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Simplified Croissants

One day version of croissant recipe

15 servings

View the original recipe

Ingredients

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Units

Croissant Dough

Other Ingredients

Instructions

Making the croissant dough

1
Combine the dough ingredients and knead for until the dough comes together and you’ve reached the stage of low to moderate gluten development. You do not want too much gluten development because you will struggle with the dough fighting back during laminating. Shape the dough like a disc, not a ball, so it will be easier to roll it into a square shape later on. Place the disc on a plate, cover with clingfilm and leave to proof at room temperature for .

Laminating the dough

1
Start this step into the proofing period of step 1. Cut the cold butter (directly from the fridge) lengthwise into 1,25 cm thick slabs. Arrange the pieces of butter on waxed paper to form a square of about 15 cm x 15 cm. Cover the butter with another layer of waxed paper and with a rolling pin pound the butter until it’s about 19 cm x 19 cm. Trim / straighten the edges of the butter and put the trimmings on top of the square. Now pound lightly until you have a final square of 17 cm x 17 cm. Wrap in paper and refrigerate the butter slab until needed.
2
After of proofing unwrap the dough. With a rolling pin roll out the dough disc into a 26 cm x 26 cm square. Try to get the square as perfect as possible and with an even thickness. Get the slab of butter from the fridge. Place the dough square so one of the sides of the square is facing you and place the butter slab on it with a 45 degree angle to the dough so a point of the butter square is facing you. Fold a flap of dough over the butter, so the point of the dough reaches the center of the butter. Do the same with the three other flaps. The edges of the dough flaps should slightly overlap to fully enclose the butter. With the palm of your hand lightly press the edges to seal the seams.
3
Now the dough with the sealed in butter needs to be rolled out. With a lightly floured rolling pin start rolling out, on a lightly flour dusted surface, the dough to a rectangle of 20 x 60 cm. Start rolling from the center of the dough towards the edges, and not from one side of the dough all the way to the other side. This technique helps you to keep the dough at an even thickness. You can also rotate your dough 180 degrees to keep it more even, because you tend to use more pressure when rolling away from you than towards yourself. You can use these techniques during all the rolling steps of this recipe. Aim at lengthening the dough instead of making it wider and try to keep all edges as straight as possible.
4
Fold the dough letter style, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for to get the dough and butter to fridge temperature (fold one third of the dough on top of itself and then fold the other side over it). Repeat the rolling and folding two more times (ending up with 27 layers in total), each time rolling until the dough is about 20 cm x 60 cm. After each fold you should turn the dough 90 degrees before rolling again. The open ‘end’ of the dough should be towards you every time when rolling out the dough (you can see this in our croissant making video at around 3:). After the second turn, give it a rest in the fridge. After the third turn again give it a rest.
5
Roll out to 20 cm x 60 cm Refrigerate Rotate 90 degrees Roll out to 20 cm x 60 cm Refrigerate Rotate 90 degrees Roll out to 20 cm x 60 cm Refrigerate Rotate 90 degrees Roll out to 20 cm x 110 cm

Dividing the dough

1
Take the dough from the fridge. Lightly flour your work surface. Now very gently roll the dough into a long and narrow strip of 20 cm x 110 cm. If the dough starts to resist too much or shrink back during this process you can fold it in thirds and give it a rest in the fridge for before continuing. This will relax the gluten and make rolling out the dough easier. Do not fight the dough, when the dough refuses to get any longer, rest it in the fridge!
2
When your dough has reached its intended shape and length, carefully lift it a few centimeters to allow it to naturally shrink back from both sides. This way it will not shrink when you cut it. Your strip of dough should be long enough to allow you to trim the ends to make them straight and still be left with a length of about 100 cm.

Shaping the croissants

1
For the next stage you will need a tape measure and a pizza wheel. Lay a tape measure along the top of the dough. With the wheel you mark the top of the dough at 12,5 cm intervals along the length (7 marks total). Now lay the tape measure along the bottom of the dough and make a mark at 6,25 cm. Then continue to make marks at 12,5 cm intervals from this point (8 marks total). So the bottom and the top marks do not align with each other and form the basis for your triangles.
2
Now make diagonal cuts starting from the top corner cutting down to the first bottom mark. Make diagonal cuts along the entire length of the dough. Then change the angle and make cuts from the other top corner to the bottom mark to create triangles. Again repeat this along the length of the dough. This way you will end up with 15 triangles and a few end pieces of dough.
3
Using your pizza wheel, make 1.5 cm long notches in the center of the short side of each dough triangle.
4
Now very gently elongate each triangle to about 25 cm. This is often done by hand, but we have found that elongating with a rolling pin, very carefully, almost without putting pressure on the dough triangle, works better for us. You can try both methods and see what you think gives the best result.
5
After you cut a notch in the middle of the short end of the triangle, try and roll the two wings by moving your hands outwards from the center, creating the desired shape with a thinner, longer point. Also try and roll the dough very tightly at the beginning and put enough pressure on the dough to make the layers stick together (but not so much as to damage the layers of course).

Proofing and baking

1
Arrange the shaped croissants on baking sheets, making sure to keep enough space between them so they will not touch when proofing and baking. Combine the egg with a teaspoon of water and whisk until smooth. Give the croissants their first thin coating of egg wash.
2
Proof the croissants draft-free at an ideal temperature of 24ºC to 26.5ºC (above that temperature there is a big chance butter will leak out!). We use our small Rofco B20 stone oven as a croissant proofing cabinet by preheating it for a minute to 25ºC / 77ºF. It retains this temperature for a long time because of the oven stones and isolation. The proofing should take about , it takes longer than the 3 day recipe as the dough still needs to develop. You should be able to tell if they are ready by carefully shaking the baking sheet and see if the croissants slightly wiggle. You should also be able to see the layers of dough when looking at your croissants from the side.
3
Preheat the oven at 200ºC / 390ºF convection or 220ºC / 430ºF conventional oven.
4
Right before baking, give the croissants their second thin coat of egg wash. We bake the croissants in our big convection oven for at 195ºC, then lowering the temperature to 165ºC, and bake them for another . Hamelman suggest baking the croissants for at 200ºC, turning your oven down a notch if you think the browning goes too quickly. But you really have to learn from experience and by baking several batches what the ideal time and temperature is for your own oven. Take out of the oven, leave for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Retarding & freezing your croissants

1
If you want to postpone your croissant baking by retarding your dough in the fridge, or storing the unbaked croissants in the freezer to bake at a later stage, follow these instructions for best results:

Retarding

1
After shaping leave your croissants to proof for one hour at room temperature to kick start the proofing process. Then place them in the fridge overnight. Make sure no air can reach the croissants, otherwise they will dry out! It is best to place them in an airtight container on a piece of baking paper. Make sure the container is big enough to allow the croissants to expand without touching each other.
2
Practice and experience will teach you the optimum fridge time for the croissants to develop and proof (also depends on your fridge temperature). Always make sure the croissants are proofed to perfection before you bake them. This could often mean, allowing them extra time at room temperature after the night in the fridge. If you want perfect croissants, the right proofing stage is key, otherwise you could end up with croissants that are flat, butter leaking out, no beautiful layers and so on. When you are absolutely sure the croissants are ready for the oven, give them a thin coat of egg wash or brush with milk and bake them using the instructions from the recipe above.

Freezing

1
Storing your unbaked croissants in the freezer, again will result in a little bit of quality loss, but this is outweighed by the practicality of being able to decide for yourself when to bake the croissants.
2
Place the shaped croissants on a sheet of baking paper in a container and make sure they do not touch each other. Cover and proof croissants for one hour at room temperature to kick start the proofing process. Now place the container in the freezer.
3
When you want to bake them, plan ahead. It takes quite a while for the croissants to thaw. There are a few methods you can try out. The first is to take them out of the freezer and leave them to thaw in the fridge overnight. This way you can easily control the process. The next morning you can be sure the croissants will still be very cold. It will take at least three hours before they are ready for the oven. If you have a proofing cabinet you can use this to proof the croissants at around 24ºC to 26.5ºC, or you can use your slightly warmed oven (check the temperature with a thermometer) to use as a make shift proofing cabinet. See our tips and instructions on proofing and baking above.
4
Alternatively you can take them from the freezer and leave them to proof overnight at (cool) room temperature. There is a slight risk of over-proofing here, so for a first attempt we recommend taking them out late at night and checking them very early in the morning. Again practice and experience will lead you to the optimum time for your situation and to the optimum result. When you are absolutely sure the croissants are ready for the oven, give them a thin coat of egg wash or brush with milk and bake them using the instructions from the recipe above.