These are a real labour of love. It’s about patience, giving the dough time to rest before the next step. We’ll admit that even ours weren’t perfect, but they did spark immense joy!

Makes 12-16

Ingredients

For the croissant dough

• 10g (1 sachet) yeast
• 1-1½ cups (250-375ml) milk, room temperature
• ½ cup (125ml) water, room temperature
• ¼ cup (55g) sugar
• 50g butter, melted and cooled
• 10g salt
• 500g (3⅓ cups) flour

For the butter block

• 300g butter, room temperature
• 1 egg yolk, whisked
• 2 Tbsp milk

1. Preparation the day before: Add yeast, 1 cup milk, water and sugar to a jug and stir well to combine. Set aside for 10 minutes until bubbles appear on top. Mix in butter.
2. Sieve salt and flour into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add milk mixture and mix on medium-low until a dough begins to form.
3. Increase speed to medium and mix for 10 minutes. If the dough looks too dry from the start, add another ¼-½ cup of milk.
4. After 10 minutes, the dough should be smooth and tacky, pulling away from the sides of the bowl. (If it sticks to the bowl too much, add 1 Tbsp flour at a time and mix until it pulls away.)
5. Lightly grease and line a 24x35cm baking tray.
6. Press the dough evenly it into the tray. Cover entire tray with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out. Refrigerate overnight or for 8 hours.
7. For the butter block, cut two 30cm squares of baking paper.
8. Shape soft butter into a 20cm square on one piece of paper, about ½cm thick. Place the second sheet of baking paper on top and press along each side of the butter to create straight edges. Refrigerate along with the dough.
9. Making the pastry: Lightly dust a work surface with flour. Remove dough from the fridge and rollout into a 40x25cm rectangle.
10. Peel the baking paper off the butter block and place it on the bottom half of the dough.
11. Fold the top half of the dough over butter block. Pinch and fold the dough underneath all along the sides to make sure the butter is sealed inside, pushing out any air before pinching. Wrap the dough tightly with cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
12. Remove dough from the fridge and leave out for 15 minutes or until slightly warmed up. (If it is too cold, the butter will break when rolling. Don’t let it get to room temperature or it will melt.)
13. With the pinched side facing you, roll the dough out into a 40cmx20cm rectangle using a rolling pin.
14. For the first fold: Place the long side of the rectangle facing you and measure where the centre of the pastry is, making a small mark. Fold the left and the right sides of the pastry to the centre so the two edges now touch each other. Now fold the right side over and onto the left side to create four folds or layers. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
15. Remove dough, leave out for 15 minutes and then gently roll out to a 40x20cm rectangle.
16. For the second fold: With the long side of the rectangle facing you, fold the left side over halfway, then fold the right side completely over the left side to create three folds or layers. Cover and refrigerate for another 30 minutes.
17. Remove dough and rest it on the work surface for 15 minutes. Roll dough to 20cm long, cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
18. Remove and roll out to a total size of 55x20cm. Trim the edges to make clean, straight lines.
19. Shaping the pastry: With the long side of the rectangle facing you, measure 9cm along the left top side (this will form the base of the triangle). Use a ruler to score a diagonal line from right to left. Then score a straight line from left to right, creating two triangles.
20. Repeat the scoring process with the remaining dough to create 16 triangles. Using a very sharp knife, cut out the triangles.
21. Cut a 1cm line in the middle of each triangle’s shortest side.
22. Place a triangle with the short side facing you. Pull the corners of the triangle base away from each other, then roll upward to create a croissant.
23. Place the croissants on two lined baking trays, placing tips tucked underneath themselves to weigh down.
24. Proof and bake: Place trays in a warm area to proof for 1-1½ hours, or until well puffed and bouncy to the touch.
25. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
26. Whisk together the egg yolk and milk. Lightly brush croissants all over with egg mixture.
27. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until evenly golden and crisp. (They will feel light for their size when baked through.) Cool.
28. Enjoy croissants fresh on the same day.

Cook’s Note

Freeze shaped croissants (prepared up to step 19) in an airtight container. Remove from the freezer and proof for 2 hours, then bake as indicated until golden.

Use this step-by-step picture guide to see how pastry is made

Recipes & Styling: Sjaan Van Der Ploeg
Photographs: Zhann Solomons
Text Courtesy of: My Kitchen magazine