Learn how to make fluffy and flaky homemade croissants with tips, step by step instructions and videos to help get the perfect croissants at home.
Updated to add on February 28th, 2018: I recently took a class on Craftsy.com on croissants and made a batch with the new techniques. They are slightly different from the ones mentioned here. For one, the recipe has eggs. Another is that the method of incorporating butter is slightly different and the Craftsy recipe also yields 24 croissants. I have had no issues with the recipe used here, so leaving the recipe as is but adding the techniques that helped me below.
Updated to add on November 20th, 2016: I have used this recipe many time now with good results. I managed to update the pictures on one of those tries, but have left some from the original post since I loved the results I got on my first try. Making croissants is a long process, but much of it is dough resting time. Although it takes two days for the entire recipe, but the end result is worth it- homemade fresh, fluffy and flaky croissants. I have also updated the post with printable version of the recipe.
The Original Post that went live on September, 2011:
In one of the scenes in the movie “It’s Complicated,’’ Meryl Streep and Steve Martin, go to Meryl Streep’s bakery. It is late at night and both of them are hungry, really hungry. She offers him anything on her bakery menu and he chooses chocolate croissants. The scene of her cutting and stuffing the croissants with chocolate is tantalizing.
That movie is one of my favorites, primarily because of Meryl Streep’s kitchen and the idea of owning and running a bakery like hers. I could watch that movie again and again, just to relive Meryl Streep’s life in the movie. The movie also makes me want to whip up croissants like that.
So when this month’s Daring Bakers’ challenge was to make croissants (something that had been on my to-do list for way too long), I was happy. Very happy.
The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non-blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child!
Till date, the best croissants I have had were *drumroll* NOT in France. Would you believe it, I never tried the croissants when I was in France!! Well, we were in Paris for little over a day only and somehow I did not get the opportunity to try one! I guess its for the best- this way I owe the French croissants another trip!
The best croissants I have ever had were actually in Turkey where I had joined my parents for a vacation. We were staying in a small house kind of hotel/motel in the heart of Istanbul. Everyday the owner would serve us one croissant each with half a tomato, 3-4 olives, cheese and an egg cooked any way we liked. The owner used to get the croissants fresh from a nearby bakery. That croissant was the best I have ever had (and so was the breakfast) and the taste still lingers in my mouth. The croissant was exactly how it should be- buttery, flaky outside and moist inside. The crust would crackle when bit into. They were just perfect and delicious. If I had the cash, I would make a trip to Turkey just for those croissants!
The very talented Amanda of Amanda’s Cookin started The Secret Recipe Club (or TSRC, here on) a while back. I know! Doesn’t it sound so cool and fun! Well, it is! The idea behind TSRC is simple. Each participating blogger is assigned one of the other participating blogs (much like a Secret Santa). No one reveals whose blog they have, they just visit, pick a recipe, and make it! My assigned blog this month was Suz’s Thru The Bugs on My Windshield.
Now, the moment I clicked on Suz’s blog, I knew what I wanted to make. Because the first recipe itself caught my eye! Now, I have to tell you, recently I have this craving for everything coconut. The list includes coconut chocolates, Indian dishes with coconut like the Kerala cauliflower dish I recently made and Pina Colada (yes, alcohol can never be left behind, can it!). So when I saw Suz’s recipe for coconut banana bread which was topped with coconut lime sauce (coconut lime sauce- who can resist that!) , I was sold.
Coincidentally, Suz tried this recipe for her last month’s TSRC blog hop. Well, Suz and I get attracted to the same sweet things, I guess! Besides this recipe, Suz who lives with her Mountain Man, has a lot of other good recipes that I am tempted to try and have bookmarked, including her Chicken Asparagus Penne Pasta salad, her never-fail Pie crust and Amanda’s Cantaloupe Quick Bread. Do check her blog out, guys (she makes her own homemade vanilla extract- yup, she is that good!) 
I did a slight variation to the recipe. Though I would have loved to try the recipe with bananas, my stomach just can’t digest it anymore. It’s sad, really, it is, especially at times like these! I used to love banana bread and to have coconut in it, ah! How good would that have been! Sigh! Well, some things you just can’t help, can you. So, instead of banana, I thought of using zucchini. The substitution worked really well, more than what I expected. The only problem, I feel, some might have is that since I took out the banana, some of the sweetness also went away with it. V found the sweetness perfect, and with the glaze you don’t miss the sugar, but if you like your stuff sweet, you should up the sugar amount. Another reason why the sweetness might have been off the mark was that I did not realise that my stock of sugar was low, and found out only when I started mixing everything up.
Now, not that I need a reason to make Pina Coladas, but this was a perfect time to make some! So, there I was, sipping my Pina Colada and biting into my take on Suz & Krista’s coconut banana bread, with this song playing on my mind.
Yes I like Pina Coladas
And getting caught in the rain
I’m not much into health food
I am into champagne
I’ve got to meet you by tomorrow noon
And cut through all this red-tape
At a bar called O’Malley’s
Where we’ll plan our escape.
