I made these croissants a few weeks ago and the next time I tried eating store-bought croissants, they couldn’t pass my throat. What in the world have I been buying and eating? This recipe is an old one I used to make many years ago. It’s a bit time consuming but it was well worth the trouble. I made myself a fresh breakfast sandwich. It was the best sandwich ever. The weather is grey and dark and rainy today. I missed sunshine. Have a wonderful week!
Sift or whisk the flour, salt, sugar into the bowl of a standard mixer. Stir in the milk powder. Rub in the margarine into the flour.
Stir in the yeast then make a well in the centre.
Add the egg and water and using the dough hook mix until the dough comes together then knead for about 1 minute. (do not knead too much otherwise it will develop gluten)
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead three to four times then form into a ball. (the dough should be firm but not hard).
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and leave in a warm place until doubled in size (30-45 minutes).
Knock back the dough on a floured surface and shape into a small rectangle (remove any excess flour), cover with cling film and leave to relax in the fridge for 1 hour.
Step 1: Remove the dough from the fridge. On a floured surface, roll the dough into a 20 x 8 inch (51 x 20.5cm) oblong.
Step 2: Dust off any excess flour from the surface then slice one portion of the butter into thin slices and arrange on the top two thirds of the dough.
Step 3: Fold the bottom third to the centre
Step 4: then fold the top third over the centre like a book. Gently seal the edges with the rolling pin then half turn the dough so the sealed portion is on the side. Wrap the dough with cling film and leave to rest in the fridge fro 30 minutes.
Remove the dough from the fridge. Make sure the longer side is facing you. Repeat steps 1-4, two more times, until all the butter is used up and making sure the dough rests for 30 minutes each time.
After using up all the butter and letting the dough rest 30 minutes, roll the dough into an oblong 20 x 8 inch (51 x 20.5cm) and fold three more times (without butter). Then let the dough rest for 1 hour.
On a lightly floured surface roll the rested dough into an 8 x 44 inch (20 x 111cm) oblong and cut into triangles as shown in the photo. (dust off any excess flour)
Brush the triangles lightly with the egg wash, then roll from the wider end of the triangle to the tip. Place on prepared baking sheet and brush lightly with egg wash. Cover with cling film and leave for about 30-45 minutes at room temperature or until doubled in size. Brush with egg wash, again, before placing in the oven and bake at 400ºF (200ºC) for ten minutes, then reduce the temperature to 375ºF (190ºC)for another 8-10 minutes
Croissants
Preparation time: 45 minutes; Resting time: 5 hours; Baking time: 20 minutes
Original Recipe: Woman’s Own Cakes and Bakes
Ingredients
- 450g (1Ib, 3 ½ cups) unbleached all-purpose flour (I used half bleached & half unbleached)
- ½ -1 teaspoon salt
- 25g (5 teaspoons, 1oz) sugar
- 25g (1 oz) milk powder
- 25g (1oz lard or tub margarine)
- 1½ teaspoons instant yeast (I used Fleischmann’s)
- 1 large egg (60g)
- 240ml (1 cup) tepid water
- 225g (½ cup, 8oz, 2 sticks), cold butter divided into three portions of 75g each
- Beaten egg to glaze
Instructions
- Preheat he oven to 400ºF convection (200ºC) 10 minutes before baking the croissants. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
- Sift or whisk the flour, salt, sugar into the bowl of a standard mixer. Stir in the milk powder. Rub in the margarine into the flour. Stir in the yeast then make a well in the centre.
- Add the egg and water and using the dough hook mix for 2 minutes then turn the dough onto a surface and knead three to four times then form into a ball. (the dough should be firm but not hard). Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and leave in a warm place until doubled in size (30-45 minutes).
- Knock back the dough on a floured surface and shape into a small rectangle (remove any excess flour), cover with cling film and leave to relax in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and make sure the longer side is facing you. On a floured surface, roll the dough into a 20 x 8 inch (51 x 20.5cm) oblong. Dust off any excess flour from the surface then slice one portion of the butter into thin slices and arrange on the top two thirds of the dough. Fold the bottom third to the centre and the top third over the centre like a book.
- Gently seal the edges with the rolling pin then half turn the dough so the sealed portion is on the side. Wrap the dough with cling film and leave to rest in the fridge fro 30 minutes.
- Repeat the above step two times until all the butter is used up. Wrap and let rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.
- After using up all the butter and letting the dough rest 30 minutes, roll the dough into an oblong 20 x 8 inch (51 x 20.5cm) and fold three more times (without butter). Then let the dough rest for 1 hour.
- On a lightly floured surface roll the rested dough into an 8 x 44 inch (20 x 111cm) oblong and cut into triangles as shown in the photo. (dust off any excess flour)
Brush the triangles lightly with the egg wash, then roll from the wider end of the triangle to the tip. Place on prepared baking sheet and brush lightly with egg wash. Cover with cling film and leave for about 30-45 minutes at room temperature or until doubled in size. The room temperature must not exceed 24ºC (75ºF) (otherwise the butter will melt and the croissants will be messed up.) - Brush with egg wash, again, before placing in the oven and bake at 400ºF (200ºC) for ten minutes, then reduce the temperature to 375ºF (190ºC) for another 8-10 minutes. Oven temperatures used will depend on your oven and whether you’re using convection of not.
- If you’ve never baked croissant I recommend you watch several you tube videos to get acquainted with the whole process.
- Yeast Conversion Table
myfavouritepastime.com
Tips
1 teaspoon instant dry yeast is 2.7g
1 teaspoon active dry yeast is 3.5g
1 packed active dry yeast is about 7g or about 2¼ teaspoons
My Favourite Pastime 
They look amazing! I usually buy the dough and just get creative with the inside but now I’ll be lazy no more ahaha must try this recipe! They look so fluffy!
Ha ha. Good luck. These were really, really good. I am planning to try an even easier recipe than this one, but first I need to psych myself!!! Have a great week!
Liz
Ahah thanks! Share the new recipe after your trial! Have a great week as well 🙂
I will definitely share the new recipe. It’s so much easier but still needs a lot of resting time. Thanks!!
Liz
Yum! One of my indulgent favourites (and reason I haven’t gone completely vegan). They are time consuming to make but you feel so proud when the final product comes out of the oven!
I know. Once they were done, I was so proud of myself and I thought “it wasn’t so hard after all!” Have a pleasant weekend!
Liz
My goodness, they are perfect looking!! I see what you mean about being time consuming but so, so worth it! I’m with you on avoiding store bought croissants. They always look better than they taste. -Kat
Thank you. Oh yes the store=bought ones are always so attractive but taste like cardboard. I’ve stopped buying. I want to reduce processed food in my house to 30% or less. Have a great weekend!
Liz
They look so perfect and delicious.
Thank you, they take some time to make but I think there are worth all the trouble. I look forward to making them, again m and again!!!
Liz
Such a lovely recipe 🙂
Thank you
Liz
See I have a weakness for croissants and seeing those layers of BUTTER! Ah my GOD!!!
Delicious. Thank you ❤
Ha ha. They are addictive. Have a great weekend ahead!
Liz
Straight from the french version of heaven, never tried making them since we have a local bakery, but why not try it now? 🙂
Lucky you-you have a local functional bakery with edible stuff. Our bakeries here only specialize in cup-cakes LOL. we don’t even have special breads…sigh!!!
Liz
You don have a local bakery that makes mouth watering baked goods? What are you waiting for! Sounds like an opportunity to me 😀
Ha ha ha! I know. I have been contemplating and procrastinating and hoping…maybe soon!
Liz
Go for it, I don’t know how busy you are, but I always contemplate what I would do when the kids get older and I want my own business! (Lots of ideas)
I am absolutely like you. I totally want my own business and the plan is to start next year once my kids are done with school. It’s kind of busy at the moment. Lets keep in touch and encourage each other!!!
Liz
That is awesome, I love it. Life is too short not having people encourage you to reach outisde of your comfort zone and dream 😉
Thanks. Take care!
liz
Amazing! Me too, I like to make them by myself… they are always so much better, even uncomparable, to storebought ones…
Have a nice day and many greetings from Germany,
Yushka
Thank you. I’m glad you love making them too.Greetings from Canada.
Danke shoen
Liz
Great recipe ! Your recipe provides every minute details and it gives a confidence to a person like me who is unacquainted with such recipes, thanks for sharing !!
Thank you very much. It was a pleasure eating them.
Liz
They look so fluffy and perfect! I need to try this recipe!
Tasted awesome. Happy trying!
Liz
OMGGGGGGG! I don’t think there’s anything better than a good croissant! I would like to try this recipe this weekend. I’ll let you know how it turns out. You’ve brought tears to my eyes.
Thank you. Eating fresh croissant is like being on cloud 9!!!
Liz
Liz! It’s me again. I got locked out of my account and couldn’t do anything til now. I’ve logged into this old one and crossing fingers I can connect!
Hi Sandy
Why is happening? A friend of mine said she was locked out of wordpress because she needed to upgrade her laptop to the new Mac OS Sierra. I’m so worried now because I still have Yosemite. I need to read more about sierra before updating. I don’t want surprises that I can’t deal with. Thanks for being here. It’s cold, grey and rainy today. I’m sitting by the fire. Have a good night
Liz
I’m not happy using this old account but at least I can get into WordPress. I don’t know why these things happen. I am getting your posts and recipes but can’t always log in. I do have a different blog account for travelling but it won’t work with WordPress! Grrrr. Anyway, know that I’m still enjoying your blog posts! Cheers, Sandy
Thanks Sandy. I’m glad to know your still enjoy my blog posts. I am not too tech savvy either. I just know enough to get me round. Every time I want to try something new, I have to spend some time reading!!! Have an excellent week!
Liz
Wow, they looks so fluffy and perfect for sandwiches…good job!
Thank you, Dave. They were so good…
Liz