This easy croissant recipe saves a few steps over traditional croissants. There is no initial rise for the dough, and you don't have to make a butter block to enfold in the dough. Everything gets a quick mix, gets multiple layers rolled into it in just a few steps, a single long rise, and baked to crispy, deep golden perfection. All the goodness of traditional croissants in a fraction of the time.
Prep time: PT30M
Cook time: PT30M
Total time: PT180M
4.5 stars (6 reviews)
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- If using active dry yeast rather than instant yeast, whisk it into a portion of the milk and let proof until bubbly, about 10 minutes. Otherwise, in a large bowl, whisk the instant yeast together with the flour, salt, and sugar.
- Pour in the milk (or milk plus the yeast/milk mixture).
- Cut the butter roughly into 5-6 chunks and toss that into the center of the bowl of ingredients.
- Use a the blade of a knife or the handle of a wooden spoon to gently but thoroughly mix the dough together so almost all of the flour is incorporated.
- Lightly flour the counter, scrape the dough out into a pile, and sprinkle a bit more flour over the dough.
- Roll out the dough into a rough square shape about 10"-12" on a side, using the rolling pin to press down on the large pieces of butter to start flattening them.
- Use your bench knife to fold the dough in half from left to right and then into quarters from top to bottom.
- Turn the packet of messy dough 90 degrees and roll out into a square about 10"-12" in diameter.
- Fold that square into thirds like a letter, rotate the dough 90 degrees, and roll into another square of the same size.
- Repeat twice more for a total of 3 letter folds. Rest the dough in the fridge for 20-30 minutes if the butter is getting to soft or the dough resists rolling out. Always end your turn by rotating the dough 90 degrees.
- Roll the dough into a long rectangle roughly twice as long as it is wide.
- Fold each end in toward the center and then fold those two halves closed like a book.
- Rotate the dough 90 degrees and roll out into a rectangle about 3/8" thick and roughly 20" wide by 12" long. Do NOT get too hung up on the length. We're making easy croissants, so relax. :)
- Trim off all the uneven edges to leave you with a rectangle of dough about 18" wide and 9" long.
- Cut into long skinny triangles about 4-5" at the base. You will end up with 2 "half croissants," one on either end. You can roll those like regular croissants or treat them as scraps. I ended up with 7 croissants.
- Cut a 1" notch into the base of each triangle.
- One at a time, either gently roll each triangle into a longer, thinner triangle or hold the triangle up and gently run your hand down the length of the dough to gently stretch it both longer and thinner.
- Pull the notch apart a little. This will allow you to more easily curve the croissants.
- Starting from the base, roll the triangle up to the tip. Use your hands to curve the croissant as desired--some people like to bring the two ends around to meet in front to make more of a round croissant bun. Your call.
- Place each croissant on a parchment-lined half-sheet pan with the point underneath to keep it from unraveling.
- Whisk the eggwash ingredients together and brush each croissant with a thin layer.
- Let the croissants rise at around 78F for 90 minutes.
- After 90 minutes, the croissants should have risen pretty impressively. If not, let them go for another 30 minutes.
- Then preheat the oven to 425F with a rack in the center. Brush the croissants with another thin layer of egg wash.
- When the oven reaches temperature, bake the croissants for 10 minutes.
- Then turn the oven down to 350F, rotate the pan to promote even baking, and bake an additional 15-17 minutes until deeply golden brown.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool a good 20-30 minutes before serving.