stumbled into your website. Croissants are my favourite. I have much more appreciation now that I realize how tedious it is to make. Thanks so much for the post. Someday i”m sure I can find the patients to do this labour of love.
Hii
Can you freeze them after they have been baked? Or do you have to put them in the fridge for 2-3 hours and then cook them
thanks! Orla
If I am successful in making these (I am sure I will be with the amazing instructions),my husband will be a happy man….he has challenged me to make croissant since I recently started making breads…just have couple of questions
1. Can I use active yeast instead of instant yeast?
2. Can I use bread flour instead of all purpose (I live in Dubai and haven’t found king Arthur products here and don’t wanna waste all the hard work by using the wrong flour)
Thanks in advance for the wonderful blog!
Wow……………. Thank you So much
I am so glad I found this post through pinterest! This was my second attempt at making croissants and finally…success! I was a little bit impatient and decided to do a test with one of the four batches. After the 4th turn and a quick cool down in the fridge, I took one of the batches and rolled/shaped 6 croissants. Basically, eliminating the 8-12 hour wait. Then I allowed them to rise in a warm environment for an hour and a half until they were puffed and jiggly on the pan. I baked them exactly as you directed and they came out delicious! The other three batches are still chilling and I’ll follow your directions exactly to see if it makes a difference. Thank you for the visuals. Very helpful!
Hi. I kinda live to bake bread. I have many recipes I baked till second nature. But I get bored. I am a crazy bread baking finatic… So. So I am going to do this recipe.. After my Christmas cooking frenzy ends.. Thank you for taking the time to do this.. Appreciate. I am zeeegal on Instagram. I cook.. I bake.. Take a cook look.. I will be posting pics of this recipe … Not for a while… I hosting an appie party Christmas Eve… Then have to cook for my (chef) daughters New Year’s Day brunch ( sage onion bread pudding with my own French bread) then going shopping trip to albertville if no snowstorm. Then gonna do this recipe.. With pictures.. Very excited I have a new bread to bake.. My fav bread to do to date is no knead 28 hour rise bake in hot Dutch oven bread… It is almost sourdough.. My second fav is by far pretzel rolls. Swoon.. Third fav is pull apart buns. .. Oh.. When it looks like it will work I will use my bread machine.. I call it my dough machine , because have never actually baked in it, to do dough.. Too easy to adapt most recipes.. But this one.. No.. Gonna do the real way.. Dough is most amazing thing .. I love spaying water in oven for French bread.. Adore rising dough 2 or 3 times to develop flavour. Flavour.. Yes I am a Canadian who uses British spelling hahaha.. Flavour .. Veddy English.. I live in rural (cccccold) Manitoba .. Baking bread a great way to pass those only go out when dog has to do duty days..
Hi, I made your croissants following your directions precisely. Thank you so much they turned out perfectly.
I used your recipe from start to finish and made the yuummmiest Croissant Cinnamon Rolls ever. I’ve tried once before to make a crossaint recipe and failed miserably!!
Thanks a bunch for reinforcing the patience. Was well worth it!
Just found this recipe and currently have my dough in the fridge! Is that a granite slab that you are using to roll this out on? If it is, can you throw it in the ‘fridge? would this help keep the dough cold? maybe allowing for 1.5 turns instead of 1? Thanks!
nice i’m giving this recipe a try i hope they come out good thanks for sharing
Izy, these are INCREDIBLE. Like… no words. How amazing are you for putting this all together? I’m fascinated by the steps, too (especially seeing them). I’ve always convinced myself that croissants were bonkers hard to make but armed with a gif-tutorial like yours, I can’t wait to try them out at long last. Thanks 🙂
Your work is just amazing! I’ve bookmarked this page instantly. Croissants were that thing that I never thought I could make, but now… I’m reconsidering that thought thanks to you. 😀
Question — do you have to refrigerate for exactly an hour between turns? Or could I, for example, do two turns in the morning, leave in the fridge while I’m at work, and then do two more when I get home? Thanks!
id recommend doing one turn, chill for 15-20 mins in the freezer then do another turn and chill in the fridge while you’re at work. then do the same thing when you get home.
You need to chill between turns because the butter warms up and then you don’t get the thin layers of butter in between the dough.
Great, thanks very much! Can’t wait to try these. My husband LOVES chocolate croissants — I think he’d be shocked if I could make them from scratch 🙂
tried ur receipe to the T n it turned out AWESOME !!!!! Totally loved it, thanx for the detailed receipe n gifs, u did a gr8 job, totally worth it 🙂
Thank you so much for the recipe! I’ve made these four times already and my friends at school love them and my parents do too! I cannot thank you enough!
Thank you so much for this wonderful step-by-step recipe! It made it a lot easier and the results were delicious!
They had better be good or I will throw them at you!
Just kidding, I can’t wait till they’re done.
Thanks!
Oh My God !!!! i cant believe i finally made croissants …it was something i always wanted to try.My husband loved them .Definitely worth the effort..Thank u so much ..
Thanks for the tutorial. I hope to make lots of croissants for my lovely family.
God bless you.
Ciao
Holy cow you have made my night! My husband is from France and misses croissant that is flaky, and store brought stuff just doesn’t compare, this will definitely hit the spot!
I know this is ages later, but I just have to comment to say THANK YOU!!! I never would have understood some of these steps without the gifs. Even with pictures some times it’s hard for a novice to understand what should be done. These are beautiful gifs and the instructions are perfectly clear. I’m not sure if I’ll have the time to try this, but I’d like to now that I see how it’s done. :c)
This is a great post. Thank you for the gifs. They were very helpful. I followed your method, but used sourdough instead, and they turned out great. Thank you!
Do you think these could be made with a gluten free mix?
I don’t think so. You should try searching for a recipe which has been specifically developed for gluten free mix. Try looking in The Fresh Loaf forums 🙂
I love cooking and baking an won some tournaments when young, such as angel cake from scratch, etc. However, over the years I prefer recipes that are not too time consuming. This is a simple task, to make croissants, but I believe I will stick to buying them based on how long it takes to do them and I will appreciate each bite I take knowing how much work goes into making them. It is definitely a love project. Great pics and instructions. If I were to make them, I would come back to your website as you make it look so very simple. Thank you for sharing.
Hi! I would like to know if this puff pastry dough can be used for making baton sucre? puff pastry sticks? If yes, do I have to proof them as well or no?
I started making croissants with the recipe I found at cookpad. I started yesterday and I’m proofing now (second rise) ;A; but I was only making the rhubarb danishes! Now, I wonder, how we did this in TAFE for under only 4 hours. hnnnggg.
Hey this post is great. I just took a crack at making croissants for the first time ever. But nowhere in here do you indicate the size and thickness of the dough and possibly the final baked product. Mine are a much smaller than I usually buy. How can I make them bigger?
Hi
I m happy to know your website .
It’s my dream learn to make croissant.
Can i use instant yeast?
Thanks for your reply
Lilian
This is a totally awesome recipe. The first time I have ever tried making croissants and they came out better than the bakery’s . Just need to work on my shaping skills and I will be good to go!
I’m not much of a baker. I was looking for something special to make last Thanksgiving and found your recipe. My husband was skeptical but I proved him wrong and they turned out great. I agree … It’s a labor of love! My family came to visit for breakfast this morning and I tried to make them again. What a hit! They are perfect for special occasions. Thank you!
Superb recipe. I never tried before but your´s is simply great. I had the most pleasant afternoon here in Brazil, with my family and these croissants. Thanks.
OMG!!! GIFS!!!! Talk about an awesome idea! I wish all food blogs used gifs in their sites. Probably one of the most handy ways to learn to cook! The croissants looke amazing btw!
Looks great!! 2 questions
If you were to make it with poppy seeds where would you add them?
How many do I get out of this recipe??
PS love the imagery as well
These were delish! I made the Marthia Stewart version twice and was greatly dissapointed with them. They were bitter, greesy, and flat. These on the other hand are so light and flakey and… flavorfull. I will admit i did do 50/50 heavy cream and milk (i just love useing cream whenever i can) this recipe will stay in box .
Nice work Izy, going to make them this afternoon and let you know how it goes. I have tried different recipes and it will be the first time that I’ll making with milk..thanks again, the gifs are awesome!
WOW!! the GIFs make the recipe simple and fun:) i would not have known how to make these properly if i had just read instructions, great visuals! I’m now waiting to do the fourth turn. Thanks again and keep it up Izy!!!:D
Izy! Thanks a lot for the puff pastry recipe! The croissants are very good) I made mine with frangipane and peaches) You can take look at them here http://thisisasweetblog.blogspot.com/2014/07/croissants-with-frangipane-and-peaches.html
Fantastic – I have lived in France for over 20 years and I cook loads, but this is the first time I’ve tried to bake croissants from scratch – and they are brilliant. Great instructions, great results!
Well to be honest, I have been trying to make pain au chocolat for ages and after ready through many websites, I found out that you can get pain au chocolat be just adding chocolate to croissants dough. Then I started learning the three day steps of making the croissants and to be honest after many videos and search and well as my failed attempt, I almost gave up but with this step-by-step .gifs, I can see its even easier than I tought.(grated butter), that is someting I will really like since I stay in a warm area and the butter starts melting before rolling it out. Thanks for this guide. I will make another attempt on this.
This method seems so much quicker. A read a previous method that seemed to take days of preparation. I definitely will try your method!
Wow your guide is great! I love to bake but I’ve never been brave enough to try to make croissants but your guide has motivated me to try it out thank you!! By the way Love your pictures and gifs…..
I have made this recipe once already (I needed 6 months to recover) and they turned out beautifully! I couldn’t believe my strength. I decided to make them again because y’know…Labor Day…laborious recipe..you get the point. Your recipes are so easy to follow along and I love the light touch of humor added to them! People go crazy over homemade croissants when I bring a batch anywhere. They totally look at me like I have three heads when I’m explaining the process. Lol!
Thanks for a recipe I’ll use forevaaaa!
I tried to make these and it turned out exactly like the pictures until I baked it
It was not brown and flakey like it shows, it was more white and doughy but the bottom burnt a little. Any suggestions on what I could be doing wrong? Maybe not enough egg wash? Other wise they tasted pretty good 🙂
Hi, I was just wondering about freezing the made croissants. You mention freezing them on a baking sheet and then transferring them into plastic bags and leaving in the freezer. When freezing first on the baking sheet do you cover with any thing, such a cling film, or just freeze uncovered?
Cant wait to try this recipe it looks fab!
Made these on the weekend – they turned out even better than I expected! Long process though :op
Wow- great photos and .gifs!
is it ok if the croissant dough doesnt become frothy in the beginning?
If it doesn’t become frothy it probably means that the yeast you’re using is too old and so the croissants wont rise!
Thank you,thank you,thank you for the recipe. I just bake them in the morning and they were awsome. It was really easy to follow even for a beginner. 🙂
Help! I let these sit overnight in the fridge. It doesn’t appear that they have grown at all. Should I let them sit out at room tempature for a while? Or let them proof longer. They were growing nicely up until this point so I’m not sure what the problem is now. 🙁
Yep let them sit out at room temp! It’s probably just a bit too cold in the fridge for the yeast!
Hi, first of all, thank you sooooo much for the gifs! I’ve been looking at croissant recipes for a while now and I’ve been hesitating to try them but your gifs made me attempt it. I am currently on my third turn and while rolling out the dough, I noticed that the butter has begun poking out through the dough. Is that normal? Did I do something wrong? How should I proceed? Any input will be appreciated!
Thanks again for this wonderful post! 🙂
Glad you’re enjoying the recipe! If the butter is poking through the dough that means that it has become too soft – you should pop the whole thing back into the fridge for about an hour so the butter can harden up again. The aim is to have the butter at the same malleability as the dough as if it’s too soft it will poke through/ too hard and it will break in between the layers.
So I did everything as you said. My croissants didn’t seem to rise in the fridge over night. I left it outside for a couple hours but my croissants haven’t risen as much as I thought they would. I’m going to try to bake a few anyway, maybe that’ll gimme some insight.
Thanks gain for your post. I will definitely be making these again. Practice makes perfect, right?
Each of these steps are great, except I would wrap the dough in oiled saran wrap for half of an hour between each ‘turn’ or ‘lock-in’ with the butter!
oops.. and put it in the fridge to rest for a half hour**
Hey Izy,
Didn’t think I could make croissants of all things…gave it a go and they turned out great. Thank you!
Hilton
Western Australia
This is the best croissant recipe I have found by far. I am on to making my third batch today because I can’t keep up with the demand of my friends and family. I wish I could post a picture, I was so proud of my first batch. I had some ask where I bought them from and others asking if I bought the dough and just rolled them myself. I love to cook and am always trying different things. This batch, half will be plain and some I will roll cheese and ham into the triangles. First batch was made last weekend, so much fun. Time consuming yes, but definitely a labour of love when you get the perfect end result. Thank you thank you thank you!!!
Lately I have been trying to be adventurous in the kitchen and decided to try this recipe. The croissants were so yummy! Thank you so much for sharing so many details, I don’t think I would’ve gotten it right without the GIFS and notes!
Hi I have a question, for the all purpose flour you use do you use the strong all purpose flour
Thanks
Phelicia
I used plain flour but you could use strong flour
Hi Mackenzie
Not sure if my previous post manage to get through but I wanted to find out if you used the normal all purpose flour or the strong all purpose flour for this recipe
Thanks
Phelicia
Either will work! 🙂
Hi! Love the site! I was just wondering if you used salted or unsalted butter for the butter block?
Thanks!
Hi Jenna! I’m pretty sure I used unsalted butter 🙂
Been making these every month for the past 10 months, tweaked the recipe up to make a batch of 18 large size Croissants by increasing everything by 50%. Two extra tips I used a ratio of 85% Plain Flour and 15% Strong white Bread flour which gives a lovely texture and the best one after discussing with a French restauranteur from Normandy I now use 50% Salted and 50% unsalted butter the flavour is amazing.
Gave him some to try and he couldn’t believe they hadn’t come from a proper Bakery!!
Thanks for inspiring Izy
Love your site! So glad I found it. You should have your own show on the Food Network in US!
Hi izy the recipe is really good. A tried it once everything was perfect except for the base. My croissants git a bit over baked from the bottom. The temperature was as mentioned in this recipe. I baked them on the middle rack and my oven doesn’t have a fan.
this is a really great recipe. I have’nt tried it yet but I really appreciate the effort you put in! Will try this weekend and let you know how it goes.
Hey Izy, thank you for this recipe. It’s so easy to follow and the results are always so goo, it became my absolute favorite croissant recipe instantly (and I’ve tried several others). The folding gifs are really helpful too.
Hi Izy! Just made these and they were FANTASTIC–so flaky and buttery. I made some regular, some chocolate and some chocolate almond. Thanks so much for providing the super clear instructions and GIFs 🙂
Hi Izy, thanks for this amazing recipe and .gifs! Approximately how many croissants does a full recipe make?
At stage 12 would it be ok to refrigerate the dough for around 24 hours?
The first time I made these, I thought the croissants came out a little small and the ratio between crispy outside and flaky inside was a bit off. When I made the remaining batch, I cut the rolled out dough in half instead of in thirds, making four croissants per sheet instead of six. The second time was PERFECT. I’d recommend making larger croissants from this recipe.
Thank you, did your croissant and loved, were the best I’ve ever done, just changed the butter to 280 grams and were super crispy.
Kisses from Brasil
Tereza
I just made these! I’m not one to make great pastry of any kind but I wanted to see if I could do it!! They turned out really great! I also made larger ones using the four per sheet method and they turned out super yummy!
Did you use a dark colored sheet tray? If so, try using a light one. It tends to cook things evenly and not burn the bottom. Also, put parchment paper under it 😉 hope this helps
Hi, i tried making the croissants but when im rolling out the dough, i can still see small pieces of butter in it, even after 3 turns. I wonder if this is normal or ive done something wrong? Please let me know. Thanks!
This is awesome! I shared your recipe with a link in my last post, hope you like it! Thanks for the recipe and such excellent tips!
Patricia.