Our Culinary Team Lead, Chef Barry Greenberg walks us through how to make the perfect croissant from scratch. Read more about how to make the perfect croissants at home here: https://www.hormelfoods.com/inspired/story/cracking-the-croissant-code/
Ingredients
| Dough | |
|---|---|
| 300 | grams flour, All Purpose |
| 305 | grams flour, bread |
| 66 | grams granulated sugar |
| 12 | grams Kosher salt |
| 7 | grams dry active yeast |
| 214 | milliliter water (room temp) |
| 120 | milliliter whole milk (room temp) |
| 57 | grams butter, unsalted cold, diced small |
| Butter Block | |
|---|---|
| 340 | grams butter, unsalted cold |
| Egg Wash | |
|---|---|
| 1 | egg yolk |
| 1 | tablespoon heavy cream |
Directions
For the Dough
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a hook, place the flour(s), sugar, salt and yeast. Stir to combine the ingredients.
Once combined, add the water and milk and knead on a low speed until dough is formed. If necessary, place the ingredients onto your work surface and knead by hand until the dough is formed.
Cover the dough ball for 30 minutes to let the dough relax.
Roll dough into a 12 inch square and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour or overnight.
While the dough is relaxing, make the butter block. See instructions for butter block.
Enclose the butter block into the dough square. Tap the dough and butter together and roll into a 8-10 inches tall rectangle approximately ¼ inch thick using as little amount of flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking to the surface.
Using a straight edge, trim the edges and brush off any excess flour. Complete a book fold, wrap and chill the dough for at least one hour.
Turn the dough 90 degrees onto the work surface and repeat the dough tapping process, roll the dough into a 8-10 inch tall rectangle, approximately ¼ inch thick. This time you are going to make a simple fold, or a letter fold by folding into 1/3rd’s. Trim the edges again and wrap in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for another hour.
Repeat step 8 and do another simple fold. Chill one last time and when dough is ready- it’s time to form the croissants.
Roll the dough into an 8-10 inch tall rectangle for the final time and trim the edges. Mark off the croissant dimensions depending on how large a finished product is desired. For a large sandwich croissant, use 3 inches at the large end as a guide. Mark every 3 inches along the base of the dough rectangle closest to you. On the top surface, offset the same dimension by half the dimension you used (1 1/2 inch if you’re using 3 inches at the bottom). Roll up the croissants and place them on parchment lined sheetpans.
Gently cover the croissants with plastic wrap or an inverted pan. The dough needs to proof, and this can take anywhere from 2-4 hours. The dough should double in size. Do not rush this process, this is where being patient will pay off.
When dough is proofed, gently egg wash the croissants, being careful not to bump the dough too hard. See egg wash instructions.
Bake at 420°F for 5 minutes, rotate the pan and reduce the heat to 375°F until the croissants are thoroughly baked. Inspect for doneness by looking at the croissants, lifting them up and checking them. This is another part of baking croissants that is very important. An underbaked croissant will collapse on itself. The interior will be soft and doughy, so bake it all the way!
Remove croissants from oven when golden brown and allow to cool.
For the Butter Block
Beat the butter inside parchment paper until soft but not melted. Form butter into a square, flat block. The butter block should be 8 inches x 8 inches.
Place the block into the refrigerator to get firm.
For the Egg Wash
Combine ingredients when you are ready to egg-wash croissants.