now, for my first attempt at proper puff pastry, maybe this recipe was a bit ambitious. however, even for a beginner who was mildly stressed throughout the hours this recipe took, the final croissants were 100% worth it.

the recipe for these croissants comes from claire saffitz’s recent recipe book dessert person. sadly she has yet to feature this recipe on her new youtube channel, but before tackling the bake I did as much homework as possible, reading through the recipe multiple times and watching recipe reviews on youtube. without realising, i ended up attempting the recipe claire herself rated highest for difficulty and time, so i’m definitely glad i took the time for this mental preparation in advance.

i would only recommend this recipe if time is not a constraint, as it is quite an involved recipe that realistically needs many hours of care. i started mixing the dough at around 5pm on friday evening, and they didn’t come out of the oven until 11:45 on saturday morning. it is essential to take the time over this recipe, as the dough needs multiple chillings in the fridge to stay nice and cold and ensure that the butter doesn’t melt into the dough.

having said that, my attempt was by no means perfect and still resulted in the butteriest, tastiest croissants that, when fresh 0ut the oven, make for the perfect brunch alongside some hot coffee.

the bake

the night before eating, i proved the yeast in some warm water, before adding the bread flour, spelt flour, melted unsalted butter, sugar and salt. the method advises mixing with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms, before switching to your hands - i followed this guidance, but next time may just use my hands to mix the dough. the dough then takes 8-10 minutes of kneading by hand on the kitchen surface, kneading until a soft and smooth dough forms. i’ve not made a dough that is kneaded properly in ages, so it was really lovely to work the dough in time with some french tunes i had playing in the background. after kneading, the dough sits dusted in flour and covered at room temperature for an hour and a half or until doubled in size.

photos left to right: ingredients before mixing; shaggy dough before kneading; dough ball before proving; proved dough (plus prosecco!)

whilst the dough was proving, the next step was to create the butter block, which if you need to let off some steam is the perfect activity - the butter is placed between two sheets of parchment paper, then bashed with a rolling pin until it forms one large block of butter. this is then quickly placed back in the fridge to stay cold. after proving, the dough is knocked back to release some air, then flattened into a square on a baking sheet before being put in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up and chill.

*photo: butter block on top of chilled dough before enclosing*

the next step is where things can get a little confusing, as you need to enclose the butter block in pastry and then perform three turns, with the dough chilled for around 45 minutes between each turn. the dough is formed into an 8-9 inch square, and the butter block placed on a diagonal on top of the dough (see photo), before folding up the dough around the butter and crimping it shut to form a tight seal. the dough is then rolled out to a long rectangle, and folded like how you fold a letter by three - the first fold! this dough is then wrapped in cling film and placed in the fridge to rest. given the long resting time (and the fact i was drinking some prosecco), i made sure to keep a tally of the turns to make sure i had done the right number before leaving to chill overnight for 8-12 hours.

photos left to right: triangles ready to be rolled; shaped croissants before proving; croissants proving; proved croissants ready to bake

the next morning comes the fun part of the recipe - shaping the croissants (see above). the dough is rolled out to a huge rectangle, and cut into long isosceles triangles, before being stretched slightly at the wide end and rolled up. the croissants are then left resting on the tip of the triangle to hold the shape, and covered in cling film to prove at room temperature. the method of the original recipe asks that the croissants are misted with a spray bottle to ensure they don’t dry out, but unfortunately i don’t have a spray bottle, so just flicked some water onto the baking paper around the croissants. after 3-4 hours of proving, the croissants are covered in egg wash and baked until flaky and a deep golden brown.

the recipe advises letting the croissants cool completely before eating, but i was way too greedy to wait and had to tuck in whilst still warm. the croissants were so buttery and delicious, and perfect topped with some raspberry jam. because there was so much butter in the original recipe, i did not feel the need to top with any spread as well, although there is no judgement here if you want to smother them in butter.

when warm, it was hard to see the layers in the croissant, and i was a little disappointed that the lamination was not more clear in the final bake. however, when cold the croissants are much easier to cut without crushing slightly, and the layers were much more visible. i would still have liked the layers to be more prominent, and this would come with having a much cooler kitchen - i was doing the rolling out and folding whilst my flatmates were cooking and the warmth from the oven meant that the butter started to melt into the dough and lose the definition. despite this, the croissants were still the tastiest and even a day after being baked the leftovers do not feel stale.

if you fancy giving this recipe a go yourself, you can find Claire saffitz’s book dessert person here.

when you’re making these croissants, why not listen to the playlist below, full of some baking bangers to mix, knead, fold, prove, chill and cook along to:

spelt croissants

white saturday loaf with spelt flour

ligurian focaccia