How To Make The Best Croissants At Home

- What don't you like when it comes to

croissants

? Flaky on the outside, soft and buttery on the inside, they might be our favorite French pastries. Although easy to enjoy,

croissants

can be difficult to perfect, especially if you

make

them at

home

. The process takes practice and a lot of patience, but believe us when we say it's worth it. We test hundreds of croissants to bring you the

best

classic croissant so you can bake like a pro. So let's get into it. (soft music) We will start by making our dough. Our dough is made up of eight ingredients.

Milk, water, flour, sugar, salt, yeast, malt and butter. In a large bowl combine milk and water. Many croissant recipes call for just water, but we find that a combination of water and whole milk creates that tender crumb we want. The added sugar from the milk will also help us achieve that intense copper color. Well, next we will add the flour. We use bread flour because it is high in protein and is one of the strongest flours available. It will help provide structural support for our mass. The extra protein in bread flour

make

s the crumb more voluminous, chewier, and the crust browner.

Now we will add sugar, salt, yeast and malt to give it more flavor. The last ingredient in our dough is unsalted butter. Not all croissant recipes use butter in the dough, but we find that a small amount of butterfat in the dough helps during the rolling process. We will mix this with our hands until the dough looks like a shaggy dough. We don't want to develop gluten here, we just want to hydrate the flour and create a unified dough. Trust your instincts here. If the dough feels too wet, like this, it will be harder to roll out, which will cause the butter to break up when rolling.

You can always add a little more flour here. If the dough is too dry, it will begin to break when you roll it and will eventually bake into something more resembling a bun than a puff pastry. Unfortunately, there really is no solution for this. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let the dough rest at room temperature until it is about one and a half times its original size and has a slightly puffy texture. This will probably take about an hour depending on the temperature of your kitchen. Okay, this looks good. We will punch the dough and transfer it to a piece of plastic wrap.

Then gently press the dough into a rough eight-inch square. Here we go. Then we will wrap the dough well and refrigerate it for at least three hours, but preferably overnight. Let's move on to one of the most crucial steps of croissants, the butter block or beurrage. It is very important to use high quality butter. We recommend using European or European style butter because we are looking for at least 84% butterfat. That will help give our croissants that famous honeycomb finish. To make the butter block, place a sheet of parchment paper on a work surface with the long side closest to you.

Next, we will cut the butter into 1/4 inch thick pieces and place the slices in a single layer like tiles. Fold the edges of the parchment paper to cover the butter and turn the package over. Then the seam is facing down. We will let the butter packet sit at room temperature until it is soft but not greasy. Cold but flexible is what most recipes will tell you. Basically we want the butter to be a little flexible but not break. It took us about 30 minutes until our butter reached this consistency. Then we will take a rolling pin and pass it over the package to distribute the butter in an even layer to the edges and corners, without leaving spaces between the tiles.

And there you have it. Place the butter packet in the refrigerator to chill until you are ready to sheet. Alright, let's laminate. The first thing we must do is fix the butter in the dough. To do this we want to make sure our butter and our dough are about the same temperature and texture. Simply hold the butter in one hand and the dough in the other and feel them. We will very lightly sprinkle our work surface with flour. We will use our block of butter as a guide for how large we will roll out our dough.

We want to roll out our dough so that it is about the same width and about twice as tall as our butter packet. Once the dough is rolled out, place the packet butter side down on the bottom half of the dough, leaving about a half-inch of space around the edges. Once you have the butter in the right place, carefully remove the parchment paper to release the butter. Now fold the top half of the dough over the butter, stretching it very gently so that the edges of the dough reach the exposed edges under the butter. Use the palm of your hand to gently press the side and bottom edges of the dough to seal the package.

Watch this! Our dough looks like a closed book. So in the future, we'll call it the spine side and this will be the page side. We want to make sure the butter spreads evenly. So we'll use our rolling pin to press the dough firmly and start distributing the butter. To release that tension by folding the dough over itself, we'll use a graded knife to cut through the middle of the tenderloin. Now make sure to orient the dough so that the split loin is closest to you and begin rolling. Continue rolling until the dough is about 12 centimeters high, fluffing and moving the dough to make sure it doesn't stick to our work surface.

Once we have the height, we want to roll the dough until it is about 1/4 inch thick. It's time to make our first fold. Fold the bottom third of the dough up and the top third down, as if you were folding a letter. Hence we call this fold letter folding. We want to continue rolling out until we get about the same size rectangle we had before, at a thickness of 1/4 inch. If your rectangle is getting a little wild and has some rounded edges, you can use a serrated knife or pastry wheel to straighten the sides. We want to stay as close to a perfect rectangle as possible for optimal layering.

Now we are ready for our second and final fold. Fold the left two-thirds of the dough over on itself to pass right through the center of the dough. Then fold the right third of the dough over itself to the left so the edges meet. Gently press the two together to make a seam that resembles the spine of a displaced book. Then fold the left side of the dough to match the right edge of the dough. This is called quadruple. Many recipes will have you rest and fold the dough three and four times to create lots of layers and show off that iconic honeycomb structure.

However, we found that although fewer folds create fewer layers, they are more distinct layers and honestly give the croissant our favorite crumb texture, light just by chewing it enough. Plus, it requires a little less labor. Our croissants are really taking shape, but let's shape these babies. Now we need to roll out the dough one more time and, you guessed it, get back to that 1/4 inch thickness. For the next part we like to use a pastry wheel, but you can also use a large chef's knife. Start by marking three inches and turn the wheel from the mark diagonally toward the bottom left corner.

Continue cutting the rest of the dough until you have between 10 and 12 triangles. Make a slit in the middle of the base of each triangle to help relieve some tension and then roll them up to create that iconic half-moon shape. Be sure to roll it as tightly as possible without applying too much pressure so that the croissants hold their shape while proofing and baking. The French word croissant actually translates to crescent in English. Many historical experts believe that French croissants evolved from the Austrian kipferl, a buttery and often sweet baked product shaped like a crescent moon. According to popular legend, Kipferl dates back to 1683, when a baker heard the Ottoman Turks digging tunnels under Vienna to lay siege to it.

He sounded the alarm to save the city and created Kipferl to celebrate this victory. Its curved shape supposedly symbolizes the crescent moon emblem on the Ottoman flag. Kipferl eventually emigrated to France and evolved into what we now know and love as a croissant. Before we start baking, we have to proof our cakes. We like to add boiling water to a small container like a ramekin and place it on the tray under the plastic wrap while the croissants ferment. Moisture is key to prevent the dough from drying out. You'll know they're ready to bake when they look like light, puffy clouds.

They should wobble slightly when you shake the tray. Finally, we will brush them with beaten egg to give our croissants that iconic shiny copper-brown shell. And finally it's time to bake. We recommend placing a saucepan full of boiling water in the bottom of your oven. Ultimately, the steam helps the dough rise before the heat traps it in its shell. Bake the croissants in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. And before we taste these works of perfection, we want to let them cool for about 20 minutes. And voila, perfectly golden croissants. We think croissants taste

best

when baked fresh with a little jam or a drizzle of honey and served with your favorite breakfast drink.

The possibilities are truly endless when it comes to using this laminated dough to make other beautiful puff pastries. This recipe is truly a labor of love. And once you achieve it, the reward is incredibly sweet. For this recipe and even more croissant baking tips, visit tasty.com. Croissants truly make the world a buttery place. (laughs) (soft music)