Here’s the best French croissant recipe from the amazing French master pâtissier, Cédric Grolet! In his cookbook Opéra, Cédric—who was named the world’s best pastry chef in 2018—shares his easy-to-follow recipe for French croissants. Whether you’re just starting out in the kitchen or have some experience under your belt, this recipe is perfect for you. If you’re craving more recipes from top French pastry chefs, be sure to check out my article on the best French pastry books of all time.
The croissant, with its golden crescent shape and delicate, flaky layers, is a true symbol of French culture. But did you know this iconic treat actually hails from Austria (Vienna)? The croissant began as the Austrian kipfel and became a French favorite when bakers started making it with puff pastry (pâte feuilletée), which is a French creation. If you order a kipfel in Austria or Germany today, you’ll still get a crescent-shaped pastry, though it’s not quite the same as the French version.
How to Make Delicious French Croissants
Croissants get their name from their classic crescent shape and, like other French viennoiseries, are made from dough that’s layered with butter. This dough is rolled, folded, and rolled again in a process called laminating (tourage in French), which creates that wonderful puff pastry. Here are a few tips to help you make perfect French croissants at home.
1. Start with Quality Ingredients
The secret to making delicious croissants lies in using top-quality ingredients. Butter is the star of this recipe, giving French croissants their rich, mouthwatering flavor. So, be sure to choose high-quality, unsalted French butter.
2. What is Beurre de Tourage, or “Dry Butter”?
Beurre de tourage, also known as dry butter or beurre pâtissier, is a special kind of unsalted butter with 84% butterfat, slightly more than the 82% you’ll find in regular unsalted butter. This butter is a pastry chef’s secret weapon for creating those perfect, flaky layers in croissant dough.
3. How to Make Your Own Beurre de Tourage
If you can’t find beurre de tourage, don’t worry—you can make it at home! For this recipe, you’ll need 400g of butter with 84% butterfat. In France, look for brands like beurre Charentes-Poitou AOP or beurre d’Isigny de Ste Mère. To make it, place the butter in the center of a large piece of parchment paper, fold the paper around it to form a square, then flip it over and use a rolling pin to flatten the butter into a square about 1 cm thick.
The French Croissant Recipe by Cédric Grolet
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1 kg (8 cups) all-purpose flour, preferably a fine pastry flour similar to T45
- 420 g (1 3/4 cups) water
- 50 g (1/4 cup) eggs or 1 large egg
- 45 g (1 1/2 oz) fresh yeast
- 18 g (1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon) salt
- 100 g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
- 20 g (1 tablespoon) honey
- 70 g (5 tablespoons) butter
- 400 g (14 oz) beurre de tourage or dry butter (see notes above)
For the egg wash:
- 55 g (2 oz) egg yolks or 3 egg yolks
- 30 g (2 tablespoons) heavy whipping cream
Instructions
Make the Dough:
- In a mixing bowl fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour, water, eggs, fresh yeast, salt, sugar, and honey.
- Set your mixer to medium-slow speed and mix until the ingredients form a homogeneous paste. Then, increase the speed to medium-high and continue mixing until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Add the beurre pommade (see notes) and knead until the dough comes together. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let the dough rise at room temperature (24 to 25°C / 75 to 77°F) for 1 hour.
- After rising, flatten the dough to release the air, then roll it out into a large rectangle, with the width matching the beurre de tourage and double its length. Place the dough in the freezer for 5 minutes, then transfer it to the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
- Place the beurre de tourage in the middle of the dough. Fold the dough from each side over the butter to cover it completely.
- With the edge of the visible butter facing you, use a rolling pin to make a double fold: roll the dough from bottom to top until it’s about 7 mm thick. Mark the center of the dough, fold the top and bottom edges to the center, then fold the dough in half like a wallet. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
- Finally, make a single fold: roll the dough to a thickness of 1 cm, rolling from bottom to top to form a long rectangle. Fold the top third of the dough over the middle, then fold the bottom third over the top. Immediately roll out the dough to a thickness of 3.5 mm to start cutting and forming the croissants.
Make the Egg Wash:
- In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and cream.
Forming the Croissants:
- Cut the dough into triangles that are 7 cm wide at the base and 35 cm high. Roll each triangle from the base to the tip to form the croissants. Let them rise for 2 hours at 26°C / 77°F.
Finishing and Baking:
- Preheat the oven to 175°C / 350°F.
- Place the croissants on a parchment-lined baking sheet and brush them with a thin layer of egg wash.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until the croissants are nicely golden. Remove the croissants from the oven and let them cool on a rack.
Notes
Am I missing something? I thought you were going to show us How to make beurre de tourage. By that I thought you meant you were going to show us how to convert the 82% butter that we can get here and 84% butter. Was it just the pounding that you were talking about?
Bonjour Frank! Yes, to make beurre de tourage at home, the easiest way is to find a butter that has 84% of butterfat (like the beurre Charentes-Poitou AOP, or beurre d’Isigny de Ste Mère) and form the butter into a butter block as mentioned in the post. I don’t think it’s possible to convert the 82% butter to 84% at home, but let me know if you find a way to do it 🙂
I’ve made several croissant recipes recently and was curious about this one. Unfortunately my perfect looking croissants have expanded in the oven and now look quite sad and melted, Any suggestions why? Thanks!
Bonjour Lauren! Thank you very much for your comment! If your croissants look melted in the oven, it’s probably because the dough is overproofed. When the dough is overproofed, gluten strands become weak, and too much gas is released causing it to collapse. The pâte feuilletée should not be more than double in size before baking. And these resting times should be adapted according to the weather and the room temperature. I hope that’ll help you! xo Leonce
What are the recommended dimensions of the butter block ? It’s hard to go off of the size of the dough, because I create the block before I roll out the dough – which seems logical to keep everything the right temp. Most other recipes I’ve followed have given dimensions for the butter block which would make things much easier, because this makes quite a bit of dough due to the 1 kg of flour!
Bonjour Jena, thank you very much for your comment! The size of your dough should be the same width as the size of the butter block and double the size of the butter block in length. Once you have rolled out the dough adjust the size of the butter block accordingly. Or remove a little bit of dough to make sure your butter block is large enough for the size of the dough. I hope this will help you 🙂
The dough was hard for the electric mixer to knead until smooth. How dry should the dough be? Thanks!
Bonjour Alice, thank you very much for your comment! If the dough is too hard, you can add a tiny bit more water. Make sure you set your mixer to a slow speed or alternatively, knead the dough by hand until smooth. I hope that’ll help! xo
Hi Leonce, just want to ask if the instant dry yeast can be used as a replacement, and what would be the measurement for it? Thank you
Bonjour Carla, thank you very much for your comment! I don’t know if this recipe would work with instant dry yeast instead of fresh yeast. For the measurement here is a very detailed article that explains how to bake with dry, instant, and fresh yeast. I hope this will help! xo
Hello Carla and Leonce! I only have access to instant dry yeast, and successfully made these with approx. 14.85g of it. I generally convert the measurement of fresh yeast in a recipe by multiplying the weight of fresh yeast by 0.33, which has always been successful. The only thing to note is that if your home is cooler than 72 degrees fahrenheit (22 degrees celsius), you will have to wait an extra 15-30 minutes for the rising times. At least that has been my experience 🙂
Thank you very much Fianna for sharing your experience here! This is super helpful 🙂
Bonjour Leonce, thank you for posting this authentic recipe! If I want to work with a smaller portion, can I just take half of all amounts? Thank you
Bonjour Peter, thank you for your question! Yes, I assume this should work 🙂 Enjoy the recipe! xo
Thank you for the recipe, my family loves them.
Thank you very much for your feedback Yessica <3
I tried this recipe (1/4) and it was brilliant using dry yeast and they rose perfectly during baking however once I took them out of the oven and put them on the rack they flattened. What do you think caused that? They tasted brilliant nevertheless
Bonjour Walter! Thank you very much for your comment. If your croissants flattened once you take them out of the oven, it’s probably because the dough is overproofed. When the dough is overproofed, gluten strands become weak, and too much gas is released causing it to collapse. The pâte feuilletée should not be more than double in size before baking. And these resting times should be adapted according to the weather and the room temperature.
Hello. So this is not a three day process Croissant? These can all be done in one day? I see a chocolate croissant pictured above is there a recipe for that? I don’t have fresh yeast just dry yeast. That an issue?
Bonjour Marta! Yes, with this recipe you can do these croissants in one day. There is no recipe for the chocolate croissant pictured above, however, I have a recipe for the pain au chocolat here. Yes, you can make this recipe by using instant dry yeast instead of fresh yeast. I would recommend checking Fianna’s previous comment, she successfully made these with approx. 14.85g of instant dry yeast.
Hi, for the 70g butter, should it also be unsalted like the one for beurre de tourage?
Bonjour Pamela! Yes, it’s 70g of unsalted butter.
Hello, Leonce. Thank you for the recipe. Is it really just 50g of eggs (which is roughly a single egg)? Was just wondering if that was a typo or a recent bug on the website.
Bonjour Alex, thank you very much for your comment! Yes, in this recipe it’s 50g of eggs :))
Hi,
I really want to try out this recipe. Is it possible to prepare the Croissants a day in advance?
Bonjour Charleen, thank you very much for your question. Yes, you can keep the croissant dough in the fridge for up to 2 days 🙂
Grolet’s quantity of 300g yolks for the egg wash is just ridiculous. That’s 20 yolks! I think the book mistakenly failed to scale down the quantities from his professional kitchen. A couple of yolks with a splash of cream would be more than enough.
You’re absolutely right, Pete! I’ve just adapted the recipe accordingly, suggesting 2 or 3 egg yolks with a splash of cream instead, which should be more than sufficient for the egg wash. Thanks for catching that :)!