← Nouns Cooking · Bakery

Ingredients

• 500 g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
• 50 g caster sugar
• 2 tsp fine salt (10 g)
• 2¼ tsp fast-action dried yeast (one 7 g sachet)
• 140 ml whole milk, lukewarm
• 140 ml lukewarm water
• 25 g unsalted butter, soft
• 250 g unsalted butter (82% fat, such as European-style), cold
• 1 egg, beaten with 1 tbsp milk, to glaze

Method

1. Mix the flour, sugar, salt and yeast, then add the milk, water and soft butter and knead for 5 min until smooth but not too elastic. Flatten into a rectangle, wrap and chill for 1 hour (or overnight).
2. Put the cold butter between two sheets of baking paper and bash and roll it into a 17 cm square. Chill it so it is cold but still bendy.
3. Roll the dough into a 35 × 18 cm rectangle. Set the butter on one half, fold the other half over and pinch the edges to seal it in.
4. Roll into a long strip about 50 × 20 cm, keeping the edges straight. Fold it in three like a letter, wrap and chill for 30 min. Repeat the roll, fold and chill twice more, turning the dough a quarter each time, so it has three folds in all.
5. Roll the dough to a 4 mm thick rectangle about 25 × 60 cm. Cut it into 12 long triangles with a 10 cm base. Make a small nick in the middle of each base, then roll up loosely from the base to the tip, tip underneath, and set on lined trays.
6. Brush with egg glaze and leave to prove in a warm, but not hot, place (24–26°C) for about 2 hours, until doubled and wobbly when the tray is shaken. Too warm and the butter melts out.
7. Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan, 400°F). Glaze again and bake for 15–20 min until deep golden brown all over. Cool on a rack for 10 min before eating.

Tips

• If the butter cracks or oozes while rolling, wrap the dough and chill it for 15 minutes before carrying on.
• Freeze shaped, unproved croissants on a tray; thaw and prove them overnight in the fridge, then 1–2 hours at room temperature.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

BBC Good Food Great British Chefs