Make these quick and easy croissants from scratch, using this quick-method dough. Great for beginners and well worth the effort!
Happy New Year everyone! May it be filled with health and happiness and lots of flaky, buttery goodness. January blog posts are usually devoted to healthy recipes, diet tips and pledges to exercise more. I fully intend to do all that, but first I have to recover from my New Year’s Eve hangover and severe lack of sleep.
Instead of burrowing under a blanket with a mug of tea and a handful of paracetamol, I decided to stop procrastinating and finally give the blog a much-needed design makeover. There are still a few tweaks I want to make but I hope you like it. If you have any feedback or spot any glitches please sound off in the comments below or send me a tweet – I would really appreciate it!
To celebrate 2014 and before I settle into a healthy diet lifestyle (ha!) I have to share this post… Croissants have been at the top of my to-bake list for an embarrassingly long time. Somehow I never got round to making any, put off by the lengthy dough making process. When I came across Edd Kimber’s (winner of the first Great British Bake Off) recipe for 20 minute (!) croissant dough I knew I had no more excuses.
Edd was inspired by Julia Child’s Quick Danish Pastry dough recipe – actually a recipe by Beatrice Ojakangas which which she shared with Julia. I have tweaked the recipe and method somewhat, but you can check the links to Edd’s recipe and the video of Bea and Julia.This croissant dough super easy to make. The croissants themselves take some time to rise properly but the results are definitely worth the wait. I made two batches in two days and each one disappeared almost instantly!
There is no denying that croissants made with the traditional, laborious, method of encasing a block of butter in a simple yeasted dough are probably a little more airy and flaky – but that’s another post for another day. In the meantime I hope you try your hand at these quick-method croissants and stop by to leave a comment!
Quick and easy croissants from scratch
Prep Time
14 hrs
Cook Time
20 mins
Total Time
14 hrs 20 mins
These croissants use a quick-method dough which is great for beginners. Well worth the effort!
Course: Croissants
Servings: 6 -8
Ingredients
- 250 g | 8.8 oz strong bread flour
- 150 g | 5.3 oz cold unsalted butter cubed
- 120 ml | 1/2 cup warm milk
- 50 g | 4 tbsp sugar
- 7 g | 1 sachet dry active yeast
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tbsp milk to glaze
Instructions
- Warm your milk until it is body-temperature. Add the sugar and yeast and whisk to combine. Let it stand until the yeast is frothy and milk has cooled completely. If it's too warm it will melt the butter and undo all our good work.
- Put your flour and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the cubed butter and briefly pulse a few times until mixture resembles chunky breadcrumbs.
- Put the flour/butter in a large bowl and add the milk/yeast mixture. Gently combine using a spoon or pastry scraper until the dough just comes together. You want the butter to remain in pea-sized pieces so don't be too enthusiastic when mixing the dough!
- Turn the dough out of a lightly floured work top and press together to form a square. Wrap in cling film and put in the freezer for 30 minutes or in the fridge for a couple of hours.
- Lightly dust your worktop and rolling pin with flour. Roll your dough out to a rectangle roughly two to three times as long as it is wide, counter space allowing (pic. 1). Initially the dough may be quite brittle but it will come together as you roll and fold.
- Fold the short sides of the dough into the middle (pic. 2).
- Rotate the dough by a quarter turn. Roll out slightly to lengthen. Fold the short ends towards the middle (pic. 3 shows only left side folded in).
- Flip the dough over so the seams are underneath. Roll it out again repeating steps 5-7 three more times. The dough will become more elastic as you are rolling and folding it. If at any point the butter softens too much, cover and pop in the freezer to firm it before continuing with rolling and folding.
- The dough should be formed into a smallish rectangle. Wrap it twice with cling film and put in the fridge for a couple of hours or, ideally, overnight.
- Roll the dough out to a rectangle three times as long as it is wide and at least 4mm thick. Trim the edges with a pastry scraper (pic.4).
- Cut the dough into triangles about 30cm/12in long and 8cm/3in at the base. Score a small slit in the centre of each triangle base (pic 5). Any scraps and cut-offs can be layered on top of each other, rolled out again and used.
- Gently stretch the corners and tip, then loosely roll the dough up. Place, tip side down, on a large tray lined with baking paper. Repeat with the rest of the dough, spacing the croissants a few inches apart on the tray (pic.6).
- Cover loosely with greased cling film and let the croissants rise for 2-3 hours at room temperature - sorry, there are no shortcuts here!
- Preheat the oven to 230C | 450F. Brush the croissants with the egg wash and bake for ten minutes then reduce temperature to 190C | 375F and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until the croissants are a deep golden brown. Cool on a wire rack before serving.
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Agnelia says
Does this recipe doubles well?
Lucy Parissi says
Yes absolutely! The dough will be slightly longer when you are folding and rolling so make sure you have enought counter space.
Helen - family-friends-food says
I've always assumed that croissants were one of those things that were just best left to the professionals, but these look completely doable. I'm looking forward to giving them a whirl!
Gemma says
Hi Lucy,
I tried these croissant twice and they dough never grew and didn't proof. They just always stayed the same size. Have you experienced that? I used the exact recipe.
Lucy Parissi says
Hi Gemma,
So sorry to hear that – how frustrating. Is it possible the yeast was inactive or past its best? I am not sure I can offer another explanation. The dough should puff up slightly in the fridge (preferably overnight) even if it is wrapped in clingfilm. The croissants will then puff up again as they prove and expand further when they bake in the oven. Though they are not as flaky as the conventional method croissants, the recipe has been successful for me time and again. But I think I will try to make them once more over the holiday period and update this recipe if needed.
Lucy Parissi says
Hi Gemma – one more thing occurred to me as I was reading the recipe again. If the milk is too hot when mixed with the yeast it can kill it. But I doubt that is the reason since I specify the milk should be just tepid.
Gemma says
Thanks so much, I really appreciate your reply. I did consider it being my yeast but it has worked all this time until this point. I'll try it again 🙂
Lucy Parissi says
Hi Gemma – now slightly perplexed by your comments considering you posted a chocolate croissant recipe yesterday in which you have linked to my recipe…
Unknown says
I did these today. Doubled the batch and they came out perfect and still flaky. The instructions were on point. I would make them again.
Lucy Parissi says
Thanks so much for your comment! So glad they turned out well. I keep meaning to update the recipe with a video : )
sana batool says
looks Perfect. yummy
yuvraj says
Nice info you shared here and I love it a lot.