recipe notes
step-by-step method
recipe card
As a pastry chef, there are two questions I get asked allll the time:
- What is your favorite dessert to eat?
- What is your favorite thing to make?
I don’t have an answer to the first question because it really depends. Sometimes I want a “symphony” (who says that? Gross.) of textures and flavors that push the outer-most boundaries of modern gastronomy, sometimes I want a Snickers. But the second question is a no-brainer: My favorite thing to make in all of pastry over the span of my entire career is croissants.
I love to make croissants because I love to eat them. I don’t think of them as dessert, but they are the one and only thing I don’t get tired of eating day after day in my pastry kitchen. I love to make croissants because I can’t help but admit there’s a romantic connection to the dough as you work with it. It’s alive, it has moods. You use your hands, get dirty and craft something beautiful (somewhere out there, a hipster just got a hard on). I love to make croissants because they’re so damn challenging to do well consistently, and if you lose focus anywhere along the way, they can be ruined.
Hold on there, don’t leave just yet! A little hard work and difficulty is part of what makes it fun. With some practice you’ll be knee deep in ‘ssants in no time. And when you start to feel frustration build, just remember: if Kim Kardashian can operate a vehicle, you can roll, shape and bake some dough.
I’m going to give you two slightly different methods for croissants. One method is for any pros out there that have a sheeter in their work kitchens. The other method is for any weekend warriors who want to make croissants at home. The difference between the two methods is really just mixing times in order to manage the amount of gluten development and in turn how firm your dough is.
In pro kitchens a dough sheeter is pretty standard, and it’s infinitely stronger and more efficient at rolling out dough than two arms and a rolling pin, so it can handle much colder, tougher dough in order to A. actually roll it out and B. not overwork it which would cause it to shrink up. At home, you’ll have at most a stand mixer with a dough hook to work with and all of the rolling and shaping will be manual, so the “home” recipe requires less overall mixing for a softer, more manageable dough. Yes, technically a stronger, more developed dough will have a better oven spring (the initial rise during baking) and a lighter honeycomb (the term for the internal crumb of a croissant) but don’t worry, both recipes will give you some bomb-ass croissants. And for all of you pros out there that make your croissants 100% by hand at work (you know who you are) you have my official stamp of badass approval.
recipe notes
lamination
Croissants fall in a family of laminated dough and a good croissant hinges on good lamination. Lamination is the process of creating lots of thin, alternating layers of butter and dough. When baked, the butter separates the layers of dough creating a uniform flakiness. This means that one of the most important things to remember when making your croissants is to keep the dough as cold as possible while you work with it. Once you start to laminate the dough, you’ll be dealing with paper-thin layers of butter. A little heat can mash those butter layers into the dough and into each other, ruining the honeycomb of a good croissant. The last stage of the game, where you cut and shape your croissants, is the most critical time to keep that dough nice and cold. When in doubt, chill!
proofing
Croissant dough will require proofing more than once throughout the recipe. Just to get real basic for a minute, proofing is a controlled rise of your dough in an environment that is warm and humid, conditions that promote yeast development which in turn promotes development of gasses. Those gasses are what create lightness and volume in your dough. In short, proofing and proofing right is absolutely crucial to making a good croissant.
This can be the biggest challenge for a home baker, and I myself have resorted to using a steamy shower to help dough rise. There are plenty of small, home use proofers you can buy on the market, but I don’t recommend them, only because there’s a much cheaper and easier alternative that you already own: your oven. Generally, adding a pan of just-about-to-boil water to your oven will both increase the humidity and the temperature enough to proof your dough. If you need a little extra heat, you can turn the oven on for a minute or two to give it just enough kick to warm it up for proofing. I use a hygrometer (cheap and easy to find) to monitor both the humidity and temperature of the oven while proofing, and simply switch out steamy water if either condition drops too much.
dough hydration
To make the base croissant dough (also known as the detremp; say “deh-tromp”), you will have to hydrate it with whole milk. There are times when you may need to add more milk to the dough or reserve some, depending on how humid the weather may be. In the winter, I almost always add a bit more milk and then in the summer almost always reserve just a bit. What’s key is knowing the proper texture of the dough to know that it is fully hydrated. Properly hydrated dough will allow full, strong gluten development. If your dough lacks enough water to fully develop gluten, the overall structure and rise of the croissant will suffer. Too much hydration and the dough will be soft and won’t laminate well with the butter. Nicely hydrated dough will feel slightly moist to the touch and have good flexibility but still maintain some tension. The best thing you can do is take careful note of the dough and how it feels with each batch of croissants you make and adjust as needed the next time around.
ingredient notes
Definitely take the time to source a good quality bread flour and high fat, unsalted butter (82% minimum). I’ve really liked using plugra, and amazingly you can find it in grocery stores all over. I’ve also liked elle and vire, which even makes dry butter blocks specifically for laminating, but as you can probably imagine, they are expensive and hard to find.
Adding flour to your butter to create your butter block is a trick I learned from a much better baker than myself – Benjamin Sevinn – which helps to simulate the beurre sec or dry butter that is ideal to use for laminated doughs but basically impossible to find on a regular basis in regular stores.
There are a ton of variations to croissants out there, some calling for eggs, other whole wheat flour. Some use a levain starter, some (like this one) a poolish. I think of this recipe as a pretty classic, French dude in a striped shirt and beret on a bicycle kind of croissant. Try it to start and change it as you like from there!
Most importantly be patient, grasshopper, croissants take time. This will be a two-day process with lots of dough resting. Yes, there will be a lot of waiting, but that’s why humans invented beer and bourbon.
croissants
207g water
15g dry yeast
152g bread flour (A)
60g sugar
17g salt
235g whole milk*
82g butter (A) at room temp.
690g bread flour (B)
453g butter (B) for butter block
100g all purpose flour for butter block
*more may be needed/added depending on ambient humidity
To start, you need to create a butter block. This will serve as basically all of the butter in the recipe and will be the butter that is rolled thin and layered to create flakiness. Combine the 453g of butter (B) with the all purpose flour and mix until they are well incorporated.
Place a piece of plastic wrap down and your butter mixture on top. Use your hands or a spatula to spread the mixture and approximate a block that is 10×7″/ 25x18cm.
Use a rolling pin to gently smooth and even out the butter block, making sure it’s even in thickness. If the block is the correct size, it should wind up being about 1/2″/1.27cm thick. Chill the block in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.
To start your dough, combine the water (at room temperature), dry yeast and bread flour (A). Whisk the ingredients together until homogenized and let sit, undisturbed, in a warm place for 30-40min. This pre-fermentation is known as a poolish, and letting the mixture rest will activate the yeast and help develop flavor.
After 30 to 40 minutes the poolish will start to rise and bubble. And smell a-maz-iiiing.
Add the remaining whole milk, butter (A), bread flour (B), salt and sugar and mix on low speed with a dough hook for about 3min or until the dough comes together and begins to develop. At this stage you’ll see that the gluten is still quite weak, and the dough will easily tear.
You can see clear evidence of gluten development, but overall the dough lacks enough structure to hold together.
If making the dough in a pro kitchen, increase to medium speed for the second round of mixing. At home, keep the speed on low and develop the dough until it forms a strong gluten network. You can check the dough by gently stretching it out until a “window” of dough thin enough to see light through is created. If the window tears before it is stretched thin enough, more mixing is needed. The key word for this test is gentle. If you’re rough with your dough, it will tear no matter how strong the gluten may be. Dough is no match for you.
When making the croissants at home, the mixing time will be anywhere from 3 to 6 minutes. Over mixing the dough will form great gluten but make rolling a nightmare down the road. On the other hand, if you’re making this recipe in a professional kitchen, I mix anywhere from 12 to 14 minutes to develop a strong gluten network.
Place the dough in a bowl with plastic wrap loosely covering to touch. Proof the dough for 1 hour or until it doubles in volume.
Press the dough down, expelling any gasses that have formed during proofing, and spread it out evenly onto a non-stick baking mat. I’ve worked my recipe so that if you roll the dough to the inner edge of a baking mat border it will be the perfect size to add your butter. That being said, you’re looking for a rectangle of dough that is 10×15″/25x38cm.
Again, loosely place plastic wrap over the dough to touch* and rest it in the freezer for 1 hour and then the fridge for 1 hour until it is thoroughly chilled. Alternately, you could leave the dough in the freezer at this point and defrost it to the same chilled temp. when you are ready for the next step.
*Wrapping the dough too tightly will trap gasses that continue to develop during proofing which can alter the flavor or final texture of the croissant.
Now it’s time to combine the dough and butter to start laminating! First, remove the butter from the cooler and let it temper slightly. The butter should be cold but flexible. If the butter cracks when you try to flex it, it’s too cold. If it feels warm…well…it’s too warm. Lightly tapping the block of butter with the length of a rolling pin can help to temper it quickly and evenly.
Place the butter in the center of the dough block and fold the dough over the butter on either side to meet in the middle, like closing the doors of a cupboard. Lightly pinch the dough together down the center line where it meets to create a seal.
If you’re making these at home, then using the right technique to roll the dough out is very important at this stage. This is where the butter and dough have the most tenuous relationship, because they haven’t truly fused together yet. The wrong way to roll croissant dough is like you would for a pie; pressing the pin down on one edge of the dough and pushing across the dough to the other edge. This method will push the butter out from the dough, instead of simultaneously thinning the dough and butter together.
The right method is to press straight down and roll back and forth in a tight section of the block of dough. Then lift up the pin, move further up the block of dough and repeat. Once you’ve rolled the dough out enough that the butter and dough have well fused, you can go back to a more traditional method of rolling.
One way or the other, roll the dough to three times its length (which will bring the dough to somewhere between ½”/1.27cm and ¼”/6mm. At work we roll the dough down to #7 on our sheeter or ½”/1.27cm.
Once the dough is rolled out, you’re ready to give it its first fold. How you fold your dough and how often is an art form (or science depending on how you look at it) in and of itself. Giving your croissant dough folds will exponentially increase the amount of layers of butter and flour, creating flakiness. There will be lots of time and croissants for you to experiment with your folds, but for this recipe we’re going to give the dough three single folds.
To make your first single fold, envision the length of dough in three equal sections – left, center and right. Fold the left section in toward the center like closing a book. Fold the right section over the first two…like closing a book from the other side I guess. Single fold complete. This will give you a block of dough (or book of dough) with open seems at the top and bottom of the “book.”
Here’s a close up of one of the open seams.
For the second, single fold you will roll the dough again to three times its length (with the open seams forming the far left and right edges in the wide photo above) and fold the dough once more in thirds. I figured a little diagram might clear things up for anyone scratching their head.
After the second single fold you want to rest your dough for 1 hour in the freezer and 1 hour in the cooler. This will allow the gluten that has formed to rest and keep the dough chilled. After the rest give the dough a third and final single fold. At this point I generally rest the dough overnight in the fridge (8 to 12 hours). If you need longer than that to begin the next step, simply freeze the dough and defrost until still chilled to make your final roll.
The final roll of dough will draw out its length down to 1/8”/3mm instead of the ¼”/6mm of the single folds (#3 on a sheeter). The length of the dough will vary but it should be 9”/23cm wide. Again, the size of the triangles that you cut and shape is up to personal preference and style. For our croissants, we’re going to cut out triangles that are 9”/23cm long and 4.5”/11.4cm wide at the base.
Measure out 4.5”/11.4cm sections along the length of one edge of the dough, making small cuts to mark them. Move to the opposite edge of the dough and make more 4.5”/11.4cm sections, but this time off centered to the original sections.
Notice how the 4.5″ sections are offset from one edge to the next to provide a triangle cutting guide. Magic!
Using a long chef’s knife or a pizza cutter, cut out triangles that will soon become your croissants.
Before shaping your croissants, remember that at this point the layers of butter and dough are at their thinnest and so most susceptible to smashing together and ruining good lamination. Handle the croissants as little as possible so you don’t warm the dough too much and always use light pressure.
To shape your croissants, start at the base of the triangle. Tightly roll the base over itself to start to roll the croissant up.
Using light pressure on your ring fingers and pinkies and keeping your hands angled up towards your index fingers, roll the croissant up to the halfway point.
To finish, gently grip the the points of the croissant with your index fingers and thumbs and twist the croissant to roll it up the final point, keeping the point centered in the croissant. The point of the triangle should just fall under the croissant, held in place there. Practice. Practice. Practice. ….and practice.
Once your croissants are shaped, you can move on to the next steps to bake them or freeze them to defrost and bake later. However! The longer the croissants are in the freezer, the slower and weaker the yeast will react. I don’t freeze my croissants for more than three or four days.
Brush the shaped croissants with egg wash and proof them for 2-3hrs. at no higher than 80F and ideally 80-90% humidity. If butter leaks from the croissants during proofing, than your temperature is too high! Knowing when the croissants are properly proofed is tricky. Too little, and they croissants will have weak rise and a dense, chewy center. Too much, and the croissants may puff up but the honeycomb will be tight and spongey.
A properly proofed croissant will obviously increase in volume but will feel soft to the touch while retaining tension. Some people shake the pan a little to see the croissants jiggle a bit then settle. All very high tech, I know.
I just use a simple hotel pan with lightly boiling water to add heat and humidity to my “proofer.”
Not proofed.
Proofed.
Seeing the laminated layers separating is a good sign that the dough is proofed properly.
Give the croissants a second coat of egg wash and bake at 375F for 15 to 20min. They should be a deep brown (none of that blond costco sh*t) and feel light in the hand, which is a good sign that enough water has baked out.
Beautifully, uniquely un-perfect homemade croissants.
I hope all of you pastry fiends out there see this recipe as a fun challenge and exciting new arena of baking passion. There’s no substitute for lots of practice, and luckily even a bad croissant is pretty damn good. Get baking!
Cheers – Chef Scott
- 207 g water
- 15 g dry yeast
- 152 g bread flour (A)
- 60 g sugar
- 17 g salt
- 235 g whole milk
- 82 g butter (A) at room temperature
- 690 g bread flour (B)
- 453 g butter (B) for butter block
- 100 g All-purpose flour
- Combine butter (B) and all purpose flour and mix with a paddle attachment in a stand mixer until combined.
- Shape the butter into a 10x7"/25x18cm block and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
- Combine the water, bread flour (A) and dry yeast and whisk together until homogenized. Let the mixture stand for 30-40min.
- Add the whole milk, sugar, salt, butter (A), and bread flour (B) to the started and mix with a dough hook on low speed for 3min until the dough comes together.
- Continue mixing the dough on low speed for 3-5min at home or medium speed for 12-14min in a professional kitchen until the dough is full strengthened.
- Place the dough in a mixing bowl and loosely cover with plastic wrap. Proof for one hour or until doubled in volume.
- Press excess gas out of the dough and shape it into a block that is 10x15"/25x38cm.
- Temper the butter block until it is flexible but still chilled.
- Place the butter block centered on the dough and fold the dough over the block creating a seam down the center. Pinch the dough together to seal the seam.
- Roll the dough to three times its length (approx. 30") and give a single fold, folding the dough over itself in thirds. Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat the process to give a second, single fold.
- Rest the dough in the freezer for one hour and then in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Repeat the folding process to give a third and final single fold.
- Rest the dough in the refrigerator for 8 to 12 hours.
- Roll the dough out to 1/8" thickness and 9" width. The length of the dough will vary.
- Mark one length of the dough in 4.5" sections. Mark the opposite edge in 4.5" sections offset to the first set of marking.
- Using a chef's knife or a pizza cutter, cut triangles of dough 9" long and 4.5" wide at the base.
- Roll the triangles up from the base, using light pressure on your ring and pinkie fingers. Roll the triangle halfway to completion and switch your grip.
- Using your index fingers and thumbs, lightly grip the ends of the croissants and use a twisting motion to finish rolling the croissants.
- Egg wash the croissants and proof them for 2 to 2.5 hours at 80F and 80-90% humidity. Give the croissants a second coat of egg wash before baking.
- Bake: 375F; 14-20min.
Thank you very much!
There is a lot of work done in this post!
dear Chef scott
I have been making your croissants and have had huge success with it.. but now i have moved from london to Karachi Paksitan.. Unfortunately there is no strong bread flour available here. i tried to go on youtube and make my own bread flour but its not the same at al.. please advise me as to what i can use or how i can make my own bread flour. your help of any sort will be much appreciaed
many thanks
seema Latif
what brand of sheeter do you use?
I’ve always been a fan of rondo sheeters!
I cannot wait to try it at home. Always lacked a proofer until I also heard the shower trick. Will try your version, too! Thanks for the detailed post!!
Hi Jenny,
That’s great, I’m so glad you’re going to try them out! I would definitely use the steamy water in the oven, it’s given me the best results without having an actual proofer. Let me know how it goes!
Cheers – Chef Scott
Scott,
I would love one of your croissants, but I wouldn’t attempt to make one! Your directions with pictures is accepting all. The dough is beautiful! People should have a new respect for chefs who make these particularly on a daily basis!
I love your writing and injections of humor. I am so proud to say,”He’s my nephew!”
Thank you for this Chef! Your croissants have always looked so tempting!!
Thanks Pooja! I hope you’re doing well!
Yes Chef I’m good. Hope you are too! I want to come back soon.
About this recipe I don’t have easy access to bread flour so how to I make it work with AP flour?
Thanks 🙂
Hi Pooja! I’m glad to hear you’re doing well. If you don’t have bread flour and only have ap, you can expect to mix your dough longer than you would with bread flour to develop enough gluten. You may also need to add just a little more liquid to help gluten development and make sure that the liquid in your recipe is cold to keep the dough cool during longer mixing time. Let me know how it goes!
Cheers – Chef Scott
I’ve never given birth but I can say with complete confidence that making this is more painful.
I had some weird out of body moments when I was making this. I heard my KitchenAid mixer talk to me and say “B*tch, you thought I could mix this?” I also heard from my upper body who scoffed and said “Give up, you don’t have the upper body strength needed for this.”
While my croissants did not turn out as beautiful as yours they tasted AWESOME. Dry butter isn’t hard to find in my area so I used that and made it even drier by adding the flour because I didn’t read all of the words in your post because I’m a fool. Also, I felt like my machine was going to crap out on me (I saw it reach for my phone to call for help at one point) from all the mixing so I didn’t get the gluten development I wanted.
This is coming from someone who is terrible when it comes to dough. I had a hard time rolling it out to those specific measurements and had more width than length when I was folding it BUT it still looked decent in the end and made me feel accomplished.
Hi Anna,
OK, so you probably get top comment for 2017. Although I’m sorry you had to experience such strife during your croissant odyssey, it makes for good reading! Yeah, stand mixers these days aren’t what they used to be, that’s for sure. You can try adding a bit more milk to the dough to soften it and make it easier for the mixer to handle (and easier for you to roll out). Regardless, I am both impressed and proud of you for giving it a try! I hope the process didn’t turn you off too much and you summon the courage to give it another go sometime. Maybe 2019? In the meantime, I suggest bicep curls and protein shakes.
Cheers – Chef Scott
Chef, I am simply amazed by how much effort and detail you put in your blog posts !
I am currently in Baking and Pastry school and it is so incredible to see and read about processes so well explained!
I absolute love reading your tips, amazing recipes and step by steps.
Thank you so much for caring about the pastry community – you could just as easily keep all the “secrets” to yourself or not bother at all to help out those of us who are beginners -but this whole blog tells a lot about who you are. THANK YOU!
Hi Camila,
Wow! Thank you! It’s always awesome to hear feedback like this because it tells me I’m getting the info I want to share to the right people. I hope you’re enjoying pastry school, and maybe getting a little help from DFK. If there’s ever a topic you or a fellow student would like to see featured, don’t hesitate to shoot me an email.
Cheers – Chef Scott
Hello, I love this site!
I’m a baker in Pittsburgh and am trying to nail down my croissant production. I seem to be having a problem in that they are breaking in the front and not staying round( I can send a picture to better explain if that helps…) I’ve tried varying the flour used, stronger, weaker, a combination of the two; room temperature bulk ferment vs overnight bulk ferment; varying the butter in the detrempt; different mixing times and techniques; different shaping techniques; different baking times and temps; different proofing techniques( more humidity, more time, lower temps…) nothing seems to help. Any advice would be more than welcome, thank you!
Hi Andrew,
Cool, thanks for checking it out! I’m glad you like it. A picture will always help to see what might be occurring. If you have a picture of a raw, shaped croissant and then the baked one with an issue would be even better. I’ll see if I can help you get to the bottom of it! Just email me at chefscott@devilsfoodkitchen.com
Cheers – Chef Scott
Hi Chef Scott,
Superb recipe–thanks so much for posting all the detail! I have been using this recipe and with great success (10/10 flavor, 10/10 exterior crust, round, shape 9/10, open honeycomb 3/10 and issues with rolling/proofing is where I need work. That said, with all the detail you have provided I know what I have to do to close the last few gaps in my technique, I just have to practice.
Big question: If I want to half this recipe, can I just make the butter block 1/2 the size listed above as long as it’s 1/2″ thick and then make the initial dough square 5 x 7 1/2″? Or do you have a specific recommendation for a half size?
Thank you again!
Hi Nik,
Thank you, I’m glad you are enjoying the recipe! In terms of the size of the butter block and the detrempe (dough), what is most important is that the thickness of both is maintained as in the original recipe, and the the dough can just encase the butter block. You should be able to reduce the size as you mentioned, starting with the butter block and adjusting the size of the dough to fit accordingly. Let me know how it goes!
Cheers,
Chef Scott
Thank you! Will do.
I’m super excited to try this recipe!! However, I’m new to the croissant world and want to get as much practice in as I can. Is it possible to cut the recipe in half?? If so, how will that affect the dimensions of the butter block?
Thank you for such a thorough post!
Hi Kaitlyn,
Welcome to the croissant world! Technically yup, you can cut the recipe in half and reduce the butter block and dough block in half in terms of length and width dimension, leaving the thickness of each the same as the original recipe. Some recipe react better or worse depending on the size batch you create, but to be honest I’ve never made a batch of croissant dough smaller than the recipe I shared, so I can’t say for certain that it will react just as it should. I’m confident you won’t have issue reducing everything in half, let me know how the process goes! I’m always available to help you troubleshoot if you ever want to send pics of the final product.
Cheers – Chef Scott
I am really happy with the result!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/1x12UL0HeAvs38H23
Nonetheless, its not quite as perfect as I would like 🙂 and I have some ideas about how to improve them:
-I think that they may be under-proofed but I was very anxious since I saw that the layers were separated before the 2 hour-mark
-Also, I definitely need to practice rolling the dough since I can see an obvious spiral in the crumb
Any tips? I really appreciate the help and thank you again for such a great recipe!!
Also! I noticed my croissants were a bit heavy. Does that have something to do with under prodding again?
*underproofing
Hi Kaitlyn,
Yup, a heavy croissant can be the culprit of under proofing, and also not enough time in the oven. For the next batch, in addition to the longer proof time, pop the oven temp up a little bit for when you first put your croissants in to bake (maybe 15-20 degrees higher). After they’re in, reduce the temp back to the normal bake temp. That should help them get a little extra spring, and help evaporate more water, leaving a light croissant.
Cheers – Chef Scott
Hi Kaitlyn,
You should be super happy, those look awesome! The lamination and baking look very nice. I wouldn’t worry about the spiral in the crumb, that’s not unnatural to see, and is actually probably the result of a little too much flour used on your dough during that last turn.
So by looking at the crumb of the croissant, we can troubleshoot some of the areas of improvement. The most obvious thing is how tight the crumb is, looking almost like a spongy bread instead of the open honeycomb of a croissant. This usually happens for one of a few reasons. 1. It could be under or over proofing (which is confusing I know), but given the proofing time you mentioned of 2hrs, I don’t think it’s over proofed. My guess would be they are a little under proofed, try 2.5-3hrs in your next batch. 2. The dough itself may be too week to spring up to create the honeycomb. If 2.5-3hrs still doesn’t make them pop, then this is likely the issue. The easy answer is to develop more gluten in your dough to make it stronger, but that makes it much harder to work with by hand. So if it turns out the dough needs some extra strength, I would maintain the mixing times in the recipe, but try and source a high gluten bread flower for a little extra punch.
Looking forward to seeing the next batch!
Cheers – Chef Scott
I tried making my first croissant dough using another recipe. I was inspired after binge watching 2 seasons of The Great British Bake Off… they came out as well as a first timer’s could. I am excited to try your recipe for my next go at it. Thank you for the thorough instructions and photos.
Hi Nicole,
Haha I love that show! None of the ego and bravado of the American shows, which is refreshing. Good for you for giving it a try, and more importantly, trying again! Let me know how it goes.
Cheers – Chef Scott
hi chef.! amazing detailed recipe with the croissant. I want to try this recipe, but i have a question regarding the butter block. If I want to use this recipe but i have the 82% butter block that is ready made for croissants, Can i just the total the weight of the butter and the flour and substitute the weight for the ready made block ( i am thinking of using le scure 82% butter ready made). , is that possible? Thank you.
Hi Marie,
Thanks! Yes, you absolutely can use your butter block, adjusting it so it matches the flour+butter weight of the recipe. It should work great for you! Let me know how it goes.
Cheers – Chef Scott
Thankyou very much sir for the detaid explained recipe ,I happ glad trat you explained every bit of it,sor kindly advise which home sheeter can I buy for house hold use will buy today In sha Allah olx guide and thank you very much
Hi Chef Scott! After watching GBBO for months, recently I’ve been aspiring to be a weekend baking warrior! I had such success with your carrot cake entremet over the long Easter weekend – it not only produced an impressive final product, but I appreciated your calm approach and all your discussion of why/what to do with pictures — so I decided to attempt croissants for the first time this past weekend. Pain au chocolate is my favorite. 🙂
I refuse to even post pictures yet, heh. It wasn’t a disaster, because they were perfectly edible sweet-dough rolls to eat with jam, but it was definitely a dough lamination failure. I suspect the gluten never developed enough and/or I over-hydrated; I have an old KitchenAid but the dough was too tough for it (like Anna’s hilarious comment above, I’m sure it was swearing at me), so I hand-kneaded for at least 10min but it always seemed like it tore too easily. I’m not an experienced bread baker, so I think that caught me out. I suspect it’s the gluten under-development that led to all other problems – impossible to roll out unless I let it come up in temp (which meant the butter was too soft), so it tore a lot during rolling out the folds, so the dough/butter mashed together instead of lamination/honeycomb. I was really careful to keep my rolling technique tight, just as you described, but it still felt/looked like the butter just oozed out the ends.
I don’t have any specific questions yet, but I wanted to share the results of my first attempt, so hopefully one of these days I’ll be able to share pictures of a beautiful honeycomb!
Hi Joanna,
I’m so sorry to send a reply so late! DFK has been in flux as I’ve been moving into a new kitchen, and sadly my correspondence has suffered too. Croissant dough is always tricky to make at home for just the reason you’ve mentioned. If you don’t develop the gluten enough, the croissant won’t rise properly. If you develop the gluten enough, it’s nearly impossible to roll or work with! My advice is to experiment with adding just a bit more milk to the dough when you are initially developing it. That will hopefully make the dough a bit softer but will also add water to increase gluten strength. Honestly a tablespoon or two may prove enough. Let me know if you attempt the recipe again and by all means feel free to email me photos if you’d like more help trouble shooting. I promise to reply much sooner 🙂
Cheers – Chef Scott
Omigosh Chef, thank you so much for the response – understood re logistical delays, no problem! I wasn’t actually sure my comment had gone through, so I’m glad to see it did. I haven’t had a chance to try croissants again because I’m attempting regular batches of macarons AND trying to fit in seasonally-appropriate entremet recipes (thus why I’m eyeing your strawb-black pepper PG recipe!), but this is absolutely still on my wishlist. As I mentioned, pain au chocolat is my Holy Grail!
I will probably give lamination another try later in the summer or fall, and thank you thank you thank you for the offer to troubleshoot photos! To be continued!
Cheers, and I hope the new kitchen is wonderful!
I’ve been obsessed with making the best croissants for about half a year now. Probably baked around 10-12 batches by now. I’ve gotten great results, but they’re not consistent. You would think that my lamination technique gets better with more practice, but lately I’ve been encountering a problem I’ve never seen before, and that is a collapse of the center of the croissant. The first two or three layers are fine, but a gaping hole forms at the center as the inner layers scrunches up. I always work in a 68-70F environment and refrigerate 45 minutes after every turn. Turns only last 5 minutes. I’ve entertained almost every possibility (amount of yeast, gluten strength, flour strength, hydration percentage, etc.), but I just couldn’t figure it out. I’ve always been using Jeffrey Hammelman’s formula for 27 layers, which is not a far cry from yours. I always thought the dough is cold enough because the first two turns yield beautiful layers, but the dough has been noticeably more sticky and soft for the final turn and rollout. When I read your post, I realize that I’ve never tried freezing in between turns. Could it be that my dough isn’t cold enough? Could that cause the center to collapse? I am going to try your recipe this weekend.
Best results (27 layers) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BjQqy-1h7-G/?taken-by=cheatdaycooking
Best results (12 layers) https://www.instagram.com/p/BivOsYsBIh6/?taken-by=cheatdaycooking
Hi Caleb,
Your technique sounds pretty solid to me! Sticky and/or soft dough is often a culprit of over-hydration. If the dough was too warm and became “sticky” you’d absolutely feel the fat on your hand from butter leaking, so if that isn’t the case I may attribute this to the changing of seasons. Can I ask where you’re located? In my kitchen in Chicago, everything becomes noticeably more humid around this time of year, and as a result we reduce the overall hydration of the dough slightly. This is also a time of year where you can get condensation on your product, which may be what’s occurring as well. When that happens, I usually apply a small amount of flour to the outside of the dough book to absorb that surface moisture, and then brush the flour off.
Looking at the 27 layer croissant and reading through your method, the most likely issue is baking time/oven spring. The collapsed center will be a result of 1. Weak gluten structure (very common with home-made croissants), 2. underproofing – although I don’t see too much evidence of that in your photo, 3. under-baking or 4. an oven that lacks the temperature or airflow to help a solid rise. If I hadn’t read your comments and simply saw the photo I would say that weak gluten strength is the main issue – but if you are certain that isn’t the case, I might try increasing your initial oven temperature by 15-20 degrees (F) for the first half of baking, and maybe even throwing a tablespoon of water on the hot floor of the oven for a brief hit of steam before closing the oven door.
Let me know if you tried my recipe, how it went, and if any of this proves helpful! Good luck in the quest for croissant gold!
Cheers – Chef Scott
Chef Scott,
Thank you so much for your reply. I am living in Baltimore, and it can get very humid during the summer. I just tried your recipe last weekend! Looking at the ratios of wet and dry ingredients, your dough is the driest of them all. For whatever reason, they gained the least size during the proofing stage. The result was a more “bready” croissant. The crumb is open enough but it’s still uneven. I’ve transitioned to freezing the dough for the 3rd fold and final roll out. I don’t think the flour in the butter is necessary. I also didn’t use bread flour because King Arthur’s AP is about 11.7%. Any thoughts? Is there any reason why your dough is so dry?
The honeycomb structure is still very elusive for 27 layers. I’ve had good results with 12 layers though. Here’s what I am going to try next:
1. Apply your method to Hammelman’s recipe and use KA bread flour instead.
2. Try Hammelman’s recipe with two double turns (16 layers).
Hi Caleb,
Just to be sure, I checked the recipe I posted on the blog against my recipe used in the hotel (to make sure I didn’t goof up typing it) and it’s exactly like what we use at work. Within reason (and I think my recipe is a reasonable hydration %), the hydration of the dough is unlikely to create a “bready” texture on it’s own, unless it’s a result of poor gluten development, which would be confirmed with a windowpane test during the dough mixing (and fixed with more mixing or additional hydration). The “bready” crumb is more likely the result of under/over proofing or a technical error in lamination. What’s likely is that the Hammelman recipe has high hydration because that creates a softer dough which is easier to work in a home setting, where you don’t have tools like a mechanical dough sheeter. If you prefer the Hammelman recipe, I think the two experiments you outlined will be great tests! It’s possible that continuing to adjust the layer count could give you a better result given your specific kitchen environment. Personally, I’ve used three single folds for my croissants over the last 20 years (and lots of different recipes) and good/bad results have been due to other aspects than the layers.
If you ever give my recipe a try again, I’d just add a bit more milk to the dough to create the flexibility you’re looking for. The caveat is that the softer dough makes it a little more difficult to get perfectly even lamination, since the softer dough will tend to roll to the ends of the book against the firm butter. Also, if you try my recipe again I might try adjusting the proof time (I’ve proofed mine for as long as 3 hours when making them at home).
In the end, the biggest reason for uneven honeycomb or a bready crumb is simply from the technical aspects of each step of the croissant, but to me that’s part of the challenge and the fun!
Let me know how your next test goes.
Cheers – Chef Scott
Ok, this is my latest attempt. I tried the Hammelman formula with poolish, bread flour and only did single + double turn (12 layers), but I’m finally satisfied with the crumb. I guess less really is more. As per your diagnosis, I kneaded the dough by hand until it passed the window pane test this time. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bk-x3m5h7ak/
If I were to try your recipe again, I might try bread flour and developing the gluten more. I forgot to mention last time that your recipe made the best-tasting croissants. It also gets the best crust award, look at ’em layers. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bk-wnZUhnnh/
Hey Caleb,
Great looking croissant!Reducing the layer count is a smart move as the gluten structure in the dough doesn’t have to be as strong and resilient when creating the open structure of the honeycomb. Glad you saw through all of the tests and found your own personal recipe that works. The next step is consistency! Looking forward to more pics in the future.
Cheers – Chef Scott
Hi Chef,
Just found your website and your write-up about croissants. Your croissants are AMAZING! I have tried making croissants. The croissants did puff up in the oven but the texture of the croissants are more bread-like and not honeycomb like yours. May I know what are your thoughts on this? I proofed it for 2.5 hours and I did double in size. Please advice with thanks!
Will try your recipe this weekend.
Thank you.
Hi Geri,
Thanks! If you have a bread-like texture inside, that usually a result of over-proofing the dough. It could also be that during lamination the dough and butter became too warm and smashed together instead of staying in separate layers. With your next batch, make sure the dough is as cold as you can get it while you roll out your turns and then maybe try proofing for 2hr 15min. If that doesn’t help, let me know! Also, if you’d like to take a picture of the product and send it to me at chefscott@devilsfoodkitchen.com I’d be happy to give it a look and see if I can help you some more.
Cheers – Chef Scott
Hi Chef,
Thank you for your reply. Apologies for double posting again.
Have sent you 2 photos of my last batch. Will be trying it again. Hopefully this time I will get better results.
Thank you and have a wonderful weekend.
Cheers,
Geri
Thank you for your detailed recipe, Chef Scott! I’m about to give it a go. I was just wondering; did you use active dry yeast or instant dry yeast. Thanks again!
Hi Kristiina,
I use active dry yeast. Let me know how the croissants turned out!
Cheers – Chef Scott
Hello chef,
What is the protein content of the bread flour you used for making this recipe. Here we get two types of flour, one with 12.2% protein content and other with 15%.
Hi Jay,
Generally, the bread flour here is between 12-13% protein. I would stick with the 12.2% option you have. Good luck with your croissants!
Cheers – Chef Scott
I just found 99.9% concentrated butter sold at bakery shop near my house. Is it suitable for laminate with croissant dough?
Hello,
Do you mean 99.9% fat? If so, I wouldn’t recommend using it. To make good laminated dough you want to have water in the butter so that it turns to steam during baking and helps the product rise. Using a butter that is 82-84% fat is ideal.
Cheers – Chef Scott
Hi Chef,
I have been trying to make croissants for the longest time but I had little success, we normally have butter that has only 80% fat which I have heard is not ideal for making laminated dough and it’s hard to find butter with a higher fat percentage, so could you kindly give me some tips regarding this situation? Would be really grateful!
Hello!
Don’t get too discouraged, croissants are very challenging, especially trying to make them outside of a professional kitchen! Yes, butter that is at 82% is better for making croissants, but 80% shouldn’t effect them that much. If that’s the only butter you can find, it will work! Unfortunately, there are just too many variables at each step of the process that can ruin the croissant for me to be able to give you tips that will help right now. Do you have some more detail about what isn’t working? Any photos of the croissants that haven’t turned out? That will help figure out some of the issues. The most common mistakes are not keeping the dough cold enough when laminating, and over or under proofing. If you have some more info on your particular challenges, I’d be happy to help!
Cheers – Chef Scott
Hello! I have a question about the butter block – I typically use only butter for laminating (not a mixture of butter & flour). Why do you think that using a block with both butter & flour is preferrable? Is it simply ease of handling?
Thanks!
Heather
Hi Heather,
The best butter to use for a laminated dough is beurre sec, or “dry butter”, made from milk harvested during the winter, when the cow’s feed isn’t quite as nutrient dense. It creates a slightly drier butter which results in a gentler rise when the water in the butter turns to steam during baking. That gentler rise creates a more delicate laminated crumb in the finished product. As you can imagine, this isn’t exactly easy butter to find (if it’s produced at all anymore). By adding a little flour to the butter it does become slightly easier to handle, but it also mimics some of the qualities of the dry butter preferred for laminated doughs. This can be especially helpful if making croissants during the summer or in a humid environment. Hope that helps!
Cheers – Chef Scott
About proofing process, what is the checkpoint that croissant has been proofed enough? Some recipe said it has to be double or triple of the original size, but it’s hard to judge by bare eyes LOL. Do you have any tip to check it? And what if I made smaller size or bigger size of croissant, would the amount of proofing time change?
Thanks
Hi Shouko,
Good question, and a difficult one to answer because there are so many variables. If your croissants are on the larger side and are proofing at a slightly lower temperature they will definitely take longer to proof (and the opposite is true for small croissants in a warmer proofing environment). Often the rule of thumb is to let the product double in size (it would be very hard to get the croissants to triple in size given the amount of yeast in them). I look for the croissants to have a slight wiggle to them, and I also look to see that the laminated layers have just begun to separate so that they are well defined. Really though, this comes down to lots of practice and being able to dial in your own proofer time and temperature. The next time you make croissants, take careful notes about the croissant size (I like to weigh a few of mine to get the gram weight) proofing temp and proofing time length. Then you can cut your baked croissant in half to check the structure inside which will give you clues about whether you proofed correctly or need to adjust. Feel free to send me picture of your croissant structure and I can help you troubleshoot.
Cheers – Chef Scott
Hi Chef.
thank you for all the detailed tips and explanations. i am quite new at croissant making and am hell bent on getting them like yours 🙂 my question i, why are my croissants oozing butter in the oven. i have let them proof like you said in your post to prevent that. so i have done that and proofed them for much longer, but they are still oozing butter…. is that why my croissants are not separating like honeycomb? i do have distinct layering but not quite like yours. also do you think my yeast is now old? as i opened the tin a couplf of years back but the expiryt date is still far….. help please.
any tip will be much appreciated.
best
seema Latif
Hi Seema,
If your croissants are leaking butter during baking, that is a sure sign that you are proofing them at too high a temperature. Make sure to proof between 78-80F/25.5F-26.6C but no higher than that. Higher temperature will cause the butter to melt out and then your honeycomb structure will never develop. Where have you stored the yeast? Usually the exp. date is how long you have to open and use it, but once opened and exposed to air, the shelf life will be a few weeks (if stored correctly). I would go ahead and buy some new yeast just to make sure you give yourself the best chance of success – and keep it in the refrigerator when not in use!
Cheers – Chef Scott
Thank you so much Chef. I am trying another batch today. Will report back and my yeast is defi stale. It’s been lying in the larder for the last 3 years
Hi! I’m sooo obsessed with making the best croissants it’s kind of driving me nuts! Then I found this page and I’m just so overjoyed!! I’ve bought books, trained with 2 chefs and still I haven’t been able to get the info I needed to get that honeycomb structure.
I’ve always wondered if croissant dough needs to be proofed, and I couldn’t seem to get an answer anywhere. Some say they don’t need to be since you crush the layers anyway.
Another thing is I didn’t know at what stage I should mix my dough. I’ve had 2 chef trainers mix dough that is quite underdeveloped (I have a sheeter at my disposal – which is a huge advantage). Chef 1 didn’t get that honeycomb and chef 2 did get a honeycomb structure even with an underdeveloped dough. Well there is a bit of gluten there, but I would say there’s no window pane. He did laminate it beautifully though, proofed well and baked at 220 (it got burned!! but nevermind that :P)
I made my batch today, and I thought my lamination was good. clear layers, dough was kept cold. However what I missed is I didn’t proof the dough at any stage (Chef 2 taught me this). The process he taught me was: right after mixing, he would chill the dough covered for 20 mins in the freezer, encase the butter, chill again, do 3 folds (or 1 single, 1 double), then leave the dough to rest overnight then do the final sheeting and bake the next day. Also, I think it was underproofed and also my gluten was really weak. There was absolutely no stretch.
Anyway, just wanted to say thanks. I printed maybe 36 out of 42 of this post! Will study it more tonight.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this!! Thank you SO MUCH for all the info you posted!!
Oops, forgot to clarify he would chill the dough in the freezer between folds for 20 mins. Also, it rests in the freezer overnight so it doesn’t proof. We are from a tropical country. Gets really hot, even if there’s aircon in the kitchen. Room temp I would say is 26-27C.
Hi Ava,
Thanks for the extra info! I would definitely proof them. If it’s that warm in the kitchen, you can keep your croissants out, egg washed, and covered in a plastic bun pan bag.
Cheers – Chef Scott
Hi Ava,
I share your love of croissants, and certainly spent more than my fair share of time trying to get them right! I’ve always said that there’s no one right way to do anything in pastry – and that everyone should be open to each new method they learn, BUT, I just don’t know how you can achieve a proper honeycomb structure in a croissant without developing the gluten in your dough properly but most importantly proofing! It doesn’t matter how well butter is laminated in the dough, if the dough itself lacks the gluten strength to stretch without breaking once the water in the butter turns to steam (which is the crucial reaction for the honeycomb pockets) then you just can’t possibly get that great texture. Proofing – in my humble opinion – is even more crucial, as it further develops flavor, and encourages the separation and development of the honeycomb structure before the bake. Now some people proof their product using a cold technique, like in the cooler overnight – but that requires specific conditions in the cooler, and usually an adjustment to the recipe itself.
My advice is to 1. Develop that gluten! The only time I may under-develop gluten is when making croissants at home without the use of a sheeter, but since you have one, definitely get that window pane before moving on. 2. Proof! Proofing time will vary depending on the size of the croissant itself and the proofing conditions, but I recommend starting with a min. 2hr. proof at a temperature no higher than 80F/26.6C. Try that next time you make croissants and then send me a picture of the interior structure after baking and I can help you troubleshoot from there.
Good Luck!
Chef Scott
Chef Scott, I made these with the goal of learning and taking on a time-intensive project during covid-19 quarantine. Your recipe walk-through was incredibly helpful for a first-timer on laminated dough. I didn’t have access to a stand mixer so my roommate and I kneaded the dough by hand and carefully compared our dough to your pictures. I also relied on your responses to comments to navigate the proofing process. The croissants turned out excellently, and way better than I expected given the constraints. I could not have done it without all the extra guidance you’ve put into this page — thank you, thank you, thank you! I was able to carefully package and deliver to friends in my neighborhood for a safe treat and bring a little bit of joy in a time of dread.
Hi MacKenzie,
I apologize for responding so late to this! I’m thrilled you took on the challenge of making these croissants, and just as thrilled it gave you a project to pierce some of the gloom we’ve experienced (and share a little croissant love with others). Any plans to try them again? Or another big pastry project? Feel free to share pictures and insights on your experience!
Cheers – Chef Scott
Hi chef Scott,
What lamination would you suggest for puff pastry? Amazing information it helped me a lot to understand some of the process.
Thank you so much chef!
Hi Mariusz,
For puff pastry I use a very similar technique to croissant, but I do a total of six turns. This will give you the thinner layers that creates the signature flakiness of puff!
Cheers – Chef Scott
How do you make them in a non-air conditioned environment with an average room temperature between 29 – 32C?
Hi Jin,
A great question and a tough situation! Honestly, if you don’t have air-conditioning in a very hot kitchen it’s hard to make croissants. The best thing you can do is chill the dough often, working with it briefly before cooling it again. As long as the dough stays cold, you will be able to make proper croissants, it will just take longer than in a cooler kitchen.
Cheers – Chef Scott
Can I make the dough, leave it in the fridge overnight and then laminate it the next day?
Hi Anne,
Well, yes and no. Technically it’s no problem to make the dough and chill it overnight, however just leaving it in the fridge will cause the dough to proof (yup, proofing can occur in cold environments, and is even an intentional technique to create the sour flavor of sourdough bread), which is premature for the process. I suggest freezing the dough for an hour or two and then moving it to the fridge overnight to limit the amount of proofing that takes place before you laminate.
Cheers – Chef Scott