Homemade Croissants ( A Beginner's Journey)

Homemade croissants are not for the faint of heart. Check out what I learned to help save you time and stress.

Phew…….so I did it. I made croissants. Not once, but twice.

In one of my last posts, I talked about how nervous I was making these and decided to push forward because the show must go on.

Boy, was I in for an experience. I was stretched like the dough I was rolling.

This is not some full circle moment post where I came out on the other side and realized I had nothing to be intimidated about because it actually wasn’t that hard.

Nope. It was hard.

Hear me out though, after doing it once… I did it again, so maybe there is a lesson relearned in the mix.

I will go with……when a task is hard, that does not mean it is not worth doing. This is nothing new. It has been learned before, but sometimes it is good to have a reminder.

I think this concept is easier to digest when you are getting paid to do a hard task. It is a whole other conversation when it is a hobby (one that I love) that you don’t need to do.

Although challenging, it is really satisfying when I finish a hard recipe that results in something that is delicious.

Even when things go awry and the result is not delicious, I gain a little more knowledge about what not to do next time. If not, at the very least, I get a dash more of resilience.

With that being said, here is what I learned:

The Freezer Is Your Buddy

From what I have heard, you don’t want the butter to melt while you are making the dough for the croissants. The recipe I used had me put the dough in the freezer for a few minutes. When I left the dough a little longer ( a couple more minutes), it gave me more time to play with the dough.

Print Out the Recipe and Make Notes

I reread the recipe multiple times, but somehow mixed up some steps the second time I made the croissants. I will give myself some grace because I was making a bunch of other items for the café party as well.

It would have helped to have a print out of the croissant recipe with notes or highlights.

My second batch of croissants was not bad, but they came out more dense. I wonder if this was attributed to the step I mixed up. It could have been that or the fact that I halved the recipe for the first batch so the dough was thinner and the sizing changed slightly. I am not sure.

Either way, I think it will make it much easier having the recipe printed out next time.

Pre-Cut the Parchment Paper

I did lots of measuring for both batches of croissants. Measuring and cutting out the parchment square for the butter mixture the night before would have helped take some of the load off when I was doing the laminations.

I think a silicone mat that has measurements could have been helpful, too. That way, I didn’t have to pull out the measuring tape.

Will I make croissants again?

Yes. I want to try another recipe and see how they turn out.

There are a plethora of other baked goods I want to try my hand at though, so stay tuned.

Happy Baking!