How to Make Croissants at Home

Making croissants at home can take a while, but it is definitely worth the effort. I wouldn't necessarily say they're hard to make. They just ask more of you, but that's because they give more too.

This is a small recipe! It makes about five. I normally see larger recipes that make eight to twelve croissants, but if you're living by yourself or just with one person that can be a lot. Also if it's your first try and you mess up, you end up using a lot of butter too.

INGREDIENTS
For dough (you'll need a kitchen scale)
202g bread flour (important to use bread flour!)
55g milk
55g warm water (preferably at 100 °F or 38 °C, you can also touch the water with the back of your index finger, it should be lightly warmer than your body temperature)
4g kosher salt (or 1 tsp)
25g sugar
5g active dry yeast*
10g unsalted butter

*Mix the yeast with the warm water and leave it for 5-10 minutes before incorporating it into the dough. Also, make sure it's active dry, not instant yeast.

For butter block
125g unsalted butter (Or 1 stick of butter plus 1½ tbsp)


Notes:
- On the first day, make the dough at night! It only needs 8 to 12 hours in the fridge overnight. Start laminating the dough on the morning of the second day. This is because if you leave the dough in the fridge for more than 8-12 hours after first making the dough, the yeast will start to die. On the third day take it out early morning from the freezer and let it defrost in the fridge until it is malleable again. Then go ahead and roll out one final time and shape!
- Try to use good quality butter. Regular butter at the grocery store has 80% butterfat. The higher the butterfat content, the better the lamination. Use butter that has around 82% to 84% butterfat. I use Kerrygold and Vermont creamery.