French Croissants (all-butter)

Homemade croissants

Laminated dough, whether it's croissants, puff pastry, or Danish, is one of baking's real achievements. The principle is simple: alternate layers of dough and butter, fold repeatedly and let the steam do the work in the oven. The execution requires patience and a little planning.

It's a laborious recipe, but there's something about the outcome that not only makes you proud, but it's a huge baking accomplishment. Very much worth it if you're into baking projects. This is no last-minute idea, especially if you take the traditional way of mixing and folding.

The recipe is very traditional, though there are some that add an egg. Not this one, just flour, sugar, milk, salt, and of course, a lot of butter.

I make a danish dough in the food processor, and it's a dream, but there's no escaping the laminating if you want the puffy look. And you absolutely want the puffy look when it comes to croissants.

Read the recipe completely before you start. Set aside a full day, or better, spread it over two days with an overnight rest in the fridge after the first fold. Give yourself counter space, a good rolling pin, and no distractions during the laminating steps.

The dough goes through three folds total, with at least an hour of refrigerator rest between each one. This isn't arbitrary. The gluten tightens every time you work the dough, and chilling relaxes it enough to roll again. Skip the resting periods, and you'll be fighting the dough the whole way. Mark each completed fold with a thumb indent in the dough so you don't lose count.

Butter block

The butter block goes in after the first overnight rise.

I mix a few tablespoons of flour into the butter before shaping it into a rectangle. Rather than using a mixer, I lay the butter pieces on a sheet of parchment, sprinkle the flour over, top with another sheet, and pound it flat with the rolling pin. Pile it back up and repeat three or four times. Minimal mess, fully incorporated.

Laminating

To laminate is to alternate layers of dough and butter, by folding the dough onto itself, thus creating a final dough that looks like a stack of sheets. They will puff up dramatically in the oven due to that layering effect and the water that
evaporates as steam during baking.

So the layers have to be distinctive; otherwise, the effect will be lost and you will have a mess consisting of flour and butter. If you didn't manage to make puff or croissant pastry rise at some time, you know exactly what I mean. A pool of butter and uncooked dough.

It takes time because the dough has to rest for at least one hour between each envelope-style folding.

The reason for this is the yeast. The gluten activates when you handle the dough, and if it's not allowed to rest it becomes impossible to work with. Just like any yeast dough.

And it's important to mark the dough by making an indentation with your thumb between folds so as not to lose track of them. You don't want to find yourself in the middle of the kitchen, trying to figure out if you are going to make the final turn or if you already made it.

So you mark the dough. Just press your thumb when the fold is done. After the second turn, press your thumb twice. And so on.

Since croissants need three foldings, the last one a four-layer turn, it will take a few hours to complete. And then it has to rest again, otherwise, you won't be able to roll it thin enough to cut the triangles that will become the croissants.

Cutting and forming

Once the dough has completed all its folds and had its final rest, roll it out into a large rectangle, about 20x15 inches.

The dough should feel cold and firm, not springy. If it keeps pulling back when you roll it, cover it and let it rest another 10 minutes in the fridge. Forcing it will only make it snap back, and your triangles will be uneven and the flakiness not develop well.

Fold the rectangle in half and cut into triangles with one clean downward press of a sharp knife.

When you get to the shaping, hold each triangle at the wide base and give it a gentle stretch lengthwise before you roll. This helps the layers open up as the croissant bakes. Roll from the wide end toward the point with light, even pressure, and curve the ends inward as you place them on the pan. Press the tips gently onto the parchment so they don't unroll during proofing.

Syrup

I brushed them with simple syrup (sugar covered with water and boiled for two minutes) right out of the oven because I never glaze them before baking. I just don't like it. But the syrup gives them a nice shine and adds a very slight sweetness.