A good croissant looks simple on a bakery shelf, but it’s one of the trickier things to make in a home kitchen. The crisp layers depend as much on how you handle the dough as on what goes into it.

Much of the work is waiting. This recipe takes you from mixing the dough to shaping and baking it, with cues for when to keep going and when to put the dough back in the fridge.

Ingredients

Gather the following ingredients for the dough, the butter block, and the glaze:

- 500 g bread flour

- 10 g salt

- 55 g sugar

- 10 g instant yeast

- 140 ml cold whole milk

- 140 ml cold water

- 50 g melted butter for the dough

- 280 g cold unsalted butter for the butter block

- Egg wash for brushing

Steps

The dough rests before you enclose the butter and again between folds. According to Susan Reid, a baker writing for King Arthur Baking, a fridge rest firms up the butter and relaxes the gluten, making the dough easier to roll. Follow these steps:

1. Make the dough. Mix the flour, salt, sugar, and instant yeast. Add the milk, water, and melted butter, then knead for about 5 minutes, until smooth. Shape the dough into a flat rectangle, wrap it, and chill it for at least 1 hour.

2. Shape the butter block. Pound the cold unsalted butter between sheets of parchment into a rectangle roughly 20 cm by 15 cm. Keep it cold but pliable, around 13°C to 16°C. If it cracks as you pound it, let it sit at room temperature for 5 minutes, then work it with the rolling pin until it bends without breaking.

3. Enclose the butter. Roll the chilled dough into a rectangle just over twice as long as the butter block and slightly wider. Set the butter on one half, fold the other half over it, and pinch the edges shut. Leave enough dough around the block to seal it without stretching the edges thin.

4. Make the first fold. Roll the dough into a long rectangle. Brush away any loose flour on the surface so the dough can grip as you fold it. Bring one outer third over the center, then bring the opposite third over that, lining up the edges. This letter fold counts as one turn.

5. Finish the turns. Wrap and chill the dough for 30 minutes, then repeat the rolling and folding twice more, chilling for 30 minutes between turns. If butter starts to ooze out as you roll, stop and refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes before continuing. Soft butter can blend into the dough instead of staying in separate layers.

6. Shape the croissants. Roll the dough to about 4 mm thick and cut triangles roughly 10 cm wide at the base. Roll each triangle up from the wide end. If the tip won’t reach underneath, gently stretch it before finishing the roll. Set the croissants on a parchment-lined baking sheet with the tips tucked under.

7. Let the croissants rise. Leave them at around 24°C for 1½ to 2 hours. Look for visibly puffed pastries that wobble when you gently shake the baking sheet. Use that movement, rather than the clock alone, to decide when to bake.

8. Bake the croissants. Preheat the oven to 200°C and brush the tops with egg wash. Bake for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 180°C and bake for another 10 to 12 minutes. Look for an even, deep golden color before taking them out.

Store baked croissants in a paper bag at room temperature for up to a day. For longer storage, freeze them for up to a month and reheat them at 160°C for 8 minutes.