Mmmm... warm, buttery, flaky, homemade croissants. To be honest, although I've always wanted to make croissants, they seemed like too much work. Well, the good news is, like Challah bread, they're not difficult to make, but they are time consuming. I think I started making the dough around 1pm and finished around 9pm. I would HIGHLY recommend using this time-consuming process as an excuse to watch a couple of movies —or have a Julia Roberts marathon haha My Best Friend's Wedding, Pretty Woman? Yes, please!
I used the recipe from Tracey's Culinary Adventures.
What you'll need:
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup warm water
1 tsp active dry yeast
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups cold butter (I used salted, but the recipe called for unsalted)
Mix 1 cup of flour, yeast, and water. Set aside and let rise for one hour.
Add the rest of the flour, the heavy cream, and salt. Knead for one minute, then set aside and let rise for 20 minutes.
I kneaded the dough by hand for 10 minutes, but you can also knead the dough in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook for 20 minutes. I put a bit of oil on my hands before kneading, which made the dough less sticky and easier to knead. Form a ball, wrap the dough in saran-wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
While the dough is in the fridge. Take the butter and form into a 8 x 8 inch square. I did this by laying down a sheet of saran-wrap, then slicing squares off of the butter sticks and smooching them together. I guess you can also put the butter between two sheets of saran-wrap and use a rolling-pin to pound the butter into a square. Your choice.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 9 x 13 inch rectangle. Place the square of butter on the lower half of the dough. Fold the top half of the dough over the bottom half of the dough (which has the square of butter on top of it). Gently pound the dough with a rolling-pin and roll it into a 9 x 18 inch rectangle. Now, you need to fold the rectangle into thirds (like folding a letter). For example, fold the bottom third of the dough up and then fold the top third of the dough down. This is called a "turn". Now do it a second time. Roll the dough into a 9 x 18 inch rectangle, then fold the rectangle into thirds. Wrap the dough in saran-wrap and return to the fridge for one hour.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and complete another turn. Return the dough to the fridge for one hour. Repeat once more. This gives you a total of four turns. The purpose of these turns is to create the flaky layers. Every time you complete a turn, you multiply the layers by three, which results in 81 layers at the end of the process.
Now, you have a decision. You can either wrap the dough in saran-wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours or you can make them now. I choose both. I cut the block of dough in half and wrapped one half in saran-wrap and put in it in the refrigerator. For other half, on a lightly floured surface, I rolled the dough into a 6 1/2 x 20 inch rectangle (if you want to make all of the croissant now, then do this to both halves of the dough). Place the dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, then refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Place the rectangle(s) onto a lightly floured surface. It's now time to cut the triangles that will form the individual croissants. On one side of the rectangle of dough, measure 5 inches from the end and make tiny notch with a knife. Repeat this step twice more such that you have three notches. On the other side of the rectangle of dough, measure 2 1/2 inches from the end and make a tiny notch with a knife. Measure 5 inches from the first notch and make a second notch. Repeat twice more until you have four notches.
Now, using a large knife, cut the triangles by connecting the notches on the two sides. Each rectangle of dough should produce six triangles with some trimmings on the ends.
Make a small slit in the center of the base of each triangle and roll them out slightly. Roll the triangles to form croissants by curling the two sides of the triangle on each side of the slit away from each other. Be sure to roll tightly. To help make the classic croissant shape, bend the two ends toward each other.
Arrange the croissants on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and cover with with saran-wrap to proof. For proofing, you can: a) do it in the fridge overnight, b) do it 3-4 hours in a cool place, or c) do it one hour in a warm place. Although overnight proofing is suppose to be the best, I proofed mine for 4 hours on the countertop.
Once the croissants are finished proofing, preheat the oven to 375 F. Combine an egg with a spoonful of cream and beat to form an egg wash. Brush the egg wash on the croissants. Bake for about 30-35 minutes until the croissants are golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack, then serve with some delicious berry jam —or if you're like me, with more butter haha
Also, I should say that you can freeze croissants. Basically, once you proof the croissants, you can wrap them tightly in saran-wrap or a ziploc bag (be sure to get the air out) and put them in the freezer. When you want to bake a croissant, simply take it out of the freezer, let thaw (about 2-3 hours) brush with egg wash, and bake as instructed above.
