FLAKEY HOMEMADE CROISSANTS (Beginner Friendly)

[00:00] hey what's up i'm not gonna lie making

[00:01] croissants at home is fussy

[00:03] it's time-consuming and it took me a lot

[00:06] of tries to get this process figured out

[00:08] but

[00:08] the final product is so good that it's

[00:10] definitely worth

[00:11] a little bit of struggle so today i'm

[00:13] gonna show you how to make a flaky

[00:15] buttery hand rolled croissant at home

[00:17] and a few tricks along the way so that

[00:18] you can get these right

[00:20] first try to get started i've got my

[00:22] stand mixer set up and into the bowl of

[00:23] that i'm going to measure 165 grams of

[00:25] warm water 165 grams of whole milk 8

[00:27] grams of yeast 50 grams of sugar 515

[00:29] grams of all-purpose flour and 10 grams

[00:31] of salt the dough hook goes on and i

[00:33] like to mix this dough in two stages the

[00:35] first of which happens on medium speed

[00:36] for roughly two to three minutes all

[00:38] we're looking to do here is to get that

[00:40] water and milk to hydrate the flour

[00:42] once things have come together and the

[00:43] dough starting to get pushed around the

[00:44] bowl like this i'm going to grab 40

[00:45] grams of softened butter and start the

[00:47] second stage of this mix

[00:49] as you can see the butter is cubed up

[00:50] into smallish pieces so that i can add

[00:52] them in one piece at a time

[00:54] this should help the butter get better

[00:56] incorporated into the dough but

[00:57] inevitably there will be some smeared

[00:59] butter stuck to the inside of the bowl

[01:01] and don't sweat that eventually the

[01:02] dough will start to grab it all now that

[01:04] that butter's in the dough we actually

[01:06] need to

[01:06] knead this stuff so the speed's gonna go

[01:08] up to high and i'm gonna continue to mix

[01:09] this for five

[01:10] whole minutes and if you're wondering

[01:12] hey bry

[01:13] can i do this by hand well yes but it is

[01:16] gonna be harder start by crumbling the

[01:18] butter

[01:18] into the flour as best you can then mix

[01:20] the dry with the wet that's the water

[01:22] and the milk that's gonna take a second

[01:24] to come together and then we can flip

[01:25] the dough

[01:26] out of the bowl and start to knead by

[01:27] hand on the cutting board for six to

[01:29] seven minutes this is gonna replicate

[01:30] that high speed mix that we're doing

[01:32] over on the stand mixer this is messy

[01:34] work and it's gonna be kind of greasy

[01:35] but if you really go for it you're gonna

[01:37] get something that resembles dough from

[01:39] a stand mixer for

[01:40] sure and there we go hand mixed

[01:41] croissant dough

[01:43] if you dare back to the mixer this has

[01:45] been mixing on high speed for five

[01:46] minutes and the dough is clearing the

[01:48] bowl and should be quite strong but

[01:49] there's only one way to know for sure so

[01:51] i'm gonna flip this up and give it a

[01:52] good tug to see how we like it and it

[01:54] doesn't tear or sheer and that means the

[01:56] gluten is ready to rip now i'm gonna

[01:57] flip this over into a medium bowl and to

[01:59] give ourselves a more uniform starting

[02:00] point for when we sheet this dough later

[02:02] we're gonna get this rolled up into a

[02:03] nice taut round ball and the move here

[02:06] is just what we do for most of these

[02:07] stretch

[02:08] and folds on our dose we're just trying

[02:09] to tuck that ball into a nice taut

[02:11] little thingy

[02:12] yeah that looks good now i'm gonna put

[02:13] the lid on and throw it on top of my

[02:14] refrigerator out of the way

[02:16] for 90 minutes in the meantime when you

[02:18] sort out probably the most

[02:19] important part of a croissant the butter

[02:21] block for that i'm starting with two

[02:23] large sheets of parchment paper i've got

[02:24] a ruler here as well and then a clicky

[02:27] pen to make some lines with now on the

[02:29] tops of that parchment paper i'm gonna

[02:30] make two points in the center eight

[02:31] inches apart and then from there i'm

[02:33] gonna use the ruler to throw down two

[02:34] straight lines that are going from the

[02:36] top and the bottom to show where i want

[02:37] my butter to sit next i'm gonna fold

[02:39] deep creases into the parchments on the

[02:40] two lines that i just drew this is gonna

[02:42] help hold that butter in tightly then

[02:44] i'm gonna fold the top in about an inch

[02:46] or two and then the bottom another inch

[02:47] or two and there we go we should have

[02:49] two roughly eight inch by 12 to 14 inch

[02:51] tall

[02:52] rectangles now for the butter this is a

[02:54] whole block or roughly 225 grams of

[02:56] grass-fed

[02:57] irish butter called kerrygold and it is

[02:59] 82 butter fat you can definitely get

[03:01] away with regular butter but it might

[03:02] take a few attempts to actually get to

[03:04] the point where you're laminating the

[03:05] dough if you don't do this right you end

[03:07] up making a

[03:08] brioche which is still good but not the

[03:10] same thing as a croissant this butter's

[03:12] been sitting at room temp for about 45

[03:14] minutes so it is soft and well tempered

[03:16] but it is definitely

[03:17] not mushy this is in the perfect spot to

[03:19] make a butter block okay to get this

[03:20] butter rolled into a sheet that we can

[03:21] actually laminate into a dough we're

[03:23] going to lay down this block of butter

[03:25] into the center of that parchment that

[03:26] we just folded and then cover that with

[03:28] the second piece of parchment and then

[03:30] smash this block down just a little bit

[03:32] flatter

[03:32] into a smear of butter now i'm going to

[03:34] fold up all four sides of this parchment

[03:36] paper to seal in the butter so that when

[03:38] we roll it out

[03:38] nothing escapes then i'm going to flip

[03:40] it over so that the folds are facing the

[03:42] board and now i've got a nice

[03:43] square flat compartment that's going to

[03:44] help shape our butter block using

[03:46] rolling pin now i'm going to beat this

[03:47] butter down laterally to flatten it and

[03:49] to start to spread it out i'm going to

[03:50] be using this move a lot from this point

[03:53] forward because

[03:54] when we're shaping large chunks of

[03:55] butter it responds way better to blunt

[03:57] force like this than

[03:58] the rolling pressure of a rolling pin

[04:00] once things are flat we can actually

[04:01] start rolling with the rolling pin

[04:03] and see why the folding was worth all

[04:05] that extra effort the rolling pin

[04:06] easily pushes this butter directly into

[04:09] the perfectly square corners of this

[04:11] paper

[04:11] and it is so extremely satisfying when

[04:14] you see it fill that corner the work is

[04:16] worth it just for that

[04:17] once this butter's been pushed into all

[04:18] four corners and spread into an even

[04:20] thin layer with no voids or cracks take

[04:23] a look it's malleable and bendy and it's

[04:25] gonna be much easier to incorporate into

[04:27] a dough for now i'm gonna throw this

[04:28] into the fridge and keep it frosty until

[04:30] the dough is ready speaking of frosty

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[05:42] it's been 90 minutes and this dough is

[05:43] about doubled

[05:44] it's gassy it's buoyant and alive now

[05:47] hit the top with some flour then my

[05:49] cutting board and then flip out the

[05:50] dough once i've got this pushed into

[05:52] a rectangular-ish slab of dough i'm

[05:54] gonna dust it with some more flour and

[05:55] then grab my rolling pin to start to

[05:57] roll this out i'm gonna get this thing

[05:58] pushed out until it's roughly 18 inches

[06:00] tall and eight to nine inches wide this

[06:01] is a little bit of a pre-shape and it's

[06:03] going to allow us to push this dough and

[06:04] butter further in a few minutes next i'm

[06:07] going to lay down some parchment so i

[06:08] can fold this dough in half without it

[06:10] sticking to itself then

[06:11] onto a sheet tray it goes this does room

[06:13] temp right now and it needs to be much

[06:15] cooler for lamination so in the fridge

[06:17] it goes for 20 minutes and in the

[06:18] meantime

[06:19] out of the fridge comes that butter

[06:20] block that we made earlier it's very

[06:22] cold and brittle at the moment but 20

[06:24] minutes at room temperature will make it

[06:25] bendy like it was before 20 minutes

[06:27] later the butter block should be

[06:28] much more pliable but it's always good

[06:30] to unwrap and check before we move

[06:32] forward if there was one key to

[06:34] successful croissants at home it's

[06:35] keeping the butter in this pliable state

[06:37] moving forward cold hard butter is bad

[06:40] malleable flexible butter

[06:41] is very good all right my slab of dough

[06:44] is good and frosty after 20 minutes in

[06:45] the fridge and now i'm gonna roll this

[06:47] out just a little bit more i want it to

[06:48] be about 18 to 20 inches tall and about

[06:50] eight to nine inches wide

[06:52] and notice i'm doing my best to kind of

[06:54] maintain right angles around the edges

[06:56] here but

[06:56] don't worry about it we aren't really

[06:58] going for perfection now i'm gonna size

[07:00] up my butter sheet and it needs to be

[07:02] slightly less wide than the dough

[07:04] that looks pretty good so i'm gonna flip

[07:05] it on over you'll notice that this

[07:07] butter only covers about two-thirds of

[07:08] this dough and that's by design the

[07:10] first folding here is kind of a cheat

[07:12] we're gonna get our butter locked into

[07:13] the dough

[07:14] and our first two layers of folding done

[07:16] at the same time this gives us more time

[07:18] in the temperature sweet spot and

[07:20] overall simplifies the lamination

[07:21] process

[07:22] a lot now to do this fold i'm gonna grab

[07:24] the top third of the dough and fold it

[07:25] over

[07:26] the middle third then i'm gonna grab the

[07:27] bottom third and fold it over that when

[07:30] i turn it you can see how we have two

[07:31] layers of butter in this dough already

[07:33] and we didn't need to work the dough at

[07:35] all and the butter hasn't really changed

[07:37] temperature yet which

[07:38] is ideal now i'm gonna smush this down

[07:39] with the rolling pin a little bit to

[07:40] help seal in the juices then on the open

[07:42] side i'm going to seal things up with a

[07:44] firm pinch from top to bottom

[07:45] if this butter got loose in my cutting

[07:47] board it would be a mess now i'm feeling

[07:48] good about where the temperature of this

[07:49] butter is and i don't think it's really

[07:51] had enough time to get

[07:52] too warm and mushy yet so we are going

[07:53] to move forward with the second fold at

[07:55] this point again i prefer using the

[07:57] blunt force of the rolling pin to do

[07:58] most of the work when the dough is thick

[08:00] like this it helps

[08:01] spread the butter more gently too much

[08:03] downward pressure in a localized spot

[08:05] with the rolling motion will press the

[08:06] butter into pockets and

[08:08] that's not very chill once this slab is

[08:10] gently coerced into an eight inch wide

[08:11] 16 18 inch tall slab yet again

[08:14] i'm going to do a book style fold this

[08:16] time the right side gets folded into the

[08:17] middle then the left side gets folded

[08:19] into the middle and then that whole

[08:20] thing is going to get folded in half

[08:22] and we've basically just quadrupled our

[08:24] layers without any additional

[08:26] rolling this is just another thrifty way

[08:27] to simplify the lamination process to

[08:30] save time and hence preserve the

[08:31] temperature of the butter we basically

[08:33] get two folds worth of layers in one

[08:35] move okay i've got this book shape

[08:36] flattened back into a slab but the

[08:38] butter starting to get warm and the

[08:39] dough is starting to snap back a little

[08:41] bit so i'm going to throw this into the

[08:42] refrigerator so the dough can relax and

[08:44] this butter can firm up just a little

[08:46] bit so into the fridge it goes

[08:47] for 20 minutes after that 20 minutes the

[08:49] butter temp has been reset to that fully

[08:52] malleable spot and the dough has relaxed

[08:53] enough for us to actually roll it thin

[08:55] into a croissant so the board gets

[08:57] dusted and the dough is gonna get dusted

[08:59] on both sides then using a rolling pin

[09:01] we're gonna gently pound this

[09:03] even flatter i'm gonna give this four to

[09:04] five passes until it's about half as

[09:06] thick as when we

[09:07] started and if you see some air bubbles

[09:09] in there go ahead and pop those i'm

[09:10] going to use a cake tester to prick them

[09:12] and then use my rolling pin to push out

[09:14] that gas i'm going to roll this out in

[09:15] two stages if we do too much work here

[09:17] the dough is going to start to get tight

[09:18] and we can't roll it out anymore and the

[09:20] butter is going to get too soft so once

[09:22] we're at a 12 inch by 16 inch ish

[09:24] slab i'm going to pop this back in the

[09:25] fridge for 15 minutes after that 15

[09:27] minutes we're going to move into the

[09:28] second half of shaping where we push

[09:30] this out that last 30 to 40 percent i

[09:32] want to reiterate don't use downward

[09:34] pressure of the rolling pin

[09:35] too much banging it with the rolling pin

[09:37] makes things move a little bit faster

[09:38] and keeps that butter a little bit more

[09:40] intact

[09:40] cut to what happens when the butter is

[09:42] just a little bit too cold and use just

[09:44] a little bit too much downward pressure

[09:46] from that rolling pin

[09:47] as you can see butter shards the butter

[09:49] is completely cracked and broken and

[09:51] this is a super

[09:52] unfun thing to happen so beware cutting

[09:55] back to the slab i've got it rolled out

[09:56] into a quarter inch thick sheet that's

[09:57] about 14 inches tall and 18 to 20 inches

[10:00] wide

[10:00] and don't worry centimeters for all of

[10:02] this will be in the description now i'm

[10:03] gonna square up the edges real quick

[10:04] then using a ruler i'm gonna mark every

[10:05] four inches or so on the bottom

[10:07] then on the top i'm gonna move in two

[10:09] inches and then mark every four inches

[10:11] this is gonna create

[10:12] eight total croissants now using a pizza

[10:14] cutter i'm gonna cut these into

[10:15] even triangles the best i can hopefully

[10:18] by the time you get to the end your

[10:19] eighth croissant won't look as rugged as

[10:21] mine does but it doesn't really matter

[10:22] all the hard work here is done in the

[10:24] lamination

[10:24] and if these aren't perfect whatever now

[10:27] i'm gonna stretch these out a little bit

[10:28] i want to add two to three inches of

[10:29] length then

[10:30] once they're stretched i'm going to go

[10:31] to the wider end and stretch that about

[10:33] another inch this is going to give these

[10:34] croissants a pro

[10:36] tapered look from there i'm going to

[10:37] roll this up tightly trying to keep the

[10:38] skinny end in the dead center i also

[10:41] like to try and keep the tip of the

[10:42] croissant tucked onto the bottom as well

[10:44] now i'm going to move this over to a

[10:45] sheet tray lined with parchment paper

[10:46] and i'm gonna roll out the other seven

[10:48] and i'll mention feel free to freeze

[10:50] half of these once they're rolled out i

[10:51] would freeze them on a plate and then

[10:53] move them over to a bag for storage then

[10:55] the next time you want a croissant all

[10:56] you need to do is thaw them

[10:57] proof them and then bake them off once

[10:59] these are rolled out now we need to

[11:00] proof them up so i'm going to move them

[11:02] over to my oven where i can create a

[11:03] mini little proofing cabinet to do that

[11:06] i've got a shallow saute pan full of

[11:07] boiling water and i'm going to load it

[11:09] into the bottom of the oven that steam

[11:10] is going to warm up the box a few

[11:12] degrees and keep

[11:12] things just a bit humid so that nothing

[11:14] dries out proofing time is going to vary

[11:16] pretty widely depending on the

[11:17] temperature of your dough

[11:18] and your house but mine took 90 minutes

[11:20] to get fully proofed up and

[11:22] take a look these look amazing now i'm

[11:24] going to pre my oven to 425 degrees 218c

[11:27] and while that heats i'm going to head

[11:28] back over to these proof chrissies and

[11:30] egg wash them

[11:31] two times to make that i just cracked

[11:33] one egg and added about 20 grams of

[11:34] whole milk and stirred it up that little

[11:36] bit of milk in the wash is going to help

[11:38] with caramelization because

[11:39] milk salads brown very nicely after 20

[11:42] minutes we're going to brush them for a

[11:43] second time

[11:44] and also double check that they're proof

[11:46] properly give them a poke that dough

[11:48] should indent just a little bit and then

[11:49] pop back out slowly

[11:51] these look very good once we have two

[11:53] full coats of egg wash and

[11:54] the oven is preheated into the oven they

[11:56] go for 18 to 20 minutes

[11:58] if we got that proof right these should

[11:59] start to rise quite a bit and start to

[12:01] unfurl all those layers

[12:03] an underproof croissant will leach out a

[12:05] lot of butter and not really

[12:06] rise at all 10 minutes in we're going to

[12:08] rotate and flip these trays to get a

[12:10] much

[12:10] more even bake as we know most ovens

[12:12] have hot and cold spots and when we're

[12:14] dealing with butter and sugar combined

[12:15] in a dough these can go from perfect to

[12:17] burnt quicker than we'd like that last

[12:19] eight to ten minutes should pass pretty

[12:21] uneventfully but

[12:22] resist the urge to pull these out too

[12:24] early channel your

[12:25] inner bry here and bake these dark

[12:28] blonde croissants just aren't as good as

[12:29] well tan ones

[12:30] i know from experience after 18 minutes

[12:33] in the oven it's time to pull these

[12:34] things out

[12:35] and all i can really say is wow they're

[12:38] burnished with a deep

[12:39] golden brown crust and as you can see

[12:41] all those layers of butter have teamed

[12:43] up to make a flaky but delicate

[12:45] pastry this smell you guys the smell is

[12:48] just

[12:48] insane i've cooked a lot of tasty things

[12:50] here in my house but

[12:52] none of them have smelled like this

[12:54] sweet european butter

[12:56] layered with care and baked perfection

[12:58] is just amazing when i cut into one you

[13:00] can see

[13:01] how flaky these actually are like i said

[13:04] these are not the easiest things to get

[13:05] right they're fussy and there can be a

[13:07] lot of trial and error but

[13:09] in the end when you get there you have a

[13:11] warm fresh

[13:12] flaky buttery croissant that was made

[13:15] by you and they're world class you guys

[13:19] let's eat this thing

[13:36] [Music]