How to Make Bouchon Bakery’s Croissants

If you have been to France, it’s hard not to have a love affair with Croissants. Croissants and all breads are taken quite seriously there, and I don’t blame them at all. Few things are as enjoyable to eat than a fresh croissant, so I am really looking forward to this recipe.

I am currently writing this as the dough is resting mid recipe, and I have already read the recipe what feels like a zillion times. However, there are many moves throughout this process that are a little weird the first time, and you want to be sure you are doing it correctly. Little things like having the butter and the dough at the same temperature is extremely important so they meld together evenly (but not incorporating), freezing the dough in between turns (we’ll get there later), and doing the turns properly.

Croissants have some similar steps to the baguette, so I feel much more prepared even though I have only baked a handful of times. The key to success I can already see, even though it sounds easy, is to read each step very thoroughly, and if you are confused by the turns or any other part of the recipe, feel free to drop a comment so I can help out.

After about 10 minutes in the oven, your house starts to smell like heaven from the croissant. When done properly, these are absolutely insane. Not all of mine turned out perfectly, but being this is the first time I am making croissant, I thought it was great.

Let’s take a look at the ingredients, and what exactly goes into the process, then go into planning your bake.

Cookbook – Bouchon Bakery

Ingredients –

Poolish –

• All purpose flour – 100 grams
• Instant yeast – .1 grams – just a pinch
• Water – 100 grams – at 75 degrees
• Unsalted Butter – 330 grams

Dough –

• All purpose flour – 500 grams
• Granulated sugar – 75 grams
• Instant Yeast – 10 grams
• Diastatic Malt Powder – 3 grams
• Water – 200 grams – at 75 degrees
• Unsalted butter (room temperature) – 100 grams – 3.5 oz
• Salt – 15 grams

For the croissants –

• Egg wash – Crack an egg into a bowl, beat together well. Pour the egg into a strainer into another bowl, the mixture will be most of the yolk

Tools –

• Stand mixer
• Rolling pin
• Multiple baking pans

Step 1 – Plan your bake

Yeah so unfortunately these take quite a bit of time and patience, and even require some pre work ahead of time. Here is a rough time line of making a croissant.

• Night before – Make the poolish and the butter block
• Weigh and combine ingredients for dough – mix for 20 minutes
• Let sit for 1 hour
• Form into rectangle, freeze for 20 minutes
• Butter block lock in, turn 1 – then freeze for 20 minutes
• Turn 2 – then freeze for 20 minutes
• Turn 3 – then freeze for 20 minutes
• Cut in half, first piece is ready, transfer other to refrigerator
• Cut and roll croissants
• Proof – 2 hours
• Bake – ~40 minutes

I wanted to lay out what this bake is going to look like on the grand scale.

Step 2 – Make the Poolish and Butter Block

The night before, make the poolish. The poolish is a pre-ferment mixture of flour, water, yeast to help the bread develop spectacular flavor. Also known as a starter.

The night before, combine the flour and yeast lightly, then add the water and mix until thoroughly combined. Should be the consistency of pancake batter. Let sit for 12-15 hours before us, cover with plastic wrap at room temperature.

For the butter block, ideally you have European butter that comes in a single block, but if you do not like me, then you will have to pound and combine slightly less than three sticks together. Put a piece of parchment paper on a work surface, but the butter in the center. Top with another piece of parchment paper, and start to roll the butter with a rolling pin. Roll until the block is about 6 3/4 inches by 7 1/2 inches.

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Step 3 – Mix the Dough and Shape

The next morning/day, time to make the dough. As mentioned, this takes a good amount of the day, so ideally you start earlier rather than later.

Grab a large bowl, spray with non stick spray, set aside.

In a stand mixer bowl, combine the flour, sugar, yeast, malt powder in a bowl on low speed with the dough hook. Pour about half of the water around the edges of the poolish to help release it, then add the poolish, along with the rest of the water to the mixer bowl. Add the butter and mix on low speed for 2 minutes, scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure the flour has been incorporated. Sprinkle the salt and mix for another 2 minutes, then mix on low for another 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, bring the dough to a work surface. Before we let it sit for one hour to ferment, we need to stretch it. Assuming your dough resembeles a ball, briefly think of it a square. From the bottom of the dough, we need to stretch the left side out, and then fold it back on top. Continue that for the right side, top side, and bottom side. Place in the prepared bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Uncover the dough and place onto a lightly floured work surface, disturbing as little as possible. Pat the dough down into a rectangle, about 10 by 7 1/2 inches. Press out gas from any large bubbles that can be seen. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 20 minutes.

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Step 4 – Encase the Butter Block

I always hear people talk about how much butter is in a croissant, but never really understood because I had never personally made them before. I think I get it now.

Take the dough and butter out of the fridge/freezer.

Lightly flour a work surface and a heavy rolling pin. Lay down the dough, and start to roll out from the middle into a large rectangle, adding flour only to prevent the dough from sticking. Roll until you have about a 16 by 7 1/2 rectangle.

All of these measurements actually matter btw.

Lay down the butter block across the center of the dough, stretch and fold over the two sides so they meet on the center of the top. Pinch together and seal.

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Step 5 – Turns 1, 2, and 3

WTF is a croissant turn? This is where we start to expand the block with the dough, while folding it all together to create the magical layers that we love in croissants. We want to work fairly fast, as we want to make sure the butter and dough are chilled to the same consistency so that the layers of dough and butter will remain distinct. In this recipe, this is why we freeze the dough in between turns, to make sure it is thoroughly chilled. After the first turn, the butter should no longer be visible.

Press firmly on the seam with the rolling pin to make sure it is sealed, with the short end facing you, roll to expand the length of the dough until you have a rectangle of about 22 by 9 inches.

Next we are going to do what is called a letter fold. Fold the top third of the dough to eventually cover the bottom third of the dough. Turn the dough back so it resembles a book. Congrats you just did your first croissant turn! Not that bad!

Place the dough in the freezer, you will repeat this step 2 more times by rolling out the rectangle, doing the letter fold, and placing back in the freezer.

Be sure not to be pressing too hard on the butter, as that can cause it to shatter into pieces which is kind what happened with some of my dough.

Also keep in mind that the end goal is not to incorporate the butter into the dough. If this happens, the end result would be a bread, not a layered croissant. The reason for the turns is to create all of the layers, while keeping the dough and butter at the same consistency.

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Step 6 – Finishing the dough

After the third turn, place the dough in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper, and lightly dust a work surface with flour. Place the dough on the surface, roll the dough outward from the center, adding flour only as needed so the dough does not stick. Roll out to 24 by 9 inches, then cut the dough in half, making two rectangles, place both on the pan and freeze for another 20 minutes.

Step 7 – Making the Croissants

Spray two sheet pans with non stick spray. Lightly flour and work surface, remove the dough from the freezer and position with the short side towards you. Place the other piece of dough into the refrigerator. Roll out to a rectangle of about 19 by 9 inches. Trim the sides to make them as square as possible.

Starting at the left side, measure 3 3/4 inches on the bottom edge, then cut from that point to the top left corner. Then working from the top, measure 3 3/4 inches, then cut from that point to the bottom left corner. Repeat this process.

Pick up a triangle, and lightly stretch out with your hand, about 12 inches. Place the dough on a work surface and lay flat. Working from the larger side, fold in the corners, then start to roll up the croissant dough. Place on the prepared sheet with the tail down (if the tail is not down, you run the risk of it becoming unraveled during the proofing). Repeat with the remaining dough.

Brush the dough with the egg wash, let proof for 2 hours before baking. Position the racks in the oven for the top and bottom thirds, pre heat to 350 F. After proofing, brush the croissants again with the egg wash, bake for 25-30 in a convection over, and 35-40 in a regular oven. A convection oven will give the croissant a better rise (I don’t have one, so no excuses). Rotate the pans from top to bottom half way through the bake. Bake until they are a rich golden brown, and no portions look undercooked, especially in between the layers. Let cool completely.

And omg. the freshest croissant you are ever going to eat. The end result is insane, please give this a try once.

My bake was not perfect, but the result was still amazing, and I can’t wait to try again. I learned so much from this first time, I have much more confidence is trying the second time.

This was a complex recipe, so let me know if you have any questions!

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And for the reviews –

• Difficulty of ingredients to find – 3/5 stars – a normal trip to the store should do
• Perceived difficulty going into the recipe – 5/5 stars – it’s a long recipe
• Difficulty after recipe – 4.75/5 stars – The next time I make them, it will definitely be easy. Similar to bread, they are not going to be perfect the first time you make them.
• Time taken – 5/5 stars – it’s an overnight plus a long next day, less over 4 hours
• Taste – 5/5 stars – your house smells insane after about 10 minutes of baking. Tastes even more amazing.
• Make again? 5/5 stars – OH yes. Simply amazing.