How to Make Quick Croissant Dough

Croissants are a light, fluffy bread rolled in a crescent shape that many people enjoy eating. You can eat them piping hot with some butter or baked with hot dogs and bacon to make pigs in a blanket. Making croissant dough from scratch can be a somewhat time-consuming process. But if you use the quick method to make this dough, you can soon have freshly baked croissants with little trouble and even less cost.

Things You'll Need

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ¾ cups cold butter
• 1 package dry active yeast
• 1 ¼ cups milk
• ¼ cup white granulated sugar
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• Cooking thermometer
• Electric mixer
• Rolling pin
• Plastic wrap
• Ziplock bag

Instructions

How to Make Quick Croissant Dough

1. Separate 3 cups of flour and put in a bowl. Take the 1 ¾ cups butter out of the refrigerator and add small spoonfuls to the 3 cups of flour. Stir to coat the pieces of butter, and then put the flour mixture in the refrigerator to become cold again.

2. Combine the rest of the flour and the dry yeast in a large bowl together. Put the milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan and attach the thermometer to the pan. Turn on the stove to medium and heat until the temperature reaches 130 degrees F.

3. Pour the milk mixture into the large bowl with the flour and dry active yeast. Crack the egg into the large bowl and mix the dough together with the electric mixer on low speed for about a minute. Turn the mixer to high speed and mix for 3 more minutes.

4. Take the cold flour and butter mixture out of the fridge and add it to the dough. Stir until the butter is almost completely mixed into the dough. Sprinkle a light coating of flour on a hard surface and put the croissant dough on it.

5. Knead the dough gently eight times with floured hands. Using a rolling pin dusted with flour, roll the dough out into a 20-by-12 inch rectangle. Fold the dough crosswise in thirds, and then wrap loosely in plastic wrap. Set in the refrigerator for 1 ½ hours or in the freezer for 30 minutes until firm.

6. Take the wrapped dough out of the refrigerator and set it on a floured surface. Next, roll the dough into a ½-inch thick rectangle. Fold into thirds, turn slightly and roll the dough out again. Fold the dough into thirds one more time.

7. Place the dough into a large ziplock bag and seal it. Put the bag of dough back in the refrigerator for 4 or 5 more hours to chill. Use the croissant dough when ready.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Quick Butter Croissants Recipe