Yeast Breads: Croissants

Croissants are easier to make than you think, but they do take a while to make. One full day is needed, at the very least. so start early, or make them the day before they're actually needed.


Ingredients


1 cup water
3 cups flour
2 tbsp dry milk
3 tbsp sugar
¾ tsp salt
3 tbsp butter
2 tsp bread machine or quick rise yeast
¾ cup butter, cold and thin sliced
¼ cup butter, melted
warm water
1 egg, lightly beaten


Preparation


Place the first 7 ingredients in a large, nonmetal bowl and mix until you have a loose dough. Turn this loose dough out onto a slightly floured surface and knead until it is smooth and elastic. This will take 5 to 10 minutes. Oil the bowl you mixed the dough in so the dough won't stick. Place the dough in the bowl and cover. Set aside in a warm location to rise until doubled in size. This rise cycle will take at least 60 minutes.


Uncover dough and punch it down to remove all the air bubbles. Cover once again and place dough in the fridge for 30 minutes. When the dough is chilled, remove it from the fridge and roll out into a 15x12-inch rectangle. Cover ⅔ of the dough with the sliced butter, starting from a 12-inch side. You should have a 12x10-inch area covered in butter, with one 5-inch strip uncovered. Fold over the unbuttered portion so it's now on top of half of the buttered portion. Fold over again. You should have a piece of dough that now measures 12x5-inches. Seal the ends of this dough and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.


Remove from the fridge and roll, butter, and fold again. Return to the fridge for 30 minutes. Continue to do this until you've rolled it and folded it 4 separate times. After the fourth time, refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but up to 8 hours. I tend to do this overnight.


When the dough is sufficiently chilled, remove the dough from the fridge and roll it into a large circle. Thinner is better, but not so thin the dough tears. Now you must slice the dough as you would a pizza, into triangles. How many triangles you cut the dough into is up to you. I usually make 12 or 16 smaller croissants, but you can do 8 or even 6 larger croissants, if you like.


Butter the triangles, then stretch them a little to even them out. Roll the triangles up to form croissants, curve a little, and place on a baking sheet. Brush lightly with warm water. Cover and allow to rise for at least 1 hour, until doubled in size.


Heat oven to 375°F. Uncover croissants and brush very lightly with egg. Bake for 20 minutes, until croissants are browned. Serve warm or cold, as desired.


These croissants can be placed in an airtight container for up to 4 days once they've cooled.