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!