Another glorious treat from French cuisine – the croissant. It is a crescent moon-shaped pastry with many thin, beautiful, buttery layers that can be seen when you cut it open. This breakfast dish provides a flaky and light alternative to your usual breakfast toast.
While butter croissants are the most popular version of this pastry, a chocolate croissant or pain au chocolat – my personal favourite – comes in at a close second. Croissants have also been know to have other fillings so choose anything your heart desires.
Ingredients
• 600 g of all-purpose flour or Maida
• 1 ½ tablespoons of yeast
• 6 tablespoons of sugar
• 390 ml of warm milk
• 250 g of butter (softened)
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 egg yolk for the egg wash
• Dark chocolate or any other choice of filling
Instructions
• Begin with taking a large bowl and add half the required amount of milk (this amount will change depending on how large of a batch you’re making).
• Next add in the yeast and sugar. Do not mix the ingredients together yet. Cover the bowl for 10 minutes.
• Now you may add the entire amount of flour and salt to the large bowl. Mix well.
• Slowly add in the other half of the milk as you mix. Continue to combine and mix the ingredients till they start to form a dough.
• Sprinkle flour evenly over your surface (your kitchen counter, a cutting board, a table). You may now remove the dough from the bowl and continue combining the ingredients by kneading them together well.
• It is recommended to use a stand mixer for making the dough as it will make the process much easier.
• Once you have formed a proper dough, put it back into the large bowl and cover the surface of the bowl completely with cling film or a cloth.
• Leave the dough for an hour.
• After the dough has rested, sprinkle flour on your surface again and take the dough out of the bowl.
• Divide it into 18 equal pieces. These will be the layers. The more pieces, the more layers in each croissant.
• Take one of the pieces and roll it out into a thin, flat, circular sheet. Spread some butter all over it. Roll out another piece of dough the same way and layer it on top of the first thin sheet. Spread butter on this new layer.
• Continue repeating this step with the rest of the pieces of dough. You do not need to spread butter on the last layer. Cover the entire thing in cling film and put in the freezer for 30 minutes.
• After the time has elapsed, remove the cling film and cut the circle into 12 even sections like pizza slices.
• Roll up each section from the wider end. You may twist the ends into a curve to form a moon shape, however this step is optional.
• If you wish to have fillings in your croissants, place the filling in the center of each section before rolling them up.
• You now have your croissants. Place each croissant on your baking tray.
• Mix together an egg yolk and some milk to make an egg wash. Brush the egg wash on the top of each of the croissants to get a nice golden brown colour as it bakes.
• Bake the croissants at 185° C for twenty minutes
Last Updated on September 30, 2021
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