Classic Butter Croissants with instructions that any home baker can follow! Homemade Croissants with flaky layers & fabulous buttery flavor that are truly irresistible!
If you’ve ever eaten fresh croissants then you already know how incredible they can be. With warm flakey melt-in-your-mouth shells of butter flavored pastry, it’s hard not to see the allure. These homemade butter croissants are going to give you all of that but with the satisfaction of knowing you made them yourself.
Making your own croissants from scratch can be a long process, but the labor of love is worth it! With just a mix of dough, some chill time, rolling, and shaping involved, these buttery croissants are a pretty basic recipe that is well worth any and all effort. There’s nothing more satisfying than biting into flaky croissants warmed from the oven. Eat them for breakfast, as a dinner side dish, or simply just because. There really is no wrong time to enjoy perfect croissants.
What are butter croissants?
When you bite into a croissant one of the first things you notice is the flakey texture that buckles under the weight of your mouth, like eating a fluffy and buttery flavored cloud. This butter croissant recipe is a basic and plain croissant recipe and the butter helps quite a bit to get us the perfect results. Butter adds moisture into the dough to keep it from being dry, it adds flavor, and it helps in creating the perfect layers in every roll.
Butter Croissant Ingredients
-Flour: We need 4 cups flour for the base of our croissant dough. You can use all purpose flour or bread flour.
-Sugar: 1/3 cup of sugar will help to feed the yeast as well as sweeten the croissants nicely.
-Yeast: We want to use 4 teaspoons of instant dry yeast. You can also use active dry yeast if desired, but a longer wait time while the dough rises is suggested.
-Salt: With 2 1/2 teaspoons of salt we can enhance the flavors in this dough and make these croissants taste really good.
-Butter: We need 2 cups of cold unsalted butter to help give us the most perfect buttery croissant you’ve ever eaten.
-Milk: With 1 1/2 cups of cold whole milk we can bring the dough together nicely and get a great texture.
-Egg: We want 1 whole egg that’s been whisked together with a teaspoon of water. This is the egg wash needed at the end of the recipe and gives the croissants the iconic golden color we want when baked.
How to make butter croissants
Make the dough
In a large bowl of a stand mixer, mix the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt using the whisk attachment.
Cut the cold butter into small cubes and gently whisk into the flour mixture.
Replace the whisk with the dough hook attachment. Pour in the milk and mix on low speed, until the mixture is sticky.
You may need to turn dough out onto a counter to finish combining all of the dry ingredients. Just be careful not to knead the dough too much and over incorporate the butter.
Wrap the dough tightly in wax paper or plastic wrap and place in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag.
Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
After the dough has chilled, remove it from the fridge.
Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and into a long rectangular shape about 10 by 22 inches.
Fold the dough into thirds, like you’re folding a business letter.
Rotate 90 degrees and roll out again. Try to get the dough as close to that 10×22 measure as you can.
The more you fold the dough, the harder it gets to roll and fold, this is normal. It will get smaller as the dough gains more layers. The more you fold it, the more layers you get. Try to roll, fold, and rotate at least 4 times, giving you 6 folds total. Place in the fridge for another hour.
Getting the Classic Croissant Shape
Prep a clean work surface & sprinkle countertop with a bit of bread flour. Remove the dough from the fridge and use a sharp knife to slice in half. Admire the gorgeous layers of dough!
Roll dough into a long rectangular shape about 10×22 inches. Use a pizza cutter to trim off any rough edges.
To shape the croissant, cut the rectangle into thirds across the short sides.
Then use the pizza cutter to cut the rectangles into triangles by making 1 diagonal cut on each smaller rectangle. Cut a small 1/2″ notch on the short side of each triangle. (This helps the croissant to shape better.)
Roll them from the long edge towards the small point of the triangle. Curve in the ends to form a crescent, pinching the ends together if you can. This helps the shape to stay.
Place the shaped rolls on a parchment-lined baking sheet to rise.
Proof the dough for at least 2 hours at room temperature, less if in a warm place. The recommended time is actually about 4 hours to get a lighter texture.
Whisk an egg with a dash of warm water and brush it on the croissants as an egg wash.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and bake the croissants for 19-22 minutes or until they are a golden brown. They should have a flakey a slightly crunchy exterior.
Best enjoyed fresh, but the croissants can be stored in an airtight container for several days.
Serve with jam, chocolate, or even brushed with melted butter.
What kind of rolling pin should I use?
There are so many kinds of rolling pins! There are classic wooden rolling pins, French rolling pins, even marble rolling pins! First, I recommend using what you have on hand. If you don’t have one, I prefer a stainless steel rolling pin as it’s faster at rolling dough than wooden pins. My marble rolling pin works well, but it’s heavy!
Tips for Making Croissants
As you can tell, it does take some time to make good croissants. Here are a few tips on timing each step, to simplify the process a bit.
Mix the dough in the evening, then chill overnight and roll dough out the next morning or sometime the following day.
Have a helper & take turns rolling out the dough so that you divide the work.
Make sure the dough rests in a warm spot after shaping, so that they take less time to puff up. This reduces the proof time from 3-4 hours to just a couple of hours.
HOMEMADE BUTTER CROISSANT
Ingredients
Dough:
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 4 tsp instant dry yeast*
- 2 ½ tsp salt
- 2 cups unsalted butter cold
- 1 ½ cup whole milk cold
- 1 egg whisked with a teaspoon of warm water
Instructions
Mix the croissant dough -
- Whisk dry ingredients in a mixing bowl (flour, sugar, yeast and salt) until thoroughly combined.
- Cut the butter into small cubes/pieces. Add butter one or two pats at a time into the dry mixture while mixer with whisk attachment is running slowly. Butter should get incorporated into the flour mixture but still be in clumps.
- Switch to the dough hook. Pour in the milk. Mix to combine until mixture is sticky. Be sure to not over-mix; we want to still see pats of butter in the dough.
- Wrap tightly in wax paper or place in a gallon size Ziploc bag. Refrigerate for at least one hour.
- Remove the chilled dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough in a long rectangular shape until it measures about 10 inches by 22 inches. Fold into thirds like you’re folding a business letter.
- Rotate a quarter turn (90 degrees). Roll out again into the same rectangle. Try to get it as close to that 10x22 measurement as best as you can. It’s going to get harder and harder to roll the more times you fold it, which is normal. It’s bound to get smaller and smaller as it gains layers. The more times you fold it, the more layers you’ll get. Repeat the rolling / folding / rotating at least four times. Aim for six folds. Refrigerate for at least another hour.
Shape the Croissants -
- Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator. Cut the dough in half - taking time to enjoy the cross section that shows all those layers of buttery goodness that you just rolled out!
- Roll each section into a long rectangular shape, approximately 10x22in. Using a pizza cutter, cut off any rough edges.
- To shape the croissants, cut the rectangle in thirds across the short sides. Then using the pizza cutter, cut those rectangles into triangles by making 1 diagonal cut on each smaller rectangle, resulting in 2 triangles. Cut a small 1/2" notch on the short side of each triangle. (This helps the croissant to shape better.)
- Roll from the long edge towards the small point of the triangle. Curve the ends inward to form the crescent, pinching the ends together if you can to encourage the shape to stay. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet to rise.
- Proof for at least two hours in a warm place or at least room temperature. It's recommended to proof for about four hours to get a lighter texture.
- Whisk an egg with a dash of water and brush on the unbaked croissants.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and bake for 19-22 minutes or until golden brown. Croissants should be flaky and a little crunchy on the outside. Serve warm & enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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Are croissants French?
While croissants are often seen as being a French pastry, the truth is that they actually hail from Austria. They were created back in 1683 as a celebratory treat after the Christian forces defeated the Ottomans. After the Austrians made a flakey golden pastry, the French took it and added their own twist by getting the bread to puff up. So while the croissant may not be completely “French” it does have a French influence included in the way that we make them today. Either way, we’re excited that they exist.
Butter Croissant Calories
Homemade butter croissants are not a low calorie food. At 480 calories each, they are a delicious treat that should be eaten in moderation. To reduce the calories, you can make smaller croissants. When cutting the dough before shaping the croissants, first cut the large rectangle in half lengthwise. Each croissant will now be half the size, or about 240 calories each.
Can croissants be microwaved?
You can place a croissant on a plate and microwave for a few seconds to warm them up. While it could result in a slightly less than the flakey exterior, the warm pastries are so delicious you won’t want to waste time thinking about the differences between oven warmed and microwave warmed croissants.
How long do croissants stay fresh?
Homemade croissants can last up to a week if kept stored in an airtight container at room temperature. For best results eat within 2-3 days.
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Classic Butter Croissants with instructions that any home baker can follow! Homemade Croissants with flaky layers & fabulous buttery flavor that are truly irresistible!
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