Croissants | I’ve tested a recipe found on the web…
I love croissants just as much as I love a challenge in the kitchen. I’ve tried so many recipes over the years, always looking for a good compromise between preparation time and end result.
Let’s be honest, not everyone has 24 hours – or thereabout, to make beautiful flaky light delicious croissants.
And Facebook knows it, because it had been spamming my feed with this recipe until I decided to try it for myself. Keep reading to find out what I thought about the end result.
The recipe was from Cookrate – Italia. While the ingredients were listed in the description, the steps were shown in a video that I didn’t save.
As always, I made as much prep as possible in the Thermy, and then proceeded by hand. It’s up to you whether you may want to do the first few steps with a mixer or by hand.
Breakfast Croissants (Thermomix version)
Difficulty: Medium
Time: 5 hours
Quantity: 12 croissants
Ingredients
- 200ml warm milk
- 200ml warm water
- 50gr sugar
- 10gr dry yeast
- 1 egg + 1 yolk
- 750gr all purpose flour
- 10gr salt
- 120gr melted butter
- sesame seeds (optional) – I didn’t end up using them
Method
- Add milk, water, sugar and yeast to the mixing bowl and heat 3 minutes/37C/speed 2;
- Add half of the flour, the salt and 1 whole egg to the mixing bowl and knead for 2 minutes;
- Add the rest of the flour slowly, while kneading for another 6-8 minutes;
- Empty the dough into a clean bowl, cover with cling wrap and let it rise until it doubles in size, for about 1-2 hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen;
- Divide the dough into 8 exact parts, and roll them out into thin disks with the help of a rolling pin. Use a dinner plate as reference for their shape and size;
- Meanwhile, if you haven’t melted your butter, pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds, then mix it with a fork so that its consistence is cream-like;
- Put the first disk of dough on the plate and spread a layer of butter with a brush. Continue alternating a disk and layer of butter until you build all your 8 layers, finishing with a disk of dough;
- Cover with cling wrap and let it proof for an hour in the fridge;
- Meanwhile, turn the oven on at 180C, fan forced. With the help of a rolling pin, roll the 8-layer dough into a large 5mm disk;
- Using a pizza cutter or similar, cut into 12 equal triangles;
- Shape them up, rolling the shortest side all the way up to the tip of the triangle making sure the tip sits at the bottom of each croissant;
- Let the croissants rest on the kitchen bench, covered with a towel for about 30 minutes;
- Bake for 30 minutes at 180C;
- Let them cool down slightly before eating them 🙂
I’ll be super honest – if you are looking for a quick recipe, this isn’t it. I don’t think that would even be possible with croissants.
Making the dough is a relatively fast process. The part that take the longest is rolling out the 8 layers… I challenge you to do it within 45 minutes. The dough will start to dry while sitting on the kitchen counter if you take too long, so make sure you keep it covered while you roll that out and aim at building the layers at the same time.
Plus, you have to allow enough proofing time between steps, do not take shortcuts unless you want heavy doughy croissants that will proof in your stomach 🙁
The end result was ok, but wasn’t as light and flaky as I was hoping for. The croissants turned out really soft, but their consistency was more brioche-like.
Buon appetito!
About The Author
alicebellavita
Hi! My name is Alice and I am Italian expat neo-mum living in Australia since 2011.