Every year (except this Pandemic Christmas) I've baked croissants in the oven for Christmas morning breakfast. I usually buy the dough pre-made, frozen, unbaked. But this is the recipe I want to try from scratch.
You can mix the dough 4 days ahead of baking. If you mix the dough the night before, for breakfast the next day, you'll have to get up at dawn to roll out the dough as the shaped croissants need to rise about 4 hours before baking.
The recipe makes 32 croissants, or 4 batches of 8 croissants to a baking pan.
Baked croissants can be frozen and reheated from frozen, uncovered in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
- 2-1/4 tsp. traditional dry yeast OR 1 package fresh compressed baker's yeast
- 1 cup warm water OR 1 cup lukewarm water for compressed yeast
- 3/4 cup evaporated milk, undiluted
- 1-1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup butter melted and cooled
- 1 cup (1/2 pound) firm cold butter
- 1 large egg beaten with 1 Tbsp water (to brush croissants before baking)
Warm a large mixing bowl by washing in hot water and drying.
Add water, sprinkle yeast over, let yeast soften.
Add milk, salt, sugar, egg and 1 cup of flour.
Beat to make a smooth batter.
Blend in cooled, melted butter.
Set aside.
Put 4 cups of flour in a large bowl.
Cut in 1 cup cold firm butter until butter pieces are the size of dried kidney beans.
Pour the yeast batter over top.
Fold in the yeast batter (carefully turning turning the mixture over with a spatula) to blend just until all flour is moistened.
Cover with clear plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled--at least 4 hours or up to 4 days.
Remove refrigerated dough to a floured board.
Press into a compact ball.
Knead about 6 turns to release air bubbles.
Divide dough into 4 equal parts.
Shape one part at a time, leaving remaining dough wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge.
Shape Croissants:
Using a rolling pin, roll one part of the dough on a floured board (or parchment paper) into a circle about 15 inches in diameter, or as large as possible.
Using a sharp knife, cut the circle into 8 equal pie-shaped wedges.
For each croissant, loosely roll wedges toward the point.
Shape each roll into a crescent and place on an ungreased baking sheet with the point down.
Allow 1-1/2 inches of space around each croissant.
Cover lightly, and let the croissants rise at room temperature in a draft-free place about 2 hours or until doubled in bulk.
Brush with egg and water mixture.
Bake at 325 degrees for about 35 minutes or until lightly browned.
