The Best Homemade Croissant Recipe

Are you craving flaky, crispy, and buttery French croissants? The good news is you don’t need to go to Paris to enjoy one. All you need is an authentic croissant recipe.

I have tried other French croissant recipes before, but I have found this to produce the perfectly flaky croissants that I really love. This was made possible with a secret trick I use to simulate a professional oven (which I’ll also share below!).

There’s nothing better than to start your day with these delicious croissants and a cup of espresso, especially for special occasions like Valentine’s Day.

Speaking of Valentine’s Day, don’t forget to check out my Valentine’s Day Cake as well!

Jump to:

• Video Tutorial
• Ingredients
• Kitchen Tools & Equipment Needed
• Essential Ingredients for Homemade Croissants
• What to Expect (For Beginners)
• Step-by-Step Guide to Making the Best Homemade Croissants
• Serving Recommendations
• Troubleshooting Common Baking Issues
• Recipe Variation
• Expert Tips for Success
• FAQs
• Wrapping Up Our Homemade Croissants Recipe
• More European Recipes to Try
• Recipe

Video Tutorial

Ingredients

• 4 cups + 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (T45)
• ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast or instant yeast
• 6 ½ tablespoons milk, cold
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons salt
• ½ cup + 1 teaspoon cold water
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons cold butter, unsalted
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk

Kitchen Tools & Equipment Needed

• Large mixing bowl
• Handheld stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment
• Parchment paper or wax paper
• Rolling pin
• Plastic foil or plastic wrap
• Freezer
• Sharp knife or pizza cutter
• Tape measure or yardstick
• Baking sheet or baking tray
• Small bowl for egg wash
• Pastry brush
• Heat-proof bowl
• Wire rack

Essential Ingredients for Homemade Croissants

Please feel free to skip ahead to the actual recipe, but I’d like to take this moment to explain the key components of delicious croissants. I have divided them into three: flour, butter, and other ingredients.

Flour

Flour is definitely one of the most crucial ingredients in making French croissants, as it can greatly influence your dough’s texture and, therefore, your end result.

There are different flour options you can choose from depending on your desired outcome:

Bread Flour

Bread flour is known for its higher protein content ranging from 12 to 13%. While some bakers certainly use bread flour for their croissant recipes, it is important to note that there are pros and cons to this. 

The higher protein content is meant to help the bread flour produce more gluten which will allow more rise in your baked goodies. In addition, it will also allow the flour to absorb more liquid while maintaining the form you want to achieve.

This is definitely something you should consider if you want to achieve more volume in your croissants or if you prefer working with a more elastic dough that can hold your buttery layers well.

On the other hand, these same qualities can lead to a really dry batter or a really dense and chewy one depending on how much liquid you’ve added.

All Purpose Flour

Many home bakers prefer using all-purpose flour due to its accessibility and adaptability. This type of flour comes in a wide range of protein content, from 8 to 12%, but they usually fall in the 11-12% range. 

The good news is that 11-12% is actually the sweet spot in achieving the flaky croissants that I really love. This is also the reason why this is the flour I recommended in this recipe. 

Pastry Flour

Most professional bakers will probably recommend using pastry flour. With a protein content ranging from 8 to 10%, using this type of flour for your croissant dough is ideal if you want lighter and more delicate croissants. Don’t expect a lot of chewiness, though.

Cake Flour

Did you know that cake flour can also be an option to make croissants? However, take note that they have really low protein content ranging from 7 to 8%. 

The results are really soft and fluffy croissants that are almost cake-like in texture. That’s totally okay if that’s your preference, but I have discovered that using cake flour for your croissant dough will require more butter to achieve that flaky crisp.

Combination of Flours

Finally, you can also combine different flours to achieve the exact texture, density, and flakiness that you’re looking for. 

Some bakers a flour mixture of bread and all-purpose flour to strike the balance between volume and flakiness. Meanwhile, Julia Child is said to combine two parts of pastry flour with one part of all-purpose flour in her own recipe.

What Flour Do I Recommend for Making Croissants?

There are three particular points that I look out for when choosing flour for my croissants. First, as I’ve mentioned above, I choose one with a protein content of 11 to 12%. Thus, I opt for brands that place their flour’s protein content on their label.

Second, I prefer using T45 flour. Now, I can spend an entire post just talking about French flour classifications, but just for our purposes today, T45 is finely ground flour from soft wheat. 

There are all-purpose flours that come in T45 (like the one I’ve used in this recipe). There are also other equivalents and variants of T45 flour. For instance, there are T45 pastry flour and cake flour. Meanwhile, type 00 Italian flour and Euro 450 type flour are known equivalents. 

Finally, I prefer using unbleached flour. I find that it has better flavor than its bleached counterpart. Not only that, it’s also a great source of vitamin E!

Side Note: Flour types can vary from country to country. For example, French pastry flour is quite different from American flour. It’s definitely something you should keep in mind when looking for the ideal flour to use for your croissant.

What About Puff Pastry?

I will talk more about using puff pastry for your croissant dough in my FAQs section at the end of this article.

Butter

Next, let’s talk about the heart of making croissants: butter! It is responsible for the rich flavor and the flakiness of the pastry.

The most important thing to remember is to use unsalted butter. There are two reasons for this: flavor control and smoother texture.

If you need to watch out for your flour’s protein content, you’d have to watch out for your butter’s fat content. Boulangeries (the French term for bakeries) use butter with high fat content, ranging from 85 to 87%一it’s definitely something to keep in mind if you want to make your homemade croissants as authentic as possible. 

I personally recommend European butter. European-style butter typically has a fat content of over 80%. 

High-quality ones also don’t have extra additives or water that will help you achieve those smooth and rich butter layers. For comparison, regular supermarket butter typically has a fat content of 11% (sometimes even lower!).

Another reason why you want to use butter with high-fat content is that the fat also makes it a more pliable butter. It will be easier to work with when you roll the dough to create beautiful laminated dough.

Here’s a Quick Trick to Make Regular Butter Smoother for Your Homemade Croissants

Regular unsalted butter will work for this recipe, especially if you don’t have access to imported butter. However, I did notice that they tend to have this brittle texture because of their high water content. 

To remedy this, you can add flour to absorb all that extra moisture. Just use flour equivalent to 10% of your butter in weight. 

Add your carefully measured flour to your room-temperature softened butter, then once done, shape it back up to a butter block.

Other Ingredients

 Lastly, the other main ingredients that go into making perfect homemade croissants are sugar, salt, yeast, and water. 

While the flavor profile of croissants isn’t necessarily super sweet, I still consider sugar a crucial ingredient for a couple of reasons. It helps in achieving that golden brown color and also activates the yeast. 

Salt, on the other hand, helps in strengthening the gluten structure of the dough and thus aids in creating those flaky layers.

Yeast is another crucial component since it helps the dough rise to produce a soft and airy texture within your croissants.

These are certainly not the only ingredients that go into baking croissants. What’s important is to understand that each one serves a purpose. Hence, their quality and precision will impact your end result.

What to Expect (For Beginners)

Croissants are really tricky to make, even for more experienced bakers. So unless you have beginner’s luck, it will take some practice to achieve perfect results.

It will also take time for you to get a feeling for the dough and how to work with it. The good news is, once you do end up with your first perfect batch, your croissants will taste twice as delicious and all the more satisfying. 

Don’t rush it, and trust the process.

You can definitely increase your chances by following each step meticulously. I highly recommend watching (and rewatching) my two-minute video as you go through the steps.

Don’t throw away unsuccessful batches as well! While they will have their issues, I promise you that they will still taste really good. 

Tasting them, analyzing your results, and keeping an open mind will also give you a lot of insight that will ultimately help in mastering the art of baking homemade croissants.

With these reminders out of the way, let’s move on to the fun part: the recipe!

Step-by-Step Guide to Making the Best Homemade Croissants

1. Prepare the Croissant Dough

In a large mixing bowl, add 4 cups and 3 tablespoons of flour, ¼ cup and 1 tablespoon of sugar, 3 and ¼ teaspoons of active dry yeast, 6 and ½ tablespoons of cold milk, 7 tablespoons of unsalted butter (softened by letting it sit at room temperature), and 2 teaspoons of salt.

Get your stand mixer or handheld mixer ready by fitting it with a dough hook. With your mixer, stir your ingredients together at a low speed and wait for them to break down and mix evenly. 

Then, slowly add ½ cup and 1 teaspoon of cold water. You will notice your dough starting to come together. Increase your stand mixer to medium speed and continue kneading for 10 minutes. 

You will notice the dough sticking to your dough hook once it’s properly kneaded.

2. Refrigerate the Croissant Dough

Take the dough out of the bowl and create a rectangular shape by spreading your dough lengthwise. With the help of your tape measure or yardstick, roll out the dough and create a dough rectangle measuring 9.85 x 6.7 inches.

Try to keep the thickness of your dough rectangle even and consistent.

Cover with plastic wrap and let your croissant dough rest in the fridge overnight or for 8 to 12 hours.

3. Make the Butter Block

Place a sheet of parchment paper on your work surface. Then, place 1 cup and 2 tablespoons of cold butter on top of it, covered by another sheet of parchment paper.

With the help of your rolling pin, roll the chilled butter down to create a butter rectangle measuring 7.1 x 7.1 inches. Again, don’t forget to use your tape measure or yardstick to get the measurements right. 

Try to keep the thickness of your butter rectangle even and consistent throughout as well. 

What If I Don’t Have Parchment Paper?

You may use wax paper as an alternative to parchment paper in this step. However, keep in mind that you won’t be able to line your baking sheets with wax paper when we’re baking our croissants later on.

That’s because wax paper is only made to be moisture resistant but not heat resistant. This means that it can melt or worse, ignite into flames when used for baking. 

Parchment paper, on the other hand, is specifically designed to be used for cooking and baking. It has a special heat-resistant coating (such as silicone or Quilon) that makes it withstand high temperatures.

4. Freeze Your Butter Block and Croissant Dough

Cover your butter block with plastic wrap. Once your dough has finished resting in the fridge overnight and with your cold butter block ready, let them both freeze for 20 minutes.

5. Encase the Butter

Take both the dough and the cold butter block out of the freezer. We’re going to work on the dough first.

Lightly flour your work surface and your rolling pin. Roll out the dough on the lightly floured surface to create a dough rectangle measuring 15 x 7.9 inches in size and 0.3 inches (or 7 to 8 mm) in thickness.

Take your butter block out of its plastic wrap and place it atop one-half of your croissant dough. Make sure that you have around 0.4 inches of space around the three edges that surround your butter block. This will help you seal the butter block inside.

To do so, fold the dough over your butter and seal it inside by pressing the edges together. Make sure that there are no air bubbles between the layers. Essentially, you want your dough to become an airtight container for your butter.

Rotate your dough by 90°. 

What Do I Do if There’s Air Inside My Dough?

You can make a little hole with a toothpick to remove the air bubble then seal up this hole completely once you’re done.

6. Make the First Four Layers

Lightly dust your work surface with flour as needed so that your dough doesn’t stick. Firmly and carefully press the dough with your rolling pin, starting with the sealed ends. 

Roll out the dough. Be careful not to overwork it, as doing so will affect how your butter will incorporate with the rolled-out dough. 

Another tip to keep in mind is to roll the dough in just one direction. This will add to the rolled-out dough’s consistency.

Create a rectangle measuring 15.7 x 7.9 inches in size and 0.3 inches in thickness. 

Rotate the dough by 180°. Roll the dough again. The goal is to lengthen your dough while not widening it and to keep the edges straight as possible. 

Remove all the excess flour from your dough before folding it, if there’s any.  Take one side and fold the dough over ⅓ of its surface so that ⅔ of the dough is covered by itself. 

Then, take the remaining exposed part and fold that in half so that its edge will gently touch the edge of the previously folded part. 

You should now have a folded dough that’s only ⅓ of its original size. 

Gently pat the surface of your dough to even out the surface. Again, dust away any excess flour.

Then, take one edge and fold the dough again in half. You should end up with a folded dough with 4 even layers.

Cover with plastic wrap and let the folded dough rest and freeze for 30 minutes.

7. Make More Layers

Take the dough out of the plastic wrap with the rectangle lying vertically in front of you and with its fold to your right. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface in the direction of the two open ends until it measures 15 x 7.9 in size and 0.3 inches in thickness.

Again, be careful that you don’t overwork the rough and make sure that there’s no excess flour in between the layers. 

Keep the thickness of your dough even and consistent, and make sure that the edges are as straight as possible. You may rotate the dough by 180° if this will help make your rolling even. 

We’re ready to make more layers. To do so, take a short end of the rolled dough and fold it over a third of itself. Then, pick up the other short end and bring it over the previous fold. 

This method of laminating dough is also referred to as the letter fold since it’s similar to how we fold our letters.

Anyway, you should end up with a folded dough with 4 even layers. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough sit and freeze for 30 minutes.

8. Cut the Dough Into Triangles

Take your dough out of its plastic wrap and place it on a lightly floured surface. Rotate it by 90° from its previous position and roll out the dough with your rolling pin to create a rectangle that measures 26.10.6 inches in size and 0.12 to 0.15 inches in thickness.

Again, be careful not to overwork your dough, make sure that there’s no excess flour in between layers, and try to keep the edges as straight as possible.

You may also straighten the corners and edges with your hands. With that, we’re now ready to cut our dough into triangles.

To start, mark 0.4 inches all around your rectangle with the help of your tape measure or yardstick. Then cut this part off with a pizza cutter or a sharp knife. It will reveal your multilayered puff pastry.

Now, create a parallelogram shape from your rectangle by picking up two opposite corners of your dough and stretching them gently on your work surface.

You should end up with a parallelogram-shaped dough that measures 25.2 x 9.85 inches in size. With the help of your measuring tool and cutting device, make small marks at the long edges of your dough, measuring 3.15 to 3.55 inches wide. 

This will help keep your cuts even and straight. 

Using your marks as a reference, start cutting your dough into elongated right triangles with a pizza cutter or a sharp knife. It also helps to use your tape measure or yardstick while cutting to keep your lines straight and clean.

You should end up with 14 to 16 croissants that measure 3.15 to 3.55 wide and 9.85 inches long.

Cover your triangular dough sheets in plastic wrap and let them freeze for 15 minutes. 

You may also put your rolling pin away now since we won’t need it anymore.

9. Prepare for Baking

Line three baking sheets or baking with parchment paper. You may also use a baking tray if that’s what you have at home.

While the terms “baking tray” and “ baking sheet” are used interchangeably, they do have a slight technical difference. A baking tray has no rimmed sides while a baking sheet has one. 

Don’t worry, it won’t affect the quality of your homemade croissants whichever you choose to use.

Then, take your dough triangles out of the freezer and off their plastic wrap.

10. Shape Croissants

For me, part of the fun in making homemade croissants is being able to roll them into their crescent shape. That’s what we’re going to do next.

We’re now going to use the baking sheet or baking tray as our work surface. Place a dough triangle on it and cut a 0.2-inch slit in the middle of its short side (or the bottom of the right triangle). 

Then, roll the dough up and away from you. Do so until you reach the tip. Lightly press the tip to close the croissant. 

Position your croissant on your baking sheet or baking tray with the closed dough tip tucked underneath. This will help keep your shaped croissants from unrolling.

Repeat these steps for all your dough triangles.

I usually place up to six shaped croissants per baking sheet or baking tray. However, this will definitely depend on the size of the tray or sheet you’re using. 

In the end, just make sure that your shaped croissants have enough space between them as they will expand and triple in size.

11. Proof Your Croissants

Once you have positioned all your crescent shape homemade croissants on your baking sheet, we can now move on to the next step.

It’s called proofing. Also referred to as rising or blooming, proofing is a process that seeks to activate the yeast in your dough (in this case, the active dry yeast or instant yeast). This will allow the yeast cells to consume carbohydrates, expel carbon dioxide, and expand.

Side Note: Yeast typically requires a warm liquid to activate as well. This is the reason why I prefer using instant yeast since it won’t require you to add any liquid to it in order to proof.

Proofing is a very important part of making homemade croissants as it’s responsible for making those air bubbles that will make your pastry soft, airy, and fluffy. 

The trick is to make sure that you don’t overproof it so that it loses its crescent shape or underproof it so that your fresh croissants will end up crumby instead of flaky.

Some home bakers proof their homemade croissants by letting the dough sit at room temperature or around 75°F. However, I have found this temperature is not warm enough for the rise that I want to achieve. As such, I don’t let my dough sit at room temperature. 

Instead, I warm my oven to a temperature of 80 to 85°F. You can open the oven door for a minute or two if you find the temperature warmer than that. It is crucial to get your temperature right. 

Another thing that you need to watch out for as you’re proofing is to make sure that your fresh croissants don’t dry out. 

Fortunately, it’s nothing that an egg wash can’t prevent. Those golden egg yolks in your egg wash will also help you achieve a nice golden brown color for your homemade French croissants.

To prepare the perfect egg wash, just combine an egg and an egg yolk in a small bowl. Then, with a pastry brush, apply the egg wash to each of your croissants.

I’m now going to share with you the secret trick I promised a while ago. Pour boiling water into a heat-proof bowl then place it at the bottom of the oven. 

Slide your baking sheets into the oven and position them over the bowl once you have finished lightly brushing the egg wash to all your croissants. Then, close the oven door and let your croissants rise for 2.5 hours. 

This trick simulates the results you’ll get from using a professional oven.

If your proofing was a success, your croissants should have expanded to almost triple their original size after 2.5 hours. Don’t throw your egg wash away, though. We’re still going to use it in the next step.

12. Bake Your Croissants

Once your croissants are done proofing, take them out of the oven. With a pastry brush, gently apply the egg wash a second time to your pastries. As you’re doing so, preheat your oven to 375°F.

It’s time to start baking! Bake one sheet at a time for 16 to 20 minutes or until they have reached an even golden brown color.

Take a deep breath and enjoy the aroma of your fresh croissants. Don’t remove them from the parchment paper just yet! Allow them to cool on their baking sheets for 5 minutes before you transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

13. Enjoy Your Croissants

There’s nothing more satisfying than immediately enjoying the fruits of your labor. Not to mention that croissants are typically best eaten fresh the same day. 

I personally love a fresh croissant drizzled with chocolate, dusted with powdered sugar on top, and enjoyed with a glass of cold milk. However, you can certainly store them for later.

Just keep your croissants in an airtight container and store them at room temperature for up to 3 days. 

While there’s no need to refrigerate them, you can certainly do so to let them last longer. Simply take them out of your fridge a couple of hours before you plan on eating them. This way, they’ll have enough time to come back to the more optimal room temperature.

Serving Recommendations

One of the things I love about croissants is the sweet and buttery flavor that allows them to be paired with almost anything!

If you’re serving them for breakfast, then you can just serve them the classic way, warm and with espresso. As I said, I love mine with milk. 

If you just want to add a little bit of flavor, then you can sprinkle nut shavings, chocolate chips, and other delicious things on top of your croissants.

If you’re serving croissants as a dessert, serve them with vanilla ice cream to awaken their creamy flavor.

If you’re serving them as a snack, then you may pair them with something crunchy such as sea salt crackers to add texture. Don’t forget to add cheese to your plate. Or if you’d rather eat something more refreshing, then serving them with fruit is also nice.

Finally, if you’re feeling a little indulgent, then you can serve these classic croissants with creme brulee or cheesecake. Yum! 

Troubleshooting Common Baking Issues

Did you not achieve the flaky, fluffy, and golden crescents of perfection that you were expecting? Here are some of the common issues that I have found bakers encounter when making croissants, along with their solutions.

1. My croissant layers are not flaky enough. 

This usually happens when your dough or butter is not chilled enough during the lamination step. This way your butter won’t get absorbed by the dough instead of helping keep your layers flaky. The challenge is that butter melts pretty easily.

The Solution: Give both your butter and dough adequate chilling time.

2. My croissants didn’t rise.

This usually happens when you didn’t give your dough enough time to proof. Another potential culprit is inactive yeast.

The Solution: Check your yeast’s expiration date before using it. In addition, give your dough enough time to rise.

3. My croissants are burnt on the outside but raw on the inside.

This usually happens when your oven temperature is too high.

The Solution: Use an oven thermometer. This will help you keep those temperatures accurate. If you’ve found your croissants still browning too quickly even at the proper temperature, then you can try using aluminum foil to loosely cover your croissants and prevent them from browning further as they continue baking.

Recipe Variation

Do you still have some remaining dough? Don’t throw that excess dough away. We can use that to make chocolate croissants, or as the French call them, pain au chocolat.

The recipe and procedure of making pain au chocolat and traditional croissants are almost the same except for two factors. First, chocolate croissants are filled with chocolate before they’re baked. Second, they come in rectangular shapes instead of crescent ones.

They’re so delicious. It’s a sin not to try making them as well.

Expert Tips for Success

Nothing beats actual practice when you’re trying to master something. The same goes if you want to bake perfect French croissants at home. However, there are some tips that you can keep in mind to increase your chances of success.

1. Try to keep your edges as straight as possible when you’re rolling your dough.
2. Use your hands to shape your corners into squares. Doing so will make your folding more uniform.
3. Use as little flour as possible, and make it a habit to remove any excess especially in between your dough folds.
4. Try not to overwork your dough. Don’t roll your dough more than necessary.
5. If you’re taking longer than a few minutes to perform each step, put your dough back in the freezer to refreeze for 10 minutes. This way, your dough is always in an optimal state when you’re working it.
6. Just like your dough, your butter needs to be cold all the time as well.
7. It’s better to roll your dough lengthwise because it makes it easier to lengthen it while not widening it.
8. You can rotate and flip your dough as needed to keep its thickness even.
9. Try to keep your measurements as accurate as possible. This doesn’t just apply to your ingredients but your timing and temperatures as well.
10. Be patient with yourself and trust the process.

FAQs

What is the secret to a good croissant?

There are three factors that can make or break your croissants. These are the quality of your ingredients, the precision of your measurements (not only for your ingredients but your timing and temperatures as well), and lastly, your process of working your dough.

Can I use puff pastry to make croissants?

I understand why some people would consider using puff pastry to make croissants. After all, puff pastry is also made of alternating layers of butter and dough. I have even stumbled upon other recipes online that promote the use of puff pastry in making croissants for convenience.

However, there are a few reasons why I don’t recommend using puff pastry. First and most importantly, puff pastry doesn’t have yeast. This will make it extra difficult for you to achieve the distinct airy and fluffy texture of French croissants.

Second, croissant dough and puff pastry have slightly different ingredients. For instance, most puff pastries contain milk and sugar. Thus, using puff pastry can result in a different texture and taste.

Finally, puff pastry is simply drier than croissant dough. This makes it challenging for me to achieve the soft yet flaky layers that I really love.

What kind of butter is best for homemade croissants?

Unsalted butter with high-fat content, preferably ranging from 85 to 87% is the best butter to make croissants. Feel free to read more about the right kind of butter to use in my detailed butter section above.

Which flour is best for croissants?

T45 flour, or flour with a protein content of 11-12%, is the best flour for croissants. I have a more detailed flour section above that goes through all the different types of flour that you can use.

Why are croissants so difficult to make?

The reason why croissants are so difficult to make is the fact that they require a lot of patience and precision. Just overlooking a single aspect of its baking process can already significantly impact the end result. That’s why practice is key if you really want to master the art of baking French croissants.

Don’t worry, I have included a detailed ingredient guide, step-by-step procedure, and video to make your croissant-baking adventure easier.

Wrapping Up Our Homemade Croissants Recipe

Making authentic French croissants at home may seem daunting at first, but it is possible. As long as you follow this detailed guide to the letter, I am confident that you’ll be baking perfect homemade croissants before long. The secret lies in practice, patience, and precision. 

By the way, croissants are not the only delicious goodies you can make at home. Feel free to explore our website for more European recipes to try. This panna cotta is absolutely divine. If you’re craving chocolates, then try this chocolate soufflé.

 We also have ingredient substitutions and tips for air fryer use that you’ll surely find helpful in your kitchen adventures. 

Lastly, do tell me how your homemade croissants turned out in the comments section below. I would love to hear it. Happy baking!

More European Recipes to Try

• Panna Cotta
• Marshmallows
• Chocolate Soufflé
• Spanish Flan
• Creme Brûlée
• Tiramisu

Recipe