Ingredients
Scale
- 1/2 cup (120ml/4floz) warm milk
- 1 3/4 cups (250g/8 3/4 oz) strong bread flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 11 tablespoons (150g/5.3 oz) butter, frozen
- 4 tablespoons (50g/1 3/4 oz) sugar
- 2 tsp (7g/1 sachet) dry yeast
- Chocolate chips or bar (I recommend 72% cocoa solids)
- 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tbsp milk to glaze
Instructions
- Warm your milk until it is body-temperature (just warmed).
- In a large bowl, add the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast and whisk to combine.
- Grate the frozen butter straight into your flour. You want pea-sized pieces of cold butter.
- Pour in the milk and gently combine to a dough using a spoon until the dough just comes together. You want the butter to remain in pea-sized pieces, so don’t be too enthusiastic when mixing!
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a square. It will be soft. Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for 90 minutes.
- Lightly dust your worktop and rolling pin with flour.
- Roll your dough out to a rectangle roughly 14½ inches by 10 inches.
- Fold the short sides of the dough into the middle.
- Rotate the dough by a quarter turn. Roll out slightly to lengthen. Fold the short ends towards the middle.
- Flip the dough over so the seams are underneath. Roll it out again, repeating the folding steps 2 more times. The dough will become more elastic as you roll and fold it.
- Form the dough into a smallish rectangle. Wrap it twice with cling film and put in the fridge for a couple of hours or, ideally, overnight.
- Roll the dough out to a rectangle three times as long as it is wide and at least 4mm thick. Trim the edges with a pastry scraper.
- Cut the dough into triangles about 30cm/12in long and 8cm/3in at the base.
- Cut a small slit in the center of each triangle base.
- Gently stretch the corners and tip, add your chocolate to the wide end, then loosely roll the dough up. Place, tip side down, on a large tray lined with baking paper.
- Repeat with the rest of the dough, spacing the croissants a few inches apart on the tray.
- Cover loosely with greased cling film and let the croissants rise for 2-3 hours at room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 230°C/450°F. Brush the croissants with the egg wash and bake for ten minutes, then reduce temperature to 190°C/375°F and bake for another 5 minutes or until the croissants are a deep golden brown.
- Cool on a wire rack before serving.
Notes
- Keep everything as cold as possible when working with the dough if the butter melts too soon, you won’t get those beautiful flaky layers.
- If at any point the butter softens too much, cover and pop in the freezer to firm it before continuing.
- Don’t rush the rising time those 2-3 hours are essential for developing flavor and texture.
- The small slit at the base of each triangle helps create that classic curved croissant shape.
- Use high-quality chocolate for the best flavor in your Chocolate Croissants.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: French
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 croissant
- Calories: 112 kcal
- Sugar: 8 g
- Sodium: 24 mg
- Fat: 6 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 12 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 16 mg