Les Croissants
Easily the most famous French pastry, the croissant is enjoyed by many around the world. With the growth of coffee culture, croissants have become widely available. But what makes a good croissant? One word comes to mind as I contemplate this question…
BUTTER. To me, the perfect croissant is flakey on the outside but also tender on the inside. When you bite into it, there’s a divine layer of crisp completed with a butter-rich soft pastry. But the trick to achieving this is through the technique “laminating”, where butter is worked into the dough and folded several times.
When this month’s Fresh from the Oven Challenge was to bake croissants, I had mixed feelings about them. On one hand, I was filled with excitement, knowing that I’d finally make the King of Pastries. On the other hand, I couldn’t help but worry if my croissants had failed, and were incomparable to those of cafés / bakeries. After all, they are notoriously laborious to make!
This excitement, as usual, turned into a mild obsession with croissants.
Whenever I saw a café that hinted the existence of a croissant, I wanted to see it.
I wanted to see its golden crust.
I wanted to see the occasional chocolate drizzle.
And I wanted to see its crescent shape.
Sometimes, without realizing, I was reaching for my purse and shortly after, I had just gobbled up yet another croissant. So much for hot yoga.
After much procrastination, I finally reserved a weekend off from work to make croissants. I had brought the butter (and most other ingredients) to room temperature and bought all the ingredients I required. Yes! It’s time to witness the magic first-hand!
As soon as they popped out the oven, I took the ugliest “non-croissant looking” croissant and gobbled it up first! Yuuuummmaaaaayy!!! Of course you eat the ugly ones first, and reserve the pretty ones for your hour-long photography session. Success?
But of course, as you know, nothing from my kitchen goes undressed! Everything from the oven gets sweetened up! Not even these croissants can escape the wrath of Sweet Samsations! 😀
That’s right!!!!
IT’S CROISSANT AU CHOCOLAT! But not quite “Pain Au Chocolat” style. hehe..
You can pretty much use any chocolate you want for the chocolate topping. I just bought some milk chocolate bars and melted them then transferred into a Ziploc bag and piped onto the croissants.
Another option is nutella®! Yes, nutella® can also be piped generously onto these croissants.
Top with more almonds if desired! And icing sugar later! (Above: nutella®, Below: Milk Chocolate Melted)
So now for the recipe…
Croissants
source: Recipe and directions from Lavender and Lovage
Ingredients
- 1 egg (room temperature)
- 325 g/ 3 cups strong white bread flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons castor sugar
- 25 g/ 2 tablespoons softened butter (room temperature)
- 7.5 ml/ 1/2 tablespoon active yeast (room temperature. I notice some people freeze their yeast. Not a good idea)
- 115 ml/ 1/2 cup warm milk
- 30 ml/2 tablespoons warm water
- 175 g / 3/4 cup softened butter (Separate into 1/4 cup portions)
Glaze:
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tablespoon milk
Topping: (Optional)
- sliced almond nuts
- nutella® Spread
- Milk Chocolate
- Icing Sugar
Directions
I used my kitchen aid to make the dough using the hook pedal. If you have a bread machine and would like to use it, please refer to the site instead.
- Combine beaten egg, flour, salt, sugar, 2 tbsp butter and the yeast in a large mixing bowl.
- On the lowest speed, slowly mix in the warm milk and the warm water until the mixture forms into a pliable dough. If your milk / water is not warm enough, the yeast will not react as well.
- After dough is well combined, knead on a floured board for until the dough is elastic and smooth
- Cover and place the dough in a warm place, until it has nearly doubled in size. My dough took approximately 1.25 hours to rise. I like to turn on my oven for 2 minutes then turn it off and let me dough rise in there.
To Shape the Dough
Shaping the dough may sound quite complicated. It was too troublesome for me to alternate between my DSLR and dough. The last thing I wanted was butter on my expensive camera. So for a visual image please refer to original recipe.
- Place the risen dough on a floured surface and knead well until it feels elastic. Slightly oil to the bowl and return the dough, cover and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Return the chilled dough to your floured work surface and roll it into a rectangular shape, around 50cm X 20cm – 20″ X 8″.
- Mentally divide your rectangular dough into 3 parts. Using 1/4 cup butter, dot the butter over the upper two thirds of the rolled dough, keeping a 2cm/ 1″ border around the edges.
- Fold the dough into three, bringing up the bottom unbuttered part of the dough, and then folding the top buttered part of the dough over. Turn the dough 90 degrees so that the open edges are now top and bottom and seal the edges with your rolling pin. Then take your rolling pin and press the dough at intervals to seal the dough and create air pockets.
- Roll out into a rectangle again, the same size. Place the dough in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Remove and repeat the process two more times until your butter is used up, ensuring your dough is cold all the way through.
- Remove the dough from fridge and roll carefully into a big rectangle 50cm/30cm – 20″x12″ cut in half lengthways, divide each half into 6 triangles. (divide into 3 first, then divide into 2)
- Take one triangle at a time,and brush the triangle with the egg wash of milk and egg. Spread nutella® or insert pieces of milk chocolate if desired.
- Then from the widest edge of the triangle, roll up LOOSELY and place in a crescent shape on a tray. Brush with the egg wash over the top for the glaze. If desired, top with sliced almond nuts. If you roll them up too tightly, they croissant will be very dense and not puffy. I made that mistake with a couple of them.
- TO FREEZE: At this point the croissants may be frozen; Place them on a large tray, a baking tray is fine and then pack them into a rigid container or freezer bags when they are frozen. For use, remove from freezer the number required for breakfast, put onto a baking tray and leave overnight. Put into a hot oven and cook for about 20 minutes until browned and risen.
TO BAKE: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Place the shaped croissants on baking trays lined with silicone baking parchment and leave to rise for 1 hour. PLEASE SPACE THEM OUT!! They will expand like little monsters. If they are not expanding, there might be something wrong with your yeast, or perhaps you are not placing them in a warm enough area.Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until well risen and golden brown. Ensure that they are well spaced-out
I wanted to take a picture of a croissant dough to demonstrate how these bread could expand so monstrously! But only remembered after already placing them in the oven for 5 minutes. lol. oh wells.
My croissant took an entire span of 2 days to make. I had to place the dough in my fridge overnight at times because I simply did not have enough time to complete the entire process in one day!! Now I know why it’s so labour-intensive!!
So I wanted to compare how my croissant fared with one from a bakery. Here is a croissant from Thomas Haas, a famous local bakery in Vancouver. Headed by a German executive pastry chef, Thomas Haas boasts a fine collection of desserts – featuring the best chocolates and pastries. I used to live across from their first location when I was attending a boarding school in North Vancouver. Their chocolates are just to DIE for. I’ve also heard magical stories about their Black Forest Cake and would love to try it some day.
I bought an almond croissant with almond paste in it.
Let’s take a bite…..
OMG SO DIVINE!!!! I looooove the crustiness of this croissant. I also looooved the almond paste in it!! Now as I am writing about it, I can’t help but drool as I reminisce this delicious croissant. Next project? lol.
Note that this isn’t exactly traditional croissant, but a delicious almond paste croissant! Therefore the interior would differ from how a traditional croissant looks.
Let’s compare this to mine…
FLAKE FLAKE FLAKE! YAY 😀 😀 😀 😀
Overall, I was very happy with my results. But I know there is still a lot of room for improvement. My croissant wasn’t as hollow as a traditional one, which is kind of the texture I was hoping for. Although this took forever to make, I’d love to give it a go again and hopefully some day perfect my viennoiserie skills! Nevertheless, my friends and coworkers enjoyed this very much, especially with almonds and chocolate added.
Let me end this post with another croissant picture because you obviously haven’t seen any yet.. 😛
Cheers!
They are all so lovely and well decorated! This is definitely a show piece recipe!
Thank you!! Decorating is half the fun! 😀
Wow! I’m so impressed that you made your own croissants. Love the sweet twists on them
Thanks! Most of the croissants I’ve eaten are always filled with sweet sweet chocolate! lol. That’s when I knew that I had to decorate mine!
Your croissants are perfect – so flaky and delectable looking! You have such patience! I would go crazy waiting 2 days.
Thanks Reeni! Yeah, I know! I wanted to complete everything in one seating but a friend would call me out for dinner or I had to go to work. Something was bound to come up! So unfortunately I had to refrigerate it overnight
Congratulations on successfully baking these wonderful treats. Very tantalizing photos too, makes me want to head into the kitchen and bake a batch or two.
Thanks Eva! haha. You should!! There’s definitely a big sense of achievement one feels after successfully baking the notorious pastry!
Your croissants look like they came from a bakery, they look fantastic. Very impressive!
Thanks Carol!! I’m glad you think so!! haha.. I still think the bakery’s is somehow better. But, it’s all good! Practice makes perfect!
Oh, I think I would need to freeze some so I could savor these croissants! What lucky co-workers you have. They look delicious!
Thank you, Sandra! From time to time I would bring my baked goods to work! But, I should definitely put that into my resume! hahaha..
yours look amazing! Well done 🙂 I have to confess that I never take more than 5 photo’s of anything.
hahaha.. Thank you Tandy! I think the photography takes up a bulk of time, which is why I never blog more than twice a week! (usually just once a week) A lot of time is spent taking the pictures, shortlisting them, and then editing. lol. Perhaps I’ll learn to be more efficient in the future when I get better at it! 🙂
OMG – croissants! I think croissants are one of my favorite THINGS in the world, and yours look spectacular! You have no idea how badly I want the almond ones!
Thank you Lis! hehe.. Yeah! My favourite nuts are almond and pecan 😀
Yours look so flaky! It’s so tedious to make croissants from scratch and I’m so amazed you did! Maybe I should try them one day… (:
Thanks Jasline!! Most def! It’s a great experience and you’ll feel a big sense of accomplishment when you do! 🙂 Thank you for coming by my blog!
They look fantastic! And I’m a huge fan of the Thomas Haas almond croissants. I have such good memories of those 🙂
oh wow! I’m surprised that Thomas Haas is known outside of Vancouver!! That makes me very happy. hehe.. Yeah! Their almond croissants are to die for!! 😀 😀 😀 😀 I would totally love to lay my hands on the recipe!
Your croissants are actually perfect – how in the world did you do it 😀
So inspiring!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Awww! Thank you CCU!! You can definitely do it too! The one key thing you need with these guys is patience… Lots of it! haha.. Not gonna lie, there was a point where I wanted to pull my hair out. :p
Whoa-when does your bakery open this morning? I would love to have a few of these with my coffee-yum!
Making croissants are not an easy task, but obviously you have the “touch” when it comes to making these. Now I am sure that your local bakery will be missing you since you can create these at home. Well done.
Aww thank you Tina!! I probably will still impulsively buy croissants! There are just waaaay too many great bakeries around here! 🙂
Your croissants are so beautifully flaky. Well done. I would say hands down I would go for the nutella. However my teenager boys are leaning over my shoulder and said that for sure I needed to try your chocolate ones and inside with chocolate too. I will send my hungry boys right on over. LOL
Thanks Bam! haha That’s so sweet! Chocolate filling with nutella drizzle!!! There! Can’t get any better than that!
Send your boys over! I can always use help with all my food!! hehe.. 😉
Congratulations! They all look gorgeous and as I am writing I would love to have one for breakfast now! My favorite is the ones with chocolate and almonds.
Thanks Norma!! I must agree that croissants are great for breakfast! and yeah, the chocolate almond combination are my favourite ones too!!! Cheers!
I can’t believe you actually made these!! They look amazing and totally professional!
Thank you Joanne!! I’m glad you think so! I was a little paranoid at first because of the cross-section view. hehe..
OMG! You have me drooling here! What a professional, gorgeous job you’ve done. And the almonds…wow, and nutella – to die for!! I’ve never made croissants, not sure why, but I am so going to now!! I can only wish they turn out as good as yours!!
Yes!! You must make them!! A huge pain in the *** but totally worth it! I’m sure yours would turn out well too! It’s my first time making them and they’re really not too hard!
your croissants look absolutely lovely! i still haven’t tries making homemade croissants yet, but i have to soon. love the idea of piping them with a bit of chocolate or nutella – brilliant!
Thank you Amy!!! For sure!! Let me know how it goes if you do!! And you absolutely MUST pipe some sort of chocolate on it!
These look so beautiful–kudos!!
Thank you Justine!! 🙂
Hi Sammie,
What a SUPERB job you have done. I really would like to go on with the compliments but am speechless. All I can say I LOVE IT.
That’s so sweet of you Asmita! Thank youuu!
I just love how your croissants came out looking. They looks absolutely scrumptious and the addition of chocolate.. puts them over the top 🙂
Thanks Kay Kay!! I agree! A little chocolate goes a long way 🙂
You’re officially my idol! I can’t believe you spent 2 whole days making these.
I usually give up on recipes if it looks like too much work. That’s why I try to stay away from bread. Especially since I don’t think I can face the possibility of failure after putting that much work into it 😛
lol. Thank you thank you! That’s true!! I was a little nervous putting my croissants into the oven too! But when the dough started baking, and a heavenly smell started to emit from my oven, I knew I was on the right track! At that moment it didn’t matter if they turned out ugly because I knew they would at least taste decent. 🙂 Thank you!!
That croissant looks perfect! When are you opening your own bakeshop? I will be the first customer 🙂
awww!! haha.. Thank you Raymund! If I do, you can bet that your first visit will be on the house! lol
Oh my gosh. I literally swallow my saliva scrolling down while I see your delicious croissants. I eat this maybe very other day…sometimes with chocolate…I am too scared to see what’s in it (esp butter…) but I can happily eat this everyday if I’m allowed. Your croissants look perfect!!!
hehehe.. Thanks Nami! Yes, a lot of butter for sure! But not the scariest yet! 😀 Thank you!!
OMG I want one of your croissants. I know I’ll have to make my own but I have croissant fear and apprehension so bad. I’m very fearful of failure. 🙂
I love croissants with butter and homemade jam in the morning. I will suck up my courage and give these a go!
I totally understand that feeling! That’s why I procrastinated so much before deciding to make this. It’s a little scary to make something foreign! But at the same time, the results are very rewarding too! 🙂
You did it!!!! They look wonderful, perfect and so flaky! I think they look the same as the bakery ones and I bet they taste better. Great work, congratulations!
Thank you Matina!!
This looks so amazing! Thanks for posting it because now I will be able to make this for me and my hubby later this week or maybe on the weekend.
Thanks,
Grandma Kat
XOXOXOXOXO
Thank you Grandma Kat! I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I did!
You totally went to town on the toppings. My dream croissant come to life! 😉
hehe.. Thanks Carolyn!
Awww, I am so glad to see you did end up making them, they look gorgeous!!! I have on my bucket list to make croissants, I am excited to make them:-) These do look even better dressed up too, can I have a chocolate covered one? Hugs, Terra
Thank you Terra!! You’re so cute! Croissants are definitely bucket-list-worthy!
this croissants look just perfect! flaky and delicious
Aww! Thanks Beti for your sweet comment! 🙂
Oh wow. Your croissants look like they came out perfectly!! This is definitely something on my “to do one day” list. Perhaps this is just the inspiration I need!!
Thanks Katherine! That’s great! I’m glad to be a source of inspiration for you. So excited to see your croissant when you have the time to make them too! 🙂
I was trying to access your blog too but unfortunately it’s password protected! 😦
I love your obsession! You’ve inspired me to make my favourite almond croissants next time.
Definitely! I bet one with almond paste inside would be a total gourmet treat!
Agreed – that’s the type I buy from Baker & Spice and they are divine.
It seems as though I have my night planned out for me. Thank you! These look great!
Thank you very much!! I’m glad you like them!! Let me know how it goes if you do decide to try them out!!
These look delicious!
Thanks Euan!! Yours looked wonderful too!
Terima kasihhhh….