Sourdough Croissants

This months Bread Baking Day is about the breakfast bread and is being hosted by Melissa at Baking a Sweet Life. My entry into this lovely baking event is the croissant. I made a sourdough version and added almond paste to half the batch. Croissants had always frightened me just a little; it seemed to me like there were so many things that could go wrong in making them. But they’re really pretty easy, they just take some time and attentiveness.


When making croissants there is the dough and then there is the butter. You need a sweet dough and a lot of cold butter. The steps themselves are fairly simple. Make the dough, fold in the butter, fold several more times and shape, retarding between each step. This makes about 20 pastries, give or take, depending on how you shape and what size you make each one. You’ll most likely need two baking sheets.


Try to do this in a cool kitchen as the dough and the butter within need to stay firm while you’re working with it. If, as you’re rolling and such it seems to be getting warm or soft just stick it in the freezer for a few minutes and then continue. If you happen to have a marble slab, use it as your work surface, it’ll help out greatly in keeping the dough cold. Another thing you can do for more insurance is keep an ice pack handy and before you work the dough hold it for a minute to make your hands cold.

Sourdough Croissants

The Dough
300 grams (1¼ cups) milk at about 105 degrees
100 grams (½ cup) ripe starter at 130% hydration
1 tsp instant yeast
500 grams (3¼ cups) all purpose flour
60 grams (4 Tbs) unsalted butter, softened
15 grams (1 Tbs) sugar
10 grams (1½ tsp) salt
200 grams (14 Tbs) unsalted butter, chilled

Egg Wash
One egg
1 Tbs milk
1 tsp sugar

Mix all the dough ingredients except for the chilled butter and knead for about four minutes. This dough is really easy and pleasant to knead.

Retard the dough in an oiled bowl for 1 to 2 hours.

While the dough is chilling form the butter block. Place all of the chilled butter together on a piece of parchment and pound with a rolling pin until it forms a single mass. Place more parchment on top of the butter and roll it out to a 5x5 square. It should be about a half an inch thick. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate along with the dough.

Remove the dough and the butter block from the refrigerator and on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a 6x10 rectangle.

Place the butter block on the right half of the dough and fold it over to cover the butter.

Pinch the edges shut tightly.

Roll this into a 10x14 rectangle about a half an inch thick.

Fold the dough into thirds.

Turn the now folded dough over, cover with plastic and refrigerate for 1 to 3 hours.

Take the dough out of the fridge and repeat the whole rolling and folding process. Roll what you’ve got into a 10x14 rectangle and fold into thirds again. Now you’ll roll it out to a 10x14 rectangle again immediately. Fold into thirds once more. Flip over, cover with plastic and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours.

Take the dough out of the fridge and on a lightly floured counter roll it into a 14x24 rectangle. It should be about ¼ inch thick. Using a dough cutter, cut in half lengthwise. Then cut each strip into either rectangles or squares. If you are rolling them into croissants do rectangles. If you are making filled pastry squares go with squares. Put half the pieces in the freezer while you shape the first half. To shape the croissants cut the rectangles in half cross wise to make acute right triangles, start at the short edge of the thing and roll it towards the acute point. Curl and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. To make filled squares, take a small ball of almond paste (recipe below) or other filling, form it into a disk and place it in the middle of the dough square. Bring each corner to meet in the center of the filling disk and press firmly in the middle. Place on baking sheet. Take the remaining dough out of the freezer and shape.

Let the shaped dough proof, uncovered and at room temperature for about an hour, until light and puffy. Brush with the egg wash. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking. They’ll be a shiny deep brown when done.

Almond Paste
2 cups almonds, blanched and removed from skins
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup powdered sugar
zest of one citrus fruit
one egg white

Process the naked nuts in a food processor until fine. Add the sugars and zest and process again. Add the egg white and process again until it is a thick cohesive mass. Refrigerate until use.