Welcome to the buttery, flaky world of baking a French croissant recipe, where patience is rewarded, and your home smells like a Parisian boulangerie. This homemade croissant recipe walks you step by step through how to make croissants recipe style, with tips for success, ideas for croissant fillings and toppings, and even how to work with frozen croissant dough if you're in a hurry.
And, don't stop there, try these delicious French bakery specialties: Raspberry Millefeuille Recipe, Cream Puff Recipe, or Pâtissière Religieuse that is made like cream puffs but with French pastry cream and butter cream icing in any look you like!
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About Making Croissants
They are very easy to make, but they need time for the different stages in making the dough. It is a good idea to make the dough the night before and leave it in the refrigerator ready to use the next morning, although any French baker worth his salt will tell you that it takes 48 hours to make good croissant dough... all the more reason to appreciate the effort.
Otherwise, you will need a couple of hours to prepare.
Where Does The French Croissant Originate?
That most quintessential of French foods, the croissant, wasn't originally French at all: Marie Antoinette is said to have introduced the kipferl, a crescent-shaped Viennese pastry, in the 18th century, after she arrived from Austria to marry Louis XVI.
Another claim attributes the croissant's French debut to Austrian baker August Zang, who opened a shop in Paris in the 1830s.
What is certain is that local bakers refined the pastry by making it with a yeast-leavened dough that's layered and folded several times with chilled butter. This labour-intensive routine is what gives the croissant its flaky quality, and part of what made the pastry so popular.
Tools To Make This Recipe
- parchment paper for prep and baking or
- silicone baking mat for baking only
- plastic wrap
- rolling pin
- 1-2 sheet pans to hold 12 croissants
- Electric Stand Mixer (not essential but nice to use)
How To Serve Croissants
You can now serve your warm croissants either with or without butter. This croissant recipe already contains butter, so you may not want any more on them; instead, spread a good-quality jam or fruit preserve on them.
- Café au lait or a strong espresso
- Fresh fruit or berries
- Soft scrambled eggs or asparagus, tomato, ham, and cheese omelette.
- French jams or salted butter
- A mesclun salad mix for a light lunch pairing
Your croissants will keep for a few days if kept in an airtight tin or container, but are best warmed in a hot oven before serving.
📖 Recipe
French Croissant Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup unbleached strong bread flour
- 1 teaspoon salt not any more because too much salt will kill the yeast
- 1 tablespoon castor sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon dry yeast, or 1 teaspoon of fast-action dried yeast. [The type and quantity of yeast used is important!]
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup warm milk must be warm!
Egg Wash For Glaze
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tablespoon milk or cream
Instructions
- Lightly grease and flour your baking tray.
- Sift the flour, salt and sugar into a large mixing bowl and make a 'well' in the center.
- Dissolve the fresh yeast in the warm milk and when completely dissolved, pour this into the well in the center of the flour mixture. Fast action yeast can be added to the flour and then the milk mixed in after.
- Mix all the ingredients together until you have a soft dough.
- Now place your dough onto a floured board or surface and knead for about 5 minutes then place the dough back into the bowl and cover with plastic film or a damp teacloth.
- Leave the dough for about 40 minutes to 1 hour until it has increased in size by about half again.
- Now roll your dough into an oblong shape.
- Flour the butter and press it down with a rolling pin to flatten it before placing it in the center of the dough.
- Take one end of the dough and bring it down on to the butter, then the other end up to meet in the center.
- Fold the dough in half and give a quarter turn.
- Roll the dough into a thick oblong about ¼ inch thick, then fold one end of the dough up and the other end down to meet in the centre.
- Again, fold the dough in half.
- Give another quarter turn and roll the dough in the other direction.
- Repeat this process once more.
- Wrap the dough in plastic film or foil and leave for about 2 hours or preferably overnight in the refrigerator.
- Roll out the dough to a rectangle about 11ins by 18ins and divide the dough in half lengthwise. (You may need to trim the edges a little)
- You now need to cut out six triangles from each strip so that each one has a six inch base. (This is your croissant recipe and you don't have to have perfect triangles!)
- Starting at the base, roll up each triangle towards the tip and brush the tips with a little water or milk to hold it in place.
- Place them on your baking tray lined with parchment paper or silicone mat, shaping them into crescent shapes by gently drawing tips toward the center.
- Cover with cling film and leave on the counter for one hour until well puffed up and then again in the fridge for about one hour to cool them before placing into the oven.
- Turn on your oven to 400° - 25 minutes before they are ready to bake. A well heated oven bakes more efficiently and evenly.
- Beat the eggs and milk together well to make the wash.
- Brush the croissants lightly with the wash and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Keep an eye on them while in the oven and turn the cookie sheets if you notice one side is baking faster. If they are browning too fast then turn your oven down 25° to 375°.
- Cool on a wire tray.
Storage
- 1. Cover your croissants that are left over from the first day, and refrigerate if there are any leftover on the second day. (Highly unlikely.) 😉
Notes
- Keep everything cold: your dough, your butter, and your hands if possible. (Except the milk to mix with the yeast.)
- Don't rush the resting times; they're essential for proper lamination.
- Use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to avoid squishing the layers.
- Proofing is key: under‑proofed croissants won't rise properly; over‑proofed ones collapse.
- If your kitchen is cold, proof inside an unheated oven with a bowl of warm water beside them.
- I always chill my rolling pin before laminating. It buys me precious minutes before the butter softens.
- A light mist of water in the oven (just before closing the door) helps create that perfect crisp exterior.
- I freeze shaped croissants on a tray, then store them in a bag, ready to bake anytime.
- For extra shine, brush with egg wash twice: once before proofing, once before baking.
Nutrition
Did you make this & like it, or not, let us know?!