The real french croissant is small and very buttery. Sounds good, right? Despite the fact that everybody thinks it’s hard to make, this recipe is kind of simple and I’m about to share with you my version.

Ingredients:

– for the dough:
500 g type 55 flour
140 ml water
140 ml milk
55 g sugar
40 g melted butter
15 g yeast
1 tsp salt

– for laminating:
250 g cold butter

– for the egg wash:
1 egg

– for the chocolate filling (optional):
180 ml milk
2 egg yolk
30 g sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Make the dough the night before the actual baking day. Combine the ingredients and knead until the dough comes together, then stop. Shape the dough like a disk, place it on a plate, cover with foil and leave in the fridge overnight.

On the next day cut the cold butter lengthwise into 1 cm thick slabs. Arrange the pieces on parchment paper to form a square. Cover the butter with another layer of parchment paper and with a rolling pin pound butter together. Take the dough out of the fridge. Roll out the dough disc into a square bigger than the butter one. Place the butter square on the dough with a 45 degree angle. Fold the flaps of the dough over the butter to cover it entirely. Roll out the dough to get a rectangular shape and fold in the two sides to get a 3-layered square. This is the first fold. Put the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes. Repeat the folding process two more times to get 27 layers.

Roll out the dough and cut it into long and thin triangles and roll them into the croissant shape. With this recipe I could make 16 croissants.

Preheat the oven to 240°C/464°F and put an empty baking sheet on the bottom of the oven. Put a glass of water near the oven. Place the croissants on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Give the croissants a coating of egg wash. When the oven is ready, right before putting in the croissants decrease heat to 220°C/428°F and pour the glass of water into the baking sheet on the bottom of the oven. Put the croissants into the oven and bake them for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Leave them to cool a bit and eat when still warm as Gábor loves it. Eat it just as it is, with marmalade or with the chocolate filling.

Put sugar, corstarch and cocoa powder into a pot. Mix well and add egg yolks. Gradually pour in milk while constantly whisking the mixture. Bring it to a boil then take off heat and wait for it to thicken up. With a pastry bag pipe some of the chocolate filling into the halved croissants. Serve with fresh strawberries.

As my first try I think they turned out quite good and I’m sure I’ll make them again.

I hope you liked this post and you’ll try out this recipe.

// Kamilla