Croissants

Ingredients

• DAY 1
• 500g strong white flour (white bread flour)
• 12g salt
• 55g caster sugar
• 40g unsalted butter
• 15g dried yeast
• 140ml cold water
• 140ml whole milk
• DAY 2
• 250g cold unsalted butter
• 1 egg

Method

• DAY 1
• Pop flour, salt, sugar and dried yeast in a bowl and combine
• make a well in the centre
• Add in the milk and water and mix together until a dough forms
• TOP TIP: you can smush it a bit to incorporate all the dry ingredients in but do not knead it!!! This will overwork the dough and make the folding tomorrow very hard.
• Cover the bowl with cling film and whack it in the fridge for 8-12 hours (or overnight)
• DAY 2
• Take your dough out the fridge
• Using your knuckles smush it into a rough square shape

• With a rolling pin roll out each of the corners, leaving a raised square centre and 4 thin flaps/corners

• get your butter out of the fridge
• Bash it out with a rolling pin until it is a similar size to the raised dough square
• Place your butter sheet on top of the raised dough square
• Pull the bottom flap of dough to completely cover the butter
• Pull the top flap of dough 80% over
• Pull the side flaps across to the middle
• What we have basically done here is wrap up our butter in the dough like wrapping up a parcel
• with the seam running in the middle (the line where the side flaps meet) use your rolling pin to push down and create ridges in the dough (this makes it easier to roll)
• Then roll out until a long rectangular shape (about 1/2 a rolling pin wide and 1 1/2 rolling pins long)

• Fold the top of the dough over 2/3rds
• Fold the remaining flap of dough over that (so you have a square of dough that is 3 layers thick)

• This is called a fold! For croissants we will do 3 folds in total
• TOP TIP: after the first fold keep the seam on the LEFT, this keeps all your folds in the same direction to give you nice layers
• With the seam on the left, roll out your dough into a long rectangle again
• Fold as you did before (top over 2/3rds, remaining flap on top of that so you have a 3 layered square ish shape)
• Cover in cling film and put in the fridge to chillax for 1 hour (or more)
• Once suitably relaxed, get it out and you guessed it roll into a long rectangle (remember seam on the left!!)
• Fold as you did before – this is the 3rd and final fold!!! Nearly there now
• cover again and put in the fridge to chill out for 3 hours (or more)
• take the dough out, this time with the seam running HORIZONTALLY roll out until it is about 5mm thick
• Cut triangles out of the dough (use 4 finger widths to keep them equal)

• Stretch each triangle out by holding it up and running your other hand gently down it
• Cut a small slit at the base of the triangle

• Roll up from the base of the triangle until it forms a little croissant shape
• Beat your egg and brush on top to make a nice golden glaze
• Leave the croissants to rise in a warm place for 2 hours

• Preheat your oven to 190C and (finally) whack in your croissants for 15 mins until nice and crispy
• Get them out and scoff them all – it will be worth all the hard work I promise!