There are things you dream about making, right? Items on your list that you would never admit you want to make, because it just may push you into the doing, right?
One of those things for me has always been croissants. I am in awe of the swirls of flaky dough. I have known there are recipes, but I always figured they could not be baked up in my very own kitchen.
Oh, how I was wrong! This month the Bread Baking Babes announced that they brought a bit of Paris to the table and I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to face my fears and bake up a batch of croissants.
There were several options of fillings, such as chocolate, meat & cheese, pesto and other creative ideas. But, I could not overlook an opportunity to fill these with my newfound favorite, almond paste. Oh yum!
Croissant Dough
Adapted from Pastry From Heaven by Michael Roux
Makes 10 – 12
2 teaspoons of active yeast
350ml whole milk
3 1/2 cups of flour, divided
1 teaspoon of fine salt
1/4 cup of sugar
275g butter, cold but not too hard
1/4 cup of flour (I added to combat the summer heat)
Egg Wash – 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon of milk
1. Dissolve the yeast in the milk. Combine 2 1/2 cups of flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl; then pour in the milk mixture, allow the mixture to rest for 30 minutes. Add the remaining flour and stir until it begins to pull away from the sides. Cover the bowl and leave it to rise in a warm place for an hour or until doubled in size.
2. Punch down dough by flipping it over with your hand, but do not overwork it. Cover the bowl again and refrigerate overnight. In a medium sized bowl, blend the butter and flour thoroughly. On a piece of plastic, shape the butter mixture into a flat 5×7″ rectangle. Cover well and refrigerate overnight.
3. Punch down dough by flipping again and place on lightly floured surface. Pat the dough into a rectangle and roll it out into a larger rectangle. Place the butter in the center of the dough and fold the flaps over to completely enclose the butter.
4. Lightly flour the work surface, roll the dough out to a 60 X 30cm (24” X 12”) rectangle. Fold in thirds, wrap in cling film and refrigerate (mine goes into the freezer) 30 minutes.
5. Give the chilled dough a quarter turn, roll out into the 60×30cm rectangle, fold, wrap and refrigerate as above, 30 minutes.
6. Roll the dough in the opposite direction as before, into the rectangle, fold, wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes but no more than 60 minutes.
Croissants
1. Cut a cardboard template, 9cm (3.5″) base, 18cm (7″) to the point. Lightly flour work surface and roll dough out to 65 X 40cm (26 X 16″) rectangle. Lift it slightly off the surface to aerate it to keep it from shrinking. Trim sides with a sharp knife to make straight edges, then cut in half, lengthwise. Using the template as a guide, cut into triangles.
2. Lay 1 dough triangle on the work surface. Make a 1cm (1/3″) cut in the middle of the base and pull the 2 base points slightly to separate; then pull the top point slightly. Roll the croissant from the base to the point. Place on a baking sheet and turn the base points to form a crescent. Repeat with the rest of the triangles.
3. Lightly but thoroughly brush with egg wash.
4. Put the croissants, on a baking tray, in a warm, preferably slightly humid, place to rise for 2 hours, or until almost doubled.
5. Preheat oven to 340F. Brush with egg wash again, and bake at 340F for 20 minutes.
Almond Filling
Adapted from A Sweet Passion 2 by Sandra Plevisani
1/4 cup of butter
3/4 cup of almond meal
1/2 cup of powdered sugar
1 tablespoon of cornstarch
1 teaspoon of almond extract
1. Combine the butter, almonds and powdered sugar together in a small bowl and beat until creamy. Add cornstarch and almond extract and stir until the mixture pulls away from the bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
2. Place an oval-shaped tablespoon of the almond paste just above the base cut of the dough triangle and roll the croissant with the almond tucked inside.
Follow the remainder of the croissant recipe for rising and baking.
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Croissants are being served up as the Bread Baking Buddies challenge of the month. This months challenge was hosted by Katie of Thyme For Cooking, January’s kitchen of the month. If you are interested in being a buddy, visit Katie’s blog to learn how. Or enjoy one of the other Bread Baking Challenge breads which I have baked.
Great job. You may just have inspired me to try this!!!
I am so glad I could inspire! ~Gretchen
These are simply beautiful. Wish I had one with my coffee right now!
Yeah. They were good. ~Gretchen
Wow, I’m impressed. I’ve never attempted making croissants. They look perfect.
I just cannot believe you haven’t done croissants! ~Gretchen
They’re beautiful Gretchen! I really have to try my hand at making croissants, they look so delicious.
You really should try! What fun to have them homemade!! ~Gretchen
How keen! They’re so fun to make and have got to be some of the tastiest things to ever roam our earth. I love that technique for rolling the paste into the dough.
Thanks! The almond paste was easy yet oh so tasty!!! ~Gretchen
they look amazing!! almond paste sounds like a delicious filling, great idea
Thanks, its my new fav! ~Gretchen
Almond paste! Nothing would warm me more today. Beautiful job!!
Thanks! I loved these!! ~Gretchen
What beautiful layers! Nice job, and I love the almond paste idea. Makes me think of marzipan
Mmmm…yes. It was delicious inside the croissant! ~Gretchen
Wow. I must have been on the same wavelength. I’m not part of BBB but I made croissants for the first time this weekend. They were so good and so worth the work. Yours look perfect!
These look beautiful! I love the almond filling. I made croissants back in August and it was such a great experience.
It was really fun to make them. I feel like I accomplished something great! ~Gretchen
They look wonderful! You did such a great job on them, I love the almonds and the almond filling.
Thanks! I enjoyed the almond ones! ~Gretchen
I ve been scared of making croissants too , never tried making them in fact. you gave me courage to face my fears
yours look wonderful and i m drooling trying to grab one 
These look delicious! Melt in the mouth and perfect for breakfast.
Yes, perfect for breakfast. And for a sandwich at lunch. And with soup for dinner. ~Gretchen
Beautiful photos and food! The whole idea of making croissants scares the pants off of me… but you’ve made it look easy!!
Oh thanks! You should try it! ~Gretchen
Oooh! almonds! Yum! And they look so pretty! Once again, I sit in awe!
Hehe! I am so glad you chose this recipe! It was wonderful! ~Gretchen
Lovely, lovely! Especially with the almond filling, brilliant idea!
Thanks, I really enjoyed those! ~Gretchen
Beautiful! I love the idea of the almond filling. I’d be a happy camper with one of those in front of me right now! Thanks for sharing the almond filling recipe. That’s going in my files.
I love the ideas I get from some of my Peruvian cookbooks. What fun! ~Gretchen
What a perfect looking croissant! Your blog is looking so beautiful. Nice job with it all. I know it was a lot of work
Oh thank you! It was fun to redo and I have learned a whole lot!! ~Gretchen
Good for you…My list is an arm long though I am getting braver at giving things a try. Just not enough time in the day! Have tried almond paste though I have some in the pantry.
Btw, I love how you made collages of your photos. ~ingrid
Thanks! Be brave, try things you think you can’t! The collages were new to me, my first time doing them! ~Gretchen
I’m actually working up the nerve to make my own croissants, too! Yours look amazing, so that’s very encouraging.
Oh you certainly need to try making them! I am sure you can do it!! ~Gretchen
If these taste as good as they look, well then, they must be fantastic! Oh, and by the way – love the new site. Looks fantastic!
Thanks so much! These were delicious!! ~Gretchen
you used a template-wow! I’m impressed!
Bravo with the croissants, they look amazing! What a great idea to do use almond paste as a filling. I’m glad you took the plunge and made the croissants, they are hard, but definitely worth it!
Ciao ! Great job !! They were so good !!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed them! ~Gretchen
[...] with the results. They were not hard to make, just time consuming. I made the almond filling that Gretchen filled her with on her blog and thought it was lovely. Jaos likes the straight croissants, no funny [...]