Homemade Croissant

My kids love croissant. French croissant is very buttery and flaky. I love them too. However, the good ones will cost me several bucks per croissant if I buy it from a French bakery in the U.S. Last year, I decided to make them myself. I tried many recipes. This one is not as complicated and it tastes good. Warning - it is tasty but it doesn't taste like the ones from the bakery.

Kitchenware you will need:

1. Baking pan
2. Parchment sheet
3. Plastic wrap
4. Rolling pin

Ingredients you will need:

1. Bread flour 300 g
2. Sugar 30 g
3. Salt 4 g
4. Dry active yeast 7 g
5. Egg (beaten) 1
6. Milk (warm) 150 ml
7. Butter (chop into small cubic pieces) 30 g
8. Butter for filling 1 stick or 115 g

Step 1: Add ingredients #1 to #7 into a bowl. Put #8 (a stick of butter) between two plastic wrap. 
Tip: Put sugar and yeast side by side and add milk (pour it on sugar side). Then, add bread flour, salt, egg and butter.

Step 2: Mix the ingredients in the bowl by hand (about few minutes). Cover the bowl and rest it to rise.
Tip: Don't over knead otherwise it will be a normal bread.

Step 3: Once the butter stick (ingredient #8) is at room temperature, push it down by hand to make it flat. Then use a rolling pin to roll it evenly. Make it about 20 cm by 20 cm butter sheet and put it back into the fridge.

Step 4: Wait for the dough to rise double in volume.

Step 5: Punch the dough to release the gas from above and roll it into a rectangle that can wrap the butter sheet. Then, roll the dough into a rectangle with thickness about 2 mm.
Tip: You may want to sprinkle a bit flour on the surface for easy rolling.

Step 6: Fold into 3 and let it rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Step 7: Take it out from the fridge and roll it into a rectangle of thickness 2 mm again. Then, fold into 3 again and let it rest in the fridge for overnight.

::NEXT DAY::

Step 8: Take it out from the fridge and repeat Step 7 (rest for 30 min). I usually do this once or twice but it is optional. 

Step 9: Finally, take it out from the fridge and roll it into about 40 cm by 20 cm rectangle with thickness about 5 mm. Cut it into 8 right triangles like below.
Tip: I make a separate croissant with danish shape from these edges.

Step 10: Cut a slit in each triangle and roll it from the bottom to the top.

Step 11: Make sure to face the tip of the triangle on the bottom. Let it rise double in volume.

Step 12: Preheat the oven to 190 Celsius (375 F). Bake it for 20 minutes. You can also apply egg wash. I usually skip.

In the morning, my kids usually ask us to make croissant with ham and cheese (Croque). Bon appetit!