Croissants

Croissants are laminated dough — layers of butter folded into layers of dough, over and over, until steam forces them apart in the oven. That is the entire technique, and there is no way around the time it takes.

Plan on two days. The dough needs cold rests between folds, and rushing them is what produces bread rolls instead of croissants.

Makes 12
Active time: about 2 hours, spread over 2 days

Ingredients

For the dough

4 cups all-purpose flour (about 500g)
1 cup whole milk (250ml), lukewarm
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon fresh yeast, or 2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons salt

For the butter block

7 oz butter (200g), cold — European-style if you can get it, for the higher fat content

To finish

1 egg yolk

Method

Day one: the dough

Sift the flour into a bowl and make a well. Add the sugar and salt to the sides, and the lukewarm milk to the center. Crumble in the yeast.

Keep the salt away from direct contact with the yeast until the liquid is in — salt kills yeast on contact.

Bring the dough together, then add the melted butter and knead until smooth. About 8 minutes by hand.

Cover and let it rise for 30 to 45 minutes, until noticeably puffed.

Knock it back, flatten it into a rectangle, wrap it, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Make the butter block

Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on the counter and put the cold butter on it.

Cover with a second sheet and beat it flat with a rolling pin, then shape it into a rectangle roughly half the size of your dough rectangle.

Refrigerate until firm but still pliable. The butter and dough need to be the same consistency when they meet — butter that is too hard will shatter into pieces, butter that is too soft will merge into the dough. Either way you lose your layers.

Day two: lamination

Roll the chilled dough into a rectangle about twice the size of the butter block.

Place the butter on one half and fold the dough over it, sealing the edges completely.

Roll out into a long rectangle, roughly 3 times as long as it is wide. Work from the center outward and keep the edges square.

Fold in three, like a letter. This is one turn.

Wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Repeat twice more, for three turns in total, chilling 30 minutes between each. Three letter folds gives you 27 layers of butter, which is where the flakiness comes from. One or two folds is not enough.

If the butter starts breaking through the dough at any point, stop and chill it immediately.

Shape

Roll the finished dough out to about 1/4 inch thick.

Cut it into long triangles, roughly 4 inches wide at the base.

Make a small notch in the center of each base — this helps the croissant curve as it rolls.

Roll each triangle from the base to the tip, keeping it snug but not tight, and curve the ends inward.

Proof

Arrange on parchment-lined trays with plenty of space between them.

Cover loosely and let them proof at warm room temperature for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until visibly puffy and jiggly when you shake the tray.

Do not proof them anywhere warm enough to melt the butter. If butter leaks out during proofing, the layers are gone.

Bake

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Brush the croissants with egg yolk beaten with a splash of water. Brush the surface, not the cut edges — egg on the layers glues them shut.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until deep golden brown. Pale croissants are undercooked croissants; the color is the flavor.

Cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes. They are still setting inside when they come out.

Chef’s note

For pain au chocolat, cut the dough into rectangles instead of triangles, lay two batons of dark chocolate across each, and roll up.