• Croissants are a buttery, flaky pastry usually eaten at breakfast. While croissants are a French staple, they actually originated in Austria. Croissants are an extremely versatile food; they can be served with jam, filled with chocolate or wrapped around meats and cheeses or used as a bread substitute on sandwiches.
  
  Preparing croissants can be tricky, as they require baking skills and patience with the process, which can take several days. Croissants are made from laminated or layered dough, which is the method of covering butter in dough and folding, rolling and turning it until there are layers of butter between the dough sheets.
  
  

Making the Dough

• The ingredients for croissants are simple: 1 1/2 cups of warm milk, 1 1/2 tbsp. of yeast, 3 cups of flour, 1 1/2 tsp. of salt, 1 1/2 cups of butter and 3 tbsp. of sugar. You can substitute brown sugar for a richer taste and for even deeper flavor, add vanilla or almond extract. Additionally, the butter should be extremely cold, as that is what gives croissants their flakiness. Mix the milk, sugar and yeast in one bowl and in a separate bowl, sift the flour and salt together. Combine the wet and dry ingredients without over-mixing. Cover the mixture and allow it to chill overnight in the refrigerator. The dough should double in size. When the dough rests, the gluten causes the dough to rise. To create the butter block, which is the basis for laminated dough, blend the cold butter and 3 tbsp. of flour until they are well incorporated. Form the mixture into a rough ball before chilling it in the refrigerator.
  
  

Assembling the Croissants

• After the dough has had a chance to rest and rise, turn it out onto a floured surface and stretch out the corners. Place the butter block in the middle and fold the dough over it as if wrapping a present. Make a tight seal with your fingers then roll the dough into the shape of a rectangle. Bring both sides of the rectangle to the middle, turn 90 degrees and repeat. Once complete, flatten the dough with a rolling pin and place it back in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Once it has chilled, allow the dough to come to room temperature and duplicate the folding method. At minimum, the dough should go through three rounds of folding. The folding method produces layers of pastry wrapped in butter, which results in golden, flaky croissants.
  
  After the dough has been folded a minimum of three times, chill it for another 30 minutes, then roll it out. Cut triangular shapes into the dough then roll them into a crescent shape. Before baking, allow the croissants to rise for at least 2 hours. To give croissants a shiny coat, before baking, brush the top of each with a lightly beaten egg. Bake croissants in a 350 degree oven until golden brown. Allow croissants to cool slightly before serving.