This three-day version of my Classic French Croissant is the real deal! There are no shortcuts, but you will achieve the closest thing to real French Bakery Croissants (if not the same). The three days necessary for the process offers the proper time for the dough to develop, relax and build a rich complexity in taste and texture. A great weekend project, worth every effort and minute!
In comparison to my One-day or Two-day Classic French Croissants recipe, these will have the flakiest outside, most aerated crumb and have the most subtle yet complex buttery taste.
Sparing three days on a recipe can seem intimidating or even overwhelming, but this recipe only truly requires 2 to 2 hours ½ of your active time (depending on how comfortable you are with the technique). After completing this recipe once, you will be much more at ease with the process and can more naturally fit this recipe within your weekend schedule.
Before you start this recipe, make sure to read this post: Classic French Croissants 101 Guide, where I am covering all the essentials you need to know before making croissants for the first time (choice of ingredients, yeast, poolish, laminating, proofing, etc…).
Summary of the timeline:
(ie. Start Friday evening, and get freshly-baked croissants for Sunday morning)
Day 1: In the Evening (30 minutes active time, total)
Make the poolish and dough. Refrigerate until Day 2.
Day 2: Late Afternoon/ Evening (2 hours 30 minutes total, inc. 1 hour 30 minutes of chill time)
Laminate the dough and shape the croissants. Refrigerate until Day 3.
Day 3: Morning (1 hour of proofing and 17 minutes of baking)
Proofing and baking of the croissants
Total: 4 hours, over 3 days
The equipment
- Stand Mixer (optional – easier for kneading the dough; but this can be done by hand too)
- Large working surface (ideally, cold marble top)
- Rolling pin
- Ruler or measuring tape (cm or inch)
- Pizza cutter
- Pastry Brush
- Two baking sheets; parchment paper
- Plastic film
- 8×8-inch (20.3×20.3cm) or 9×9-inch (22.9×22.9cm) square pan
- 2 large air-tight containers (able to contain 6 croissants each).
Important note: Making Classic French Croissants is an intermediate to advanced level recipe. It took me several years to get a hang of “laminating” and “proofing”, having several failures along the way. I can’t promise your very first batch of croissants will be a success (mine definitely weren’t). But if you persevere, you will succeed!
Take the butter out of the fridge and place it in the middle of the square at a 45 degree angle. 
Fold a corner side of the dough over the butter, with the tip of the corner in the middle of the butter (corner side should be triangle-shaped, since the butter is 45 degree diagonal). 
Repeat with the other other corner sides of the dough, so they all overlap in the center and the butter is totally encased within the dough.
Once the dough has reached its intended rectangular size (8x24-inches/20.3cmx61cm rectangle), fold it like a letter lenghtwise (one side on top of the other). Wrap in plastic film and chill for 30 minutes.
Use the pizza cutter and a ruler (or straight object) to make diagonal cuts (joining the top and bottom small cut marks), to create triangular cuts along the length of the dough. Discard of the two end pieces.
Once all rolled up, press gently onto the pointy end to seal the croissant.
Take both ends of the rolled up croissants and slightly bend them to create a crescent shape. 
If you try this Three Day Classic French Croissants recipe, let me know! Leave a comment or share a photo on Instagram tagging @pardonyourfrench or using #pardonyourfrench.
163 comments
I would love to try to make the three day version but it’s only cool here a couple of weeks per year so it would be best to wait till then I think. Someone has been very lucky getting to help eat all your samples of 1,2 & 3 day croissants! 🙂
Haha yes! We ate a lot of croissants these past few days … You definitely want to make croissants on days that are cooler, or your dough will be hard to work with, and the proofing will be tricky!
Hi Audrey,
I just made this recipe for the second time with much better results, but I am interested in a slower poolish. I am making baguettes this morning and I started the poolish yesterday with 1/2 cup cool water 1 cup flour and 1/16 teaspoon (pinch) of active dry yeast. I really liked the texture and mixability of this poolish. My question is, this proportion of water and flour is essentially the same as your recipe. Could I do the same with a smaller amount of Instant yeast, incorporating the rest in the dry ingredients when the croissant dough is actually mixed? My idea is Day 1 poolish, morning of Day 2 mix dough and make butter book, Day two evening laminate the dough, Day 3 final rollout, form croissants, raise, and bake. So if Instant yeast will work for a slow poolish, what amount of that yeast would you recommend? I know I must be one of your crazier followers. Thank you for listening to me. I am anxious to hear what you have to say.
Hi Sue, thank you for your question! I always love to see my readers putting their own twists on my recipes. Because I never changed the amount of yeast and fermenting time of the poolish for this recipe, I did some research to try and give you an answer (but keep in mind I have never done those tweaks before). You can prepare your poolish up to 8 hours but also up to 16 hours in advance, but need to adjust the amount of yeast: the longer the fermenting time, the less yeast you need. I recommend you take a look at this article: https://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/more-artisan-bread-baking-tips-poolish-biga/ . It gives you indications on how to calculate the amount of yeast according to the fermentation time. I hope this helps!
Thank you for the incredible link on poolish. I have to tell you that my family loves the croissants made with your recipe! This is recipe 4 for me and so glad I kept looking, and now I need to look no further.
Amazing, thanks for your feedback!
The delayed poolish worked great. I continued to follow your ingredient amounts, possibly a bit less yeast with the flour. I have made croissants quite a few times over the last two years and I believe the absolute trickiest part of the whole process is having the buerrage the right temperature when it is laminated with the dough. I didn’t quite nail this part on this batch of croissants…my dough too warm and my butter not quite pliable enough, but I persisted. This was the first time I formed the croissants on day two, and boy do I like it. It was so nice the next morning to just place the croissants on baking sheets, give them their first coat of egg wash, proof, egg wash and bake. Some of the croissants were amazing, others that were from a section of dough that didn’t have as many layers because of my initial butter difficulty were a little less so…though still delicious. Overall, it was a win, but I am still working on perfection with your recipe.
Great Sue! Your perseverance is paying off 🙂
Finally, perfection! What I have learned about delaying the poolish. There is no advantage that I can see for delaying it for 8 hours, but I do like to see it more developed so your proportions of water and flour and 1/2 tsp instant yeast. I put that together in early afternoon and when it’s ready I make my dough. This time I mixed the dough by hand, and I tried for the second time a different laminating technique. Although the butter is a little trickier to work with, for me it is worth the trouble. I roll the dough to 24 X 8 and the butter layer 16 X 8. I line one end of the butter to the every end of the dough and the 8” sides should be even with the sides of the dough. First you fold the dough that has no butter over the butter. Seal the edges to encase the butter. Then fold up dough and butter over the folded dough. Seal everything. That was the first roll out and it makes layerS of dough/ butter/ dough/ butter/ dough. The butter layers are thin. I then refrigerated for 15 minutes and completed the second roll out and fold…then third. I wrapped over night and formed, proofed and baked this morning. Amazing…I ate the runt…the small end and peeled away layer after layer. Delicious and perfect.
Success! Congrats! Very happy to see your perseverance paid off – and thanks so much for sharing your tips and tricks. Folding the butter is one of the trickiest step, so I am sure this will help a lot other readers! 🙂
i have my dough made in the fridge! 🙂 i doubt i will get a response before i get to work tomorrow BUT its worth a shot… can the 30 minutes intervals between folding be extended to an hour or two hours?
Hi Laura! The 30 minute intervals are for the butter to harden a bit between each roll/fold (so it doesn’t squeeze out of the dough if too soft). You can definitely extend this period to 1 hour – but if you wait more (ie.2hr), your dough and butter may be too cold and hard to work with.
Thank you for the quick response. I decided to roll and fold at 30 minute intervals just in case. I wanted these to turn out perfect so badly but I also know that it takes practice to get something like this right. We baked these off this morning and they were delicious. However, something happened in the layering process that left the croissants with more of a dinner roll texture on the inside than beautiful layers. My guess is that I rolled them out too hard and broke the butter. Any advise before I make the next batch?
Hi Laura, and congrats on your first batch of croissants, I am glad you enjoyed them. It also took me a lot of practice before achieving this recipe successfully. By the sound of it, it does seem like your rolled the dough too much, or your butter wasn’t cold enough (so it “fused” with the dough – and this when you loose the layers). I know it can be very tempting to roll out the dough a little too much… Proofing is also key to achieve the layers – if you live in a place where days are getting warmer, make sure you have your croissants are proofing in a space that is cool enough. Hope this helps!
So very helpful! thank you!
My pleasure, glad you like it.
Hi! I’m trying your recipe for the first time and so far so good (I already finished day 2) but my question was whether or not to put the croissants back in the fridge after the proofing (but before adding the second egg wash coat) to cool the butter. I read and watched many videos where people do this so that the butter doesn’t melt as fast in the oven. Do you think it could be possible?
Hello Lourdes, and sorry for the late response (time difference in Europe). You can absolutely do this if you think it’s necessary. I don’t usually do it in a temperature controlled home, but if it’s warm or the croissants seem a tad warm, you can absoutely pop them in the freezer for a couple of minutes or the fridge a bit longer.
Good luck!
I’m planning on makeing these this weekend, I’m so excited!! But in the meantime I’m just curious, how different would the process be with added seeds (poppy, linseed) or a small amount (10%) whole wheat?
Hi Judit. I don’t know about adding whole wheat (I have never done it before), I think it might affect the flakiness/airiness of the croissants, maybe? But it looks like it could work (look at David lebovitz’s recipe for whole wheat croissants: https://www.davidlebovitz.com/whole-wheat-croissants-croissant-recipe/). Let me know if you try, I’ll be curious to know 🙂 As for the seeds, I would sprinkle them on top of the croissants, right before baking (after the egg wash). I hope this helps 🙂
Thank you for your reply. I have decided to use plain flour for the first time and it proved to be a good decision. I’m on day 2, and just done shaping the croissants, but I’m really disheartened. Druing the last folding already saw that the outer layer of the dough is breaking and the butter is coming to the surface, so when i got to the shaping on one side of the dough the first layer just “melted away” the butter came out and the second layer and the first layer were visible at the same time. I made photoes and it’s a pity and post them in the comment, but I guess you have an idea what had happened. What dou you think could have been the problem? I hafeld the recipe and only made 6 pieces but I converted the cm-s and I’m certain it wasn’t a problem of over-streatching the dought. Maybe it wasn’t an even thicknes? When I shaped the croissants i saw the layers and that was really ecouraging, but still, the outer apperarance is gruesome:)
Hi Judit. Seeing the layers when shaping the croissants is a great sign! Regarding the butter coming to the surface, my suggestions would be: don’t overwork the dough and be careful while rolling (I recommend to roll lengthwise to lengthen the dough instead of widening it); make sure the butter is cold at all time and if a step (rolling/folding) takes you more than a few minutes, you can put the dough back in the fridge for 30 minutes (or freezer for 10 minutes) before the next step, to ensure your dough and butter never get too warm. I hope this helps! 🙂
Will the proofed croissants keep for a fourth day? For example if I start Thursday evening and bake half Saturday morning and the other half on Sunday?
Thank you for your question Lorena. Unfortunately, if you wait to long before baking the croissants, this will result in over-proving and the croissants will likely collapsed when baking. A perfect and timely proofing is essential for successful croissants. The proofing is done when the layers are nice and visible, and the croissants have expanded, and you can’t wait too long after that before baking. This is why I wouldn’t recommend waiting until a fourth day. I hope this helps!
I just returned from a trip to France and am excited to try your recipe. I’m wondering if it’s possible to add a day to the 3-day recipe. Would there be a problem leaving the cut/formed croissants in the fridge an extra day before proofing and baking?
Hi Drew, I hope you enjoyed France! Lorena (previous comment on this post) had the same question, here is my response: unfortunately, if you wait to long before baking the croissants, this will result in over-proving and the croissants will likely collapsed when baking. A perfect and timely proofing is essential for successful croissants. The proofing is done when the layers are nice and visible, and the croissants have expanded, and you can’t wait too long after that before baking. This is why I wouldn’t recommend waiting until a fourth day. I hope this helps!
Thank you Audrey
For your in depth guide and recipe for croissants! It’s been many years since I have made them at catering collage! My question is; As there are only 2 of us could I freeze them between proofing and cooking? Thank you
Hi Romila, that’s a great question. I’d definitely recommend freezing the croissants before baking: right after shaping and before proofing. To do so, freeze the croissants on on a baking sheet for 2 hours, and then transfer them in a ziploc bag (only when they are frozen all the way through). The day before you want to eat the croissants, place them back on a baking sheet and let them defrost overnight at room temperature. The croissants will proof as they defrost. I hope this helps!
Thanks for the recipe! I just did my 4th attempt at these croissants (replacing butter with my own made vegan butter), and they turned out great this time.. can see the layers similar to the cross-section you’ve shown there (but not quite there yet)!
I was wondering if you have any tips for rolling the dough. I always struggle to get the right measurement for the initial square measurement for lamination, can’t seem to get the perfect square measurement and always ends up a rectangle as one side ends up too wide.
I also struggle a lot to get to the final 110cm measurement for cutting the dough. The dough just won’t stretch and keeps shrinking (for my 4th attempt.. I got to like 90cm). Maybe it’s just taking me too long to do it that the dough ends up not being cold enough (as butter also starts seeping out).
Another random question is: do you remember what brand/model your rolling pin is? Mine is quite long and I like the look of yours, and wanted to get one of a similar size/shape. Thanks again!
Hi Abdel. I am happy to see you’re getting there! Croissants do need some practice, and you can only improve. My advice when rolling out the dough is to apply an even pressure on the rolling pin. This step need some practice, and you’ll get better at it the more you try. If the dough or butter get too warm, it will start to shrink and the butter can leak – place the dough back into the freezer for a few minutes and wait until it is cold enough to work with again. The dough is much easier to roll out when chilled.
I think I bought my rolling pin in a small local store, and I can’t see the brand on it. But you can find many models like this one online (ie. search for “French rolling pin” on Amazon). The one I have is 12-inches long, and I think it is a perfect size 🙂
Thanks Audrey! I managed to find a similar sized rolling pin and it’s great so far! I was wondering if you ever tried using levain (from sourdough starter) PLUS poolish for this recipe? I recently got my hands on a nice sourdough starter from a bakery, and was thinking about incorporating it in the recipe. I haven some guides using both poolish and levain to get a little bit of that sourdough taste and texture, but I was unsure how to modify the recipe accordingly. For e.g., should I reduce the flour/milk if also adding levain?
Also, regarding the poolish, you mention that it normally would need to set for 1-5 hrs, but this is a quick variant. I was wondering what would be done differently in the one that would set for 1-5 hrs? Would you still use lukewarm water, or just mix/water, and let it set for longer?
Thanks again!!
Hi Abdel. Thank you for your questions! I never tried to use levain + poolish to make croissants, so I can’t give you any advice or suggestions to modify my recipe. I highly recommend the book “Tartine Bread”, if you’re interested in sourdough starter, and the book has a croissant recipe that uses both levain & poolish (I have yet to try it!).
Regarding the poolish, a classic recipe requires an equal amount of water and flour, with usually fresh yeast (and not instant yeast, which is much quicker to “activate”), and you still use lukewarm water. I hope this helps!
My family lived in France for 5 years so to say that I missed croissants is an understatement. I started my journey of making them at home 2 years ago and I tried several recipes before landing on the Fine Cooking recipe which you have linked on this page. My croissants are perfect most every time, but I was intrigued with poolish and decided to give your recipe a whirl. This is the first time that I had used instant yeast and my poolish expanded for an hour, but it was still very sticky, and mixing the milk and poolish with the dry ingredients even with my mixer was near fruitless, so I resorted to lightly kneading. It was much drier dough than I am used to working with and I wasn’t sure that I wasn’t going to pitch it rather than wasting 10 oz of butter. On day 2 I continued…it was not easy dough to roll out, but I got through the 3 turns, but on the 4th roll out, I quit. I wrapped the dough and refrigerated over night. This morning was a long process of roll and refrigerate…until I finally got to a size that I wanted. I prefer a 9-10” width of the dough so the length is shorter. So they are out of the oven and they are not the picture perfect of my past croissants which are also 3 day. I believe things first went awry with the poolish, and then with the rolling out fight I believe some of my fine layers were lost. But all that being said, I believe these win on flavor. So I will try again, and any advice you can give on poolish that you haven’t already said would be appreciated.
Hi Sue, thanks so much for your feedback on the recipe. I am happy to hear these won on flavor 🙂 After reading your comment, it reminded me of my first attempts at making croissants! It sure takes several tries to master it. The poolish is supposed to be sticky (looking like a wet sponge), so I think you did good here. I prefer to knead by hand (no mixer) especially around the end to get a nice feel of the dough and make sure I don’t over-knead – or the dough will be hard to roll out later. That said, I admit the rolling of the dough does require some effort – I really enjoy making croissants in the Winter as the dough remains more chill and is a bit easier to roll. I hope this helps!
[…] warned me that it would take at least three or four tries to get anything decent. Even my favorite base recipe takes three days per batch and says it took the author years of practice to the hang of the […]
About how long should the croissant south be in the fridge overnight for the three day version?
Hi, that’s a great question! Overnight is between 9 to 12 hours. After that, make sure you proof the croissants for 1 hour at room temp before baking.
Hi, thanks for sharing this recipe, I used this as my first attempt at making croissants, but unfortunately they were a complete fail, all went well until they went in the oven and they came out extremely under baked. I’ve later discovered from reading other recipes that once the croissants are shaped they need to be proofed for 2-3 hours at room temperature or about 1 hour in a warm environment. Since this recipe said 1 hour at room temperature I think mine were not proofed enough so they didn’t cook properly. I think I will try again later with a longer proof time.
Hi Sarah! The ideal temperature for proofing is between 72.4°and 79°F/ 24°C and 26°C. Proofing croissants in the Winter, ie. in colder “room temperatures” can in fact lead to under-proofing, which may be what happened here? Adjusting the proofing time is a great idea, which could give you a better result. I hope this works, good luck!
Good morning. Just a heads up, my comment with questions landed under Sue R’s comment. Hope you can find it. Sue L
Thank you for your response to my longer poolish question. Funny story, I started a poolish yesterday with 1/2 tsp yeast, so I’d say about a 6 hour poolish, and proceeded to make the dough, but for some crazy reason I measured 1 cup of milk rather than 1/2 cup and of course I ended up with ridiculously sticky dough. Once I realized what I had done I abandoned croissants, kneaded in a bit more flour, and eventually made a beautiful loaf of cinnamon swirl bread! That being said, I love the slower poolish, and I will be reducing the yeast even further!
Hello Audrey, so proud to say I succeeded in making this 3 day version recipe. It was so sublime. Vraiment tres tres delicieux and definitely better than the 2 day version. My only hitch was laminating the dough the first time. The butter was really hard to work with and I’m guessing this is because it had been in the fridge for almost 18 hours. Next time I might prep the butter the morning or afternoon of day 2? What do you think? Other than that it turned out really well. Thank you for sharing your delightful recipes with us
Great, thanks for your feedback Alvine! If you felt the butter was too hard, you could take it out of the fridge 15-30 minutes before you start the laminating process, so it warms up just slightly. I hope this helps!
Hi Audrey. I’m attempting to make the 3-day version but after reading everything again feel like something went wrong with the poolish. Even though I followed the directions and measurements exactly, checking myself many times, it definitely was not a wet sponge. It was very dry to start and I think therefore my dough is too hard (morning of day 2). In reading your overall guide again this morning, I see you say that in making the poolish, typically it is the same ratio of flour and water but in your recipe it is a 2:1 ratio. Can you explain? Thanks.
Hi Drew (and my apologies for this late response). For the poolish, expect a wet sponge, sticky-gooey consistency. What type of flour are you using? In France, Flour Type 55 is best for making croissants. Alternatively, unbleached all-purpose flour is good too. If using a flour that is too hard (high in gluten), you may end up with a dry poolish.
For the proportions, the weight of water = the weight of flour+yeast [140ml/g water = 125g flour + 17g yeast (=142g)]. I know that if you look at cup measurements, it seems different, but the weights are actually equals 🙂 I hope this helps!
Can I use fresh yeast?
Hi Maria! I have never made this recipe using fresh yeast, but it is definitely possible to use it here. Fresh yeast is great for a 2-day or 3-day croissant recipe as it requires a long, slow fermentation and rise. To use fresh yeast instead of instant dry yeast, multiply the fresh quantity by 3 and break it into small pieces.
Hello Audrey thank you for your recipe i followed your steps and it came out good for the first time i am Wesal from syria thanks for sharing your recipe
from me and my family
Amazing, thank you for your feedback!
Hi Audrey, have you ever doubled the recipe? I’m interested in making much more croissants at one time but not sure how it would work out.
Hi Kasandra. For making more croissants, I suggest making two batches at the same time (two different poolish, doughs, etc) so you can keep the same proportions and measurements when folding and cutting. You will likely be more successful than if you double this whole recipe to make a big batch. I hope this helps!
Hello Aundrey, I have tried this recipe a few times and they taste amazing but everytime the inside is pretty much raw while the outside is almost burning. Could this have to do with my oven, or is it something to do with either the kneading or the proving? I would love to get that nice airy texture!
Hi Caroline, thanks for your feedback. It does seem like your oven may be over-heating too fast when baking, which results in burning the outside while the inside doesn’t really have time to bake. Maybe try lowering the oven temp. and bake them a little longer? Another reason could be that your croissants are under-proofed. When under-proofed, croissants tend to leak out too much butter when baking, which could results in pools of butter under the croissants and then a burnt exterior and chewy/raw inside – is this what’s happening? In that case, try and proof the croissants a bit longer – this can happen when it’s cold outside, the croissants need a little extra help to reach a perfect proofing stage 🙂
Hi Audrey,
Before I start attempting to make these this weekend, I have a question about the timing. On the timing summary part, you have said laminating and shaping are to be done in late afternoon/evening. But, in the instruction part on step 4, you have said that laminating should be done in the morning. Just want to be clear to avoid messing up.
Thank you,
Sushmita
Hi Sushmita, You are absolutely correct – thanks for noticing! Laminating should be done in the afternoon. I have edited the instructions. Please let me know if you have any questions while you tackle this 3-day recipe, good luck!
This recipe looks so great, I love how much detail you’ve put in!
I’m going to try a batch this weekend! I was wondering how I could reduce the recipe to make about 4 croissants. Could I just take a third of the ingredients? How would i manage the lamination measurements? Would love some advice on this.
Thanks!! 🙂
Hi Nina, thank for your comment! I wouldn’t recommend making the recipe with just a third or half of the ingredients – and it would be make the measurements tricky as well. What you can do, is make a full batch and freeze a few of them before baking: right after shaping and before proofing. And you can bake just 4 croissants.
To freeze croissants: freeze them on a baking sheet for 2 hours, and then transfer them in a ziploc bag (only when they are frozen all the way through). The day before you want to eat, let’s say, 4 croissants, place them back on a baking sheet and let them defrost overnight at room temperature. The croissants will proof as they defrost. I hope this helps!
I’m so excited to try these, can’t wait! 😊 Did have a question about the yeast though… How would I substitute Active Dry yeast for the instant yeast here?
Thanks!
Hi! the rule is 1 teaspoon of instant yeast = 1 1/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast. Although I have never tried this recipe with a different yeast – so I can’t give you any guarantees. If you do so, please let me know, I’d be curious to know how it turned out 🙂
[…] Three Day Classic French Croissants […]
Hi Audrey. I just tried your 3-day recipe. The instructions were very easy to follow. And I really appreciated all the tips and visuals to guide me along the way. Everything went well until proofing and baking. I needed to bake an additional 5-8 minutes to achieve the same color as yours. When I cut into them, however, they looked a little raw and definitely don’t have the same crumb structure as yours. I’m wondering if I should have proved them longer since they were in the fridge additional day. Any guess to what went wrong?
Hi Theresa! Thank you for your great feedback! I think your croissants either under-proofed, since they were chilled longer and needed more time to get back to room temperature. Or they over-proofed, since croissants do continue to proof while in the fridge (just slowly). Which in both cases can result in chewy insides. If you give this recipe another try, try to stick to the schedule and make sure you can really see the lamination on the croissants (the layers) between you pop them in the oven. I hope this helps 🙂
Well, I made the 3-day recipe! It was my first time making bread from scratch (I’ve never even made a loaf), so I went straight to the final exam as my husband says. It was pretty hard work and they didn’t turn our perfectly, but they’re edible and look right! It took me 5 days instead of 3 and they’re pretty dense instead of light and airy, but the layers are there! They are very heavy at the moment, but once I hear them up before eating, it’s much better. Thanks for the recipe! Photos are on my insta-stories @nikitea53. I’m private, but feel free to follow me!
Thank you for your feedback Nikita! It looks like you’re on the right track 🙂
Hi Audrey!
I made these croissants and they turned out pretty well considering this is only my third time working with french pastry. I did run into the issue of counter space. The only surface available for me to roll out the dough is 24 inches long. How would you recommend I split up the dough so that I can avoid disrupting the layers in the dough?
Hi Olivia! That’s a good question, although I wouldn’t recommend splitting up the dough. The folding and measurements are pretty “strict” for croissants. Sorry I couldn’t help you more!
Hi Audrey, this recipe looks beautiful and I can’t wait to try it! I was wondering, though, is there a step in the recipe where the uncooked croissants can be frozen? I want to make a big batch to bake throughout the month. Thanks so much!
Hi Makenzie! Yes you can freeze some croissants before baking them – right after shaping and before proofing. To do so, freeze the croissants on on a baking sheet for 2 hours, and then transfer them in a ziploc bag (only when they are frozen all the way through). The day before you want to eat the croissants, place them back on a baking sheet and let them defrost overnight at room temperature. The croissants will proof as they defrost. I hope this helps!
Wonderful, thanks Audrey!
[…] These croissants were so much fun to make, and absolutely worth the work and the wait. I’d highly recommend trying them out for yourself. Here’s a link to the recipe I used: https://www.pardonyourfrench.com/three-day-classic-french-croissants/ […]
Hi!
I’m 15 and have never made croissants before. I was pretty nervous, so I started out with the 1 day recipe. And they turned out Amazing! I was so excited, because my grandma loved them, and she used to make them all the time when she was younger. I’m almost finished with the 3 day recipe this time, so I can deliver her some fresh croissants for Mothers Day! This was such a helpful site, and made me feel like a professional cook!
Amazing, thank you!
Hi Audrey! I just made the three day version and they taste great, but I too had problems with them not getting quite done. I cooked them even longer than the recipe said and they’re still not totally baked. Is your oven a convection oven or standard? I’m wondering if maybe that could be why? This was also my first time even attempting something like this, so I know the first round won’t be perfect anyways!
Hi Emma, Thank you for your feedback! I am glad you enjoyed this recipe. I normally use standard mode (not convection) for baking croissants; but every oven is different, and you may get better results with convection, so this is worth trying. Somes oven don’t get as hot as they say, so you can also adjust the baking time. In my experience, under-baked croissants are more often due to under-proofing, so make sure the layers dough-butter-dough-butter are clearly visible before baking. I hope this helps, happy baking!
Hi Audrey! Just pulled my croissants out of the oven and they are absolutely perfect! Thank you so much for this recipe. It was my first time making any kind of French pastry and I’m very impressed with myself haha!
Amazing, thank you for your feedback!
Thank you for the wonderful recipe! The process was definitely intimidating initially, but I followed it diligenly and was so pleased with the results!
Our first batch of croissants was so beautiful, flakey and buttery, just like the ones I have had at Paris cafés. The whole family loved it 🙂
I am looking forward to trying this again and perfecting my method but I wish I could share with you how beautiful the croissants already looked on the first try.
Amazing, thank you for your feedback Safa!
is type 55 french flour the same as 00 flour
Hi Terry! Type 55 is closer to 0 flour, and our Type 45 (ground finer) is equivalent to 00 flour. In my experience, both types work well for making croissants. I hope this helps!
is two tablespoons of instant yeast the same as 2 tablespoons of active dry yeast
Hi Terry. If you want to use active dry yeast, you have to do a conversion, based on: 1 teaspoon instant yeast = 1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast. I hope this helps, and happy baking!
Salut Audrey ! Merci pour ce guide. Je voulais savoir, avant d’essayer de le faire, si on va utiliser un batteur sur socle il faut utiliser quel accessoire ? Le crochet à pétrir ? Et a quelle vitesse ?
Hello Kyla! Oui un batteur avec le crocheur a petrir. En vitesse moyenne-basse pour integrer le beurre, puis pendant 5-6 minutes and vitesse moyenne pour petrir la pate. Il ne faut pas aller trop vite pour ne pas *trop* petrir la pate – elle doit etre toujours un peu collante, et pas trop elastique. Happy baking!
In case you didnt receive my question earlier. I have tried your recipe twice. However, my butter leak during baking, i have proofed the first batch at 24c for 1 jour and the 2nd one for 1.5 hrs also at 24c, however, both had butter leakage. Is this normal? I have done a 2 day croissant and proofed for 3hrs with no leakage. Still learning this art. Appreciate you sharing this tasty recope
Hi Laurena! Butter leaking out of croissants during baking usually means the croissants were under-proofed. With different seasons, temperatures and moisture in the air, perfect timing for proofing can vary. Don’t hesitate to let the croissants proof longer until they get bigger/puffier, the layers are clearly visible and croissants wobble slightly when shaking the tray. I hope this helps! 🙂
Hi yes…thanks for your input and advice…will definitely try again with longer proofing time. Thanks!!
What a wonderful blog! I had the best success making croissants ever. This is the third recipe I’ve tried and it is the best. Not that the recipe is so very different, but the detailed instructions and reading of all the comments and replies gave me a much better understanding of the process. My previous attempts were delicious, but the lamination not brilliant so they were a bit too doughy. One batch were over-proofed and collapsed in the oven, another batch lost too much butter due to poor lamination and the butter breaking up and not staying in a layer between dough layers. I was determined not to give up though. Temperature control seems to be the most important factor. I turned my ‘fridge right down to stop the dough fermenting overnight, which had happened before, and I chilled my marble slabs in the freezer between turns. The butter slab did start to crack slightly on the first rolling and next time, I will take it out of the ‘fridge before trying to roll it out with the dough, but not too much, I realise it must stay cold so it doesn’t merge into the dough. I chilled half in the ‘fridge overnight and proofed for an hour the next morning to have them freshly baked for breakfast, and the other half I froze before proofing, and took them out to proof overnight and baked them off. By far the best were those frozen and defrosted. As I had previously over-proofed a batch I was a little wary of doing it again and have them collapse in the oven so followed the instructions to proof for just one hour after removal from the ‘fridge. This was not long enough. The croissants proofed from frozen were double the size of the unproofed croissants and when I saw them was afraid they would collapse, but they didn’t. They were fantastic. Light and flaky. Absolutely delicious. I can’t wait to make another batch being careful not to allow the butter slab to crack and I am sure I will have achieved absolute perfection. I have really enjoyed my journey discovering how to make perfect croissants and learning from my mistakes along the way. I think I’ve nailed it! Thank you.
Hi Sarah! Wonderful feedback, thank you for sharing your experience with us! I am very intrigued by the batch that your froze and that turned out to be the best! I will definitely try this 🙂
These look stunning I can’t wait to do this recipe! Can I use instant yeast?
Hi Leah, thank you! And yes, the recipe calls for instant yeast 🙂 Happy baking!
Hi can’t wait to try this but just wondering for the 3 day croissant recipe if I use dry active yeast instead of instant yeast how much do I use?
Thanks!
Hi Tania. I worked on developing this recipe using instant yeast, so I recommend you try this recipe using instant yeast. But if you really want to use dry active yeast instead,
you will need to multiply the amount of yeast by 1.25. This means, 1 teaspoon instant yeast = 1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast. I hope this helps, happy baking!
I’m just starting these with active dry yeast and I wanted to make sure I am converting it correctly. Your recipe calls for 2 tablespoons (6 tsp) instant so would that be over three packages (7.5 tsp) of active dry? It seems like a really high amount of yeast.
Hi Tammy! Yes this is a lot of yeast, but your conversion is correct. Although I have never tried this recipe with a different yeast – so I can’t give you any guarantees. If you do so, please let me know, I’d be curious to know how it turned out 🙂
Can i freeze the dough before laminating?
Hi Martha, I recommend freezing after laminating, once the croissants are shaped, before proofing. Happy baking!
Made the three day recipe- results were amazing! Great structure and huge air pockets. I got four croissants and three pains au chocolat – they were a wee bit underproofed, I think, but I froze half the dough and will give it another go next weekend. For US bakers, I used AP flour (around 12% protein content) and stabilized the beurrage with a little flour when I rolled it out (before chilling in the fridge). Thanks for a great, easy to follow recipe!
Amazing, and thank you for this feedback Mary!
This is a great recipe!! Thorough and easy to follow. Perfect amount of pictures of the trickier steps. These came out beautifully despite my dough being off from the beginning (it was very difficult to roll out, probably too much flour) Anyway, lots of layers, definition in the pastry and very flaky. Made some minis and some mini pain au chocolats which needed about 3 minutes less than the original sized croissants. Mine took 22-25 mins. In my wonky oven.
I’ve tried multiple recipes and this has been the best so far. So excited to have found your site Audrey!
Amazing, thanks so much Maggie!
Thanks for the beautiful recipe. I have 2 questions, are your baking times and temps for a regular oven or a convection oven? Secondly, do you use steam in the oven when you bake? Thanks again.
Hi Connie, these are 2 great questions. This recipe is made for using a regular oven (non-convection) and no, no steam needed 🙂 I hope this helps, and happy baking!
I don’t normally comment on recipes but I just have to on this. Among all the croissant recipes I’ve tried (including Tartine) l, this is THE ONE!!! I literally felt like flying when I saw the outcome of my croissants after trying this recipe! Wish I could show some photos! Even the taste is fantastic! Now, we don’t ever have to but croissants from bakeries as this recipe will give you better results! Thank you so much, Audrey!!!
AMAZING! Thanks so much Marielle!
do you think the recipe would still work if I left the dough and butter square in the fridge for an extra day prior to lamination? (for example making the dough on Monday but not laminating the dough until Wednesday) thanks!
Hi Sky! I never left the dough and butter an extra day in the fridge, but I think it shouldn’t do any harm 🙂 Happy baking!
I made these last year for christmas for my first time ever making croissants. I’d read quite a few other blogs and chose this one because it had detailed instructions and lots of great tips. I used the three day version and was a bit scared how they would turn out so we had frozen ready to bake croissants from the freezer on hand just in case. I am glad to say we didn’t need them! Total success! I found that reading the directions and all other links to helpful advice in full before starting helped a lot so you weren’t blindly moving one step at a time. My family loved them so much last year we’re making a christmas tradition! Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe.
Thank you so much, that’s wonderful! You are sharing a great tip as well: making sure you read all the instructions and tips before you start (once, or even twice) is key! It really helps a lot. Thanks!
[…] for things that can be a little complicated, like croissants. I decided to try my luck with the three-day recipe and man oh man it was worth it. They were a first try and they came out pretty good. Not French […]
Hi! This guide is really helpful because you provide a practical timing schedule. It’s also the recipe that I had best success with so far, although I might have done a few things differently by mixing up various recipes. Two questions:
1. The amount of yeast compared to other recipes is quite high. Doesn’t this result in quite a strong yeast flavor? Or does the poolish remove some of that? I made some croissants with more and some with less yeast flavor but I think I always used less yeast (because I always thought to use 1/2 pack fresh yeast for 500g, 1 pack for 1kg flour). Would you say that croissants need more yeast? (I had terrible flat croissants and think that I used way few yeast which is why I love to see you use more which makes sense). Does the (short) poolish remove some of the yeast smell?
2. What do you think has the biggest impact on the inside honeycomb structure?
Hi Florian (first off, apologies for the late response!). 1. Yes, this recipe does require more yeast than most recipes you can find out there. I tested a lot of different recipes and measurements before finally being happy with this one. Just like you, I had a lot of test batches where the croissants fell flat, so I am okay with using more yeast to guarantee a nice rise. Usually to avoid any yeast taste in croissants/bread, you want a long slow rise – so the 3 day recipe is probably best if you are afraid of yeast flavor. However, I personally never noticed any yeast taste in any of my recipes (1-day, 2-day, 3-day). 2. Now I think a proper laminating is what has the biggest impact on creating a good honeycomb structure. You want to create clean layers, and avoid having your dough become warm (or it will absorb the butter) or using too much flour on your working surface. You also want to roll out the dough evenly each time to achieve a uniform crumb and layer structure. I hope this helps!
Hi Audrey, I made the three day version and followed the recipe very close
I had some trouble with the first s\roll out as the butter seemed very hard Is that normal or should I allow the butter to soften a little.
My main question is the crumb. Mine was somewhat tight not airy like the pictures you showed for the 3 day recipe.
I can send pictures if you want
please tell me what I may have dine wrong
Hi James! Yes the first rolls and turns when laminating the butter and dough together can feel labor-intensive. The butter is supposed to be firm and cold so it should be quite hard. It is best to keep your butter and dough as cold as possible or they will start to “merge” which is what we want to avoid. If your crumb is too tight, it was likely from the laminating (make sure you get clean, even layers) and/or the proofing (make sure you only bake the croissants when they are fully proofed: puffed and jiggly when shaking the pan). I hope this helps!
How do you keep such straight edges when rolling out?
Hi Jennifer – that’s a good question. Do not expect the edges to be perfectly straight, the corners will always end up a bit rounded. A trick I use is to gently pull on the 4 corners occasionally to “re-shape” the dough in a rectangle. I hope this helps!
Hello! These croissants are absolutely delicious – thank you for sharing your recipe! I am wondering how the process would change if I wanted to make these ham and cheese croissants (my all-time fave). Would you recommend, and if yes, how would you adjust the baking? Thanks!
Hi Audrey, I’ve made this recipe twice now and it’s been awesome both times, with a few tweaks that worked well for me! I’ve done about a 8-12 hour poolish and shaped them on the 3rd day before proofing them as when I tried proofing the shaped croissants out of the fridge the first time, I lost a lot of butter while baking even after an hour and a half proof (the flavor though was still fantastic.) Shaping them on the 3rd day helped with the proofing and thus helped ensure a nice open crumb. Also with my oven, baking them at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 25-30 minutes worked best for me. This is now my favorite croissant dough recipe, for both your standard croissant and pain au chocolat, and will be my go to!
Soon I’m going to try adapting this dough to a cinnamon roll recipe I came up with that uses laminated dough and also I was wondering if you think this might be a good dough to use for Kouign-amann?
Hi Sean, thanks so much for your feedback and for sharing your tips – this will be helpful to other readers! My go-to Kouign-amann dough recipe is slightly different (you can find this recipe in my cookbook). However, there are so many different versions of Kouign-amann recipes (each baker has their own), so I encourage you to try it out if you want, I would be curious to see if you like the final result. Happy baking!
I tried your recipe and it’s heaven, everyone really loved it. But Can you please film it for us because I would love to be watching you make them.
Thank you for your feedback! I would love to provide a step-by-step video, but making videos takes lots of time and skills… hopefully I’ll do it one day!
I’ve made this a few times.
I’m making them now for Thanksgiving, they are so delicious, and I really enjoy the process because I love baking.
Mine are always so absolutely ugly compared to yours but still so yummy 😍
Thank you Sun!
Hi Audrey!
currently im in processof making croissants and I have couple of question. Chilling of rolled croissant is in the freezer (below zero degree Celcius) or in refrigerator (3-5 C)?
Hi there! Step 7 – includes refrigerating the rolled croissants overnight in a refrigerator (not a freezer). I hope this helps, happy baking!
[…] you opt to skip the bakery and make a batch of croissants yourself, Audrey from Pardon Your French warns home bakers that it’s an intermediate to advanced-level project. She offers a one, two, […]
When you say overnight, how many hours do you mean?
Elena, typically 8-12hrs is the window for overnight, but a few hrs extra won’t be harmful, if needed.
I forgot to chill the butter overnight and rolled it out this morning. It will have approx. 4 hours in the fridge – will that work aswell?
4hrs in the fridge should defintely set it again, so you should be good to go. Would love to know how they turned out!
They turned out to be wonderful! Very flaky and crisp with an airy middle part, although I rolled them out a little too thin. They turned out considerably better than the one day recipe, which lacked the flakiness and airy texture. Interestingly they took approx. another 10 minutes in the oven to be properly baked and flaky. Well, this recipe was very well received, so I am seeing myself coming back to this one very soon!
So glad to hear this, Clara. And yes, the trouble with some recipes such as these, is cooking times can vary depending on the ingredients and oven – but you seem to have that figured out.
As for the 3 day recipe, it defintely has some extra profiles over the 1 and 2 day recipes… Much like pizza doughs my husband makes, sometimes a little extra time and effort goes a long way in terms of end product.
Hello! I made the 3-day recipe this week and was super bummed they came out so dense and almost looked torn? I’ve made croissants before but more of a one day cook the next morning, and I felt like I folded more butter into each round of lamination, but for yours it’s just the one butter cube. Did I read it wrong? TIA for your help! I’ll try it again next week!
Oh, Zoe… I am so sorry to hear they didn’t turn out for you. But I absolutely thrilled to see you’re enthusiastic about making them again. Something clearly went amiss, and I really hope I can help you diagnose it.
1) Make ceratin your yeast is alive (pour 1/2tsp into 1cup warm water with a sprinkle of sugar, and stir). It should foam within about 10min. If not, the yeast is the issue.
2) Make sure that once the butter is fully incorporated into the dough (done in 3 additions, one after another), that you knead for around 5min, making sure NOT to overknead – the overkneading COULD be the other issue, causing dense croissants. The dough shouldn’t be “firm”.
3) For the lamination phase, try your best not to add too much flour to your work surface. This flour will become part of the croissant, and too much will also make them dense.
And correct, in my recipe we do not add more butter between lamination phases.
I hope the above will help you. I know the frustration when a recipe doesn’t come out as intended, but I truly commend your dedication. There are also 1 day and 2 day versions of my croissants, if you wanted to try either of those – the 2 day seems to be the “happy medium” for many readers. They can be found One day and here Two day.
Hey Audrey
Thank you for this detailed recipe! I had a question regarding the lamination step: When you say “fold like a letter”, what exactly do you mean? I’d understand it to fold one short end towards the middle and the other over (so ending up with a third of the original length and therefore nearly a square of 20x20cm) but on your photos it looks as if the open side is significantly shorter than the other?
Thanks
Jenny
Hello, Jenny! So you have your rectangular and rolled out dough of 8×24-inches/20.3cmx61cm. You place it like in the photo… You then grab the 8 inch/20cm side and fold it like a letter. It will still be a rectangular shape, not a square.
I have attached this video, from youtube, to show exactly what I mean (but with paper, instead of dough). It’s the exact same thing.
I hope this helps and answers your question. If not, please let me know, perhaps I misunderstood the question.
Folding Video
[…] baking season and clock was running out on baking days so I followed the recipe provided at pardonyourfrench […]
Respect
Can you answer me about the amount of instant yeast? You wrote 14g. Does that mean two sachets of instant yeast? One bag contains 7 grams of yeast that I buy.
Thank you. I am delighted with your recipe and instructions with pictures.
Yes, if you’re confident that each package has 7gr, then you will use 2 sachets. Best of luck to you!
In your ingredients list, for the dough, you have butter and “cubbed” it should be “cubed”
Good catch, Kim! 5 years of “cubbed” enjoying life in the recipe… Fixed! 🙂
AMAZING! SOO GOOD! Could you make a sourdough version?
Hello, Lizi! I haven’t made them before, or even thought about a sourdough version… But I am always open to suggestion. I’ll definitely look into that!
Should I let my butter sit a while before making all the buttery layers? My butter was starting to break apart while rolling due to it being so cold.
I can’t say I’ve had this problem, Lizi, with my butter breaking up. Was it from the fridge or the freezer? It’s usually a touch difficult to roll at the start but softens a bit naturally with the pressure from rolling.
Do you mind me asking what brand of butter you’re using?
I had the butter in the fridge. Sure! I used Kirkland Signature salted sweet cream butter.
I’m not familiar with the brand, but if you ever find Kerrygold or a european (higher milk fat) butter at a good price, I highly suggest you try it out.
How did they turn out?
Dear Audrey,
I really find your 3 day croissant guide very detailed and easy to follow, and I have started it this morning. I have a question, as what stage can a freeze the croissants to bake them later during the week? As I do not plan on Baking the entire lot at once. Can I shape and freeze them?
Thank you, Shalini! Croissants are a lesson in patience and perseverance. You’ll surely learn some new techniques and likely a bit of on-the-spot ingenuity as well. They can be tricky, but it’s always satisfying when they come out of the oven the first time, perfect or not.
I would absolutely shape them before freezing to answer your question. Then they’re ready to go! Best of luck!
Thanks for the care you put into the three timelines for these, so helpful! I was wondering if the shaped croissants can sit in the fridge for too long? Eg. If I made the dough tonight, laminated and shaped tomorrow morning or aft, and then left them in the fridge to bake the following evening, would that be okay? Or would you recommend freezing the shaped croissants in that case? (Also sorry to want to serve croissants at night like the uncouth North American I am lol.)
Absolutely, Julia! The criossants actually benefit from an overnight chill in the fridge, where they will continue to slowly ferment. Ideally the bottom of your fridge is best (where it stays coldest). I hope you’ll enjoy the process and the result. They’re not the easiest thing, but I found them to be an enjoyable challenge that I did over and over until I “got it right” – though every step of the way produces delicious results.
Thanks Audrey, but what I meant was what if they sit in the fridge even * longer * than overnight? Like, if I put the shaped croissants in the fridge tonight but don’t start the proofing and baking process till 2 or 3pm? Then they’ll have been in the fridge for quite some time, and I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t overspend the yeast or what have you. Thank you!
Those few extra hours shouldn’t make or break the croissants, in my opinion. Usually, when I proof things overnight, I don’t get to them first thing in the morning. The fridge relly slows down any fermenting, so as long as you keep it at the bottom – the coldest spot – they should be just fine!
Thanks so much!
How much butter do I use for the dough and then the block of butter?
Hello Madison. I truly hope I understand your question, but if not, please let me know. The dough itself requires 2 ¾ tbsp (40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cubed. Afterwards for laminating the dough (Step 3), you’ll use 1 cup (250g) of cold unsalted butter.
Hope this helps!
Okay, how much butter is the block of butter that I have to roll out and fold into it? I know for the dough and laminating but when the dough is all done and I have to roll out the butter to put on the dough, how much butter is that block I just rolled and folded into the dough?
I understand now I went and reread and okay I understand now thank you! I’m sorry had a little moment there lol:)
It’s ok Madison! The recipe for croissants is complex, even though I tried to make it as simple as I could. The thing is, its complex until you make it once. Then you realize the process itself isn’t complex at all, but mastering it definitely takes time. It’s fun, with delicious rewards at the end. And they (and you) get better each time you make them. Good luck and enjoy!
Yes, they are currently in the oven and it wasn’t that hard to make them I’m just trying to figure out why the butter broke through the dough so bad. But they look amazing and smell amazing and I’m hoping they come out good and I’m definitely making them again it wasn’t that difficult.
So glad to hear it, Madison! Few things are are magical as the smell and sight of croissants baking in the oven. You’re also completely correct, they aren’t “hard” to make at all, just a lot of steps, that once you do, becomes much easier the 2nd (and 3rd) time.
As for the butter breaking through, I really can’t understand it either. You need some pressure obviously, but not enough that it should tear through. Just for scientific purposes, try a different (but still high quality) butter the next time. See if you notice a difference.
Hello, so I am currently making them and the butter has broken through the dough. How do I fix that? As I’m rolling it out the butter just keeps coming through. Is it supposed to be happening? How do I fix it?
Hello Madison. Sorry, I was sleeping when this came through (due to the time difference here in Europe). It sounds like perhaps there was too much pressure applied when rolling out the dough for lamination process. It happens. It’s a recipe of trial and error. Hopefully as you repeat the steps of laminating, the butter will stay inside the dough. Try using less pressure and rocking the pin back and forth gently. Wipe off any excess that has broken through.
Hope this makes sense, and hope you made it work. I had to do the recipe a few times to get the hang of the process as well.