Buttery Flaky Croissants With Step by Step Pictures

I never imagined I would make my own croissants.  Like all homemade cakes, breads and cookies, home croissants are also the best.  The buttery smell when you bake these croissants and the flaky croissants straight from the oven to your plate is just amazing.  Well this is not my first attempt in making croissants, I have tried a couple of times before and I wouldn't say my previous attempts were complete disaster, it was good, but this is the best of all croissants which I made.  I know there is a hell lot of butter in this, but you have to forget about your diet and calories if you want to enjoy these.
 Don't worry, once in a while it won't hurt you much ;-)

  The critical think in making this is, your butter has to be at the right temperature and rolling the dough carefully.  Don't worry if your first attempt didn't give  the results you expected, try it again and again , practise will make you perfect.
 I followed the recipe from Annie's Eats, she has explained the recipe well with clear step by step pictures. You can check her recipe from here.  It's like a dream come true for me, making my own croissants in home.  Thank you Annie for this wonderful recipe.  I'm sure you'll enjoy making this at home.

Preparation Time: aprroximately 45 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Makes 12 croissants

Ingredients:
All purpose flour- 600 g
Instant yeast- 1 tbsp
Cold Milk- 180 ml
Butter-2 tbsp
Sugar- 40 g
Salt- 1 1/2 tsp

For the butter square:
Butter- 300 g
Flour- 2 1/2 tbsp

For the egg wash:
1 egg beaten lightly with 1 tbsp of water.

Method:
Prepare the dough:
Add about 550 g of flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl.  Slowly add the cold milk to the dry ingredients and start beating with your electric beater fitted with dough hook.  When dough comes together add the butter and start beating again until the butter gets incorporated and dough forms together into a big ball.  If the dough looks too sticky add the remaining 50 g of flour and beat with beater again.  Wrap the dough tightly in a cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Prepare the butter square:
Add the cold butter chopped into small squares and the flour to the work surface dusted with flour.  Smear the butter back and forth with a spoon or bench scraper until it forms a homogenous mixture.  Make the mixture into 7 inch, wrap it in a cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until ready to use.

Start preparing the dough for croissant:

Take the dough out from the refriegerator and roll it into a 11 inch square.

 Place the butter square diagonally in the middle.  Seal the edges together.

Start rolling the dough gently starting from the middle, make sure you dust the work surface with plenty of flour.  Roll the dough gently into 14 inch square.

Fold the dough into third to form a rectangle.

Again fold the dough into third to form a square.  Wrap the dough tightly with a cling film and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Repeat the entire process again twice. Wrap the dough tightly with a cling film and refrigerate it over night.

To make the croissants:

Place the chilled dough in a floured work surface and start rolling gently from the middle to the outwards into a long rectangle.  Roll it about 30 cm length and 20 cm wide rectangle, cut into half.  Place the 1 half covered with a cling film separately.  Then roll the other half until you get 60 cm length and 30 cm wide rectangle.

Cut it into triangles as shown in the picture.

Take a triangle, slightly make a slit at the wide end in the middle.

Start rolling from the wide end to the narrow end to form a croissant.  Repeat the same process for the remaining.  Place the croissants in a greased and lined baking tray.  Space well between each croissants as they spread.   Cover loosely with a cling film and let it rise at room temperature for 40 to 45 minutes or until it looks puffed up.
Preheat the oven to 190 degree celsius.  Brush the croissants with egg wash and bake it in the preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes until it looks golden brown on top.
Serve the croissants warm with tea or coffee.  You can also store the croissants in a airtight box for upto 1 week.

This recipe goes to Bookmarked recipes by Priya and Aipi, yeastspotting, also linking this to Heart and Soul hop# 41