Homemade croissants: how to make them in a simple and fast way

Today we present you the recipe of homemade croissants for your breakfast. These are not the classic croissants of puff pastry, neither of leavened dough nor brioche dough. This recipe is very fast but – I warn you in advance – the taste of these croissants will be completely different from those that you happen to eat at the café.

What are croissants?

A croissant is a buttery and crumbly pastry dessert that has Austrian origin and is named for its historic crescent shape. They are made of a layered leavened dough.

To prepare those sweet croissants you would need a lot of manual skills and a lot of time, but I propose you a quick alternative with a particular taste. The pastry of these homemade croissants is crisp but soft at the same time, and it is based on white yogurt.  They are also are great for your breakfasts or for your children's snacks.

The croissant dough has numerous layers thanks to the "lamination" of the dough. This means that the croissants need to be rolled over and over again, until many thin layers of dough and butter are created. As you cook them, the butter melts and emits steam. This puffs up each thin layer of dough giving your croissants hundreds of buttery layers.

How to stuff the homemade croissants

To stuff these homemade croissants you can use the hazelnut cream, as indicated in my recipe. However, nothing forbids you to stuff them with various marmalades or jams. The only precaution is to use a very sweet filling as the dough of homemade croissants contains little sugar, so as to balance well the taste and flavor of the final product.

How to make croissants

To prepare these homemade croissant, put the sifted flour, the white granulated sugar, a pinch of salt, the yogurt and the butter cut into small pieces in a planetary mixer or in a bowl, and then switch on the planetary mixer or blend everything with a electric whisk.

Go on until the dough will be transformed in large sticky crumbs, it will take time because the yogurt has to wet the dry ingredients and the butter has to melt (and this will happen with the heat generated by the machine that mixes and kneads everything).

At this point add the egg yolks, switch on again the planetary mixer (or the electric whisk) and amalgamate well everything. In the event that the dough does not become firm and is instead too soft, add a bit of flour, being careful to add a spoon at a time.

Transfer the dough onto a countertop and finish kneading it by hand, then create a smooth and firm ball and place it in a bowl covered with a clean cloth. Transfer everything into the refrigerator and let it rest for about an hour.

Afterwards, take it out of the refrigerator and stretch it out with a rolling pin on the countertop; the puff pastry must have a thickness of a few millimeters. Cut it with a knife into triangles, as you can see in the picture below.

In the center of each triangle put a teaspoon of hazelnut cream. Close the triangle on itself, starting from the widest side, ending with the narrow one.

If you have done the procedure well, you will end up with a croissant with this shape. The you just have to bend the two ends inwards to obtain the typical curved shape of the "croissant". Place them on a baking tray that you will have previously covered with a sheet of baking paper. Heat the oven at 180 degrees and cook them for about 12/15 minutes or until they are quite colored.

Once cooked, let them cool and sprinkle them with plenty confectioner’s sugar. You can preserve homemade croissants for days, just remember to keep them in a closed tin box.

How can I fill the croissants

Slice your croissants in half and spread a thin layer of

• chocolate ganache
• Almond
• Whipped cream
• Gelato

and many more fillings

How to store and freeze homemade croissant

These croissants can be preserved for days if properly stored in a cool, dry and dark place. If you want you can also freeze them, before cooking them (then cook them before eating) and – more simply – when you have already cooked them (then heat them before eating).