Croissants & Pain au Chocolat
We’re going to Paris in April—what better way to prepare than try my hand at Croissants?
Every journey begins by emulating people doing what you want to do. I fell in love with Claire Saffitz in 2020, living alone, and trying to find my place in the kitchen. Her expertise in baking and especially in making recipes that are attainable and easily understandable for home bakers inspires me. Not all recipes are made alike and not all are designed for a home kitchen.
Claire has never led me astray and this recipe was no exception. With a little patience and care, you too can have homemade croissants in about two days. This is certainly not a starter recipe, so if you’re a new baker, I would not start here (if you are new, I’d recommend starting with this recipe). I documented my experience and will share tips that I found helpful along the way.
Here’s the recipe:
Temperature of ingredients is essential. I ended up making three batches of this dough. Two turned out fantastic one ended up in the trash.
Milk must be at room temperature. The first batch I made did not rise. I did not set out the milk to come to room temperature in advance and tried to microwave it carefully to bring it to room temperature. Because of this, I believe the yeast was too cold to begin its fermentation process.
Chill your dough in a part of your fridge that is not prone to freezing. I chilled this dough in the top of my fridge, which often is the coldest part of the fridge. I believe this may have continued to stunt the fermentation. The chilled dough was extremely dense and did not have any air bubbles.
Proofing is a precise science. While many bread doughs can proof with little to no need for close monitoring, this is not one.
The initial proof sets the tone for the dough. The first proof is short, only about an hour. One of the batches I made doubled in size with ease and in only about 45 minutes. The other two batches did not proof as quickly. One became trash, and the other that was also proofed for 45 minutes did not fully double in size and did not double again while chilling. Wait your dough out and allow it to double in size before chilling.
Proofing in a cold kitchen. I made these croissants in January in New York City. The only way my dough would proof well was in the oven with the light on. The dough that went in the trash also went into a cold oven that had not been preheated by the light adequately (there were clearly many factors that went into this dough failing). Make sure to turn your oven light on about 20 minutes before proofing—this will warm your oven adequately for proofing.
The final proof of the shaped croissants. This proof takes a lot of attention and care. If you do not have an in-oven thermometer, I highly recommend getting one. The recipe notes that the oven needs to be between 70 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit—this is crucial. If the oven is too cool, the croissants will not rise and reach the desired texture. If the oven is too hot, the butter will melt. I recommend using your oven light to sustain an adequate temperature. My oven does not have a fantastic seal, so the temperature quickly dropped too low to allow the croissants to rise. Also, make sure to rotate the baking sheets between the two racks halfway through the proof as the tray closest to the light will proof quicker than the one on the lower rack.
Bench scrapers work cleaner than long knives for cutting the dough. When trimming the dough and cutting it into strips, if you do not have a wheel cutter, a bench scraper works far better. I used a long knife to cut the dough for my first batch of croissants, and the cuts were much harder to make precise and frayed slightly. Using a bench scraper yielded far cleaner precise cuts.
The chocolate. I did not purchase sticks of chocolate designs specifically for pain au chocolat, but I will next time. I used a store-bought chocolate bar that was difficult to manage. Trying to cut the chocolate into solid thin bars proved nearly impossible. The chocolate broke almost every time I tried to cut it. If you don’t want to buy chocolate made for this, I recommend melting the chocolate and piping the chocolate into the dimensions you want.
If you follow these tips and the recipe carefully, you’ll have great success with them. My husband and I LOVED these croissants and pain au chocolate. They were perfectly buttery and delicious—my husband even found them tastier the next day!
