Have you ever wanted to try making your own sourdough croissants using sourdough starter? This recipe yields the most delicious, flakey and buttery sourdough croissants. A labor of love, but it is so worth it when your first bite takes you straight to a Parisian café.
The year that I started my sourdough starter, my husband decided he wanted to make me homemade sourdough croissants for mother’s day. It was SO sweet and he made me feel so loved. I could not believe what a process it was to make the sourdough croissants and how well he did, especially since he is not exactly a baker! He is a great cook, but baking is usually my thing 😉
I tucked that memory away and thought about those delicious sourdough croissants he made many times since, but never had the courage to attempt making them myself. I felt like I needed to get the basics of sourdough bread down before I could attempt such a difficult recipe.
Well, a few months ago, I finally decided I wanted to give sourdough croissants a try, and let’s just say, I was not happy with the results. Don’t get me wrong, it was tasty, because it’s sourdough and butter… I mean come on, it can’t be all that bad. But I knew I had room for improvement!
And so I began researching.
And baking. Researching. And baking some more! I learned how French pastry chefs make croissants and tweaked my recipe and process until I felt like I got all the kinks out to make the best sourdough croissants!
One of the main differences between this recipe and others is that I only use sourdough starter as the levain. Many other croissant recipes call for commercial yeast or a combination of yeast and sourdough starter. I prefer using only sourdough starter as the levain because it gives the dough a chance to break down the gluten more making it more easily digestible. The recipe does take longer because of this, but it is so worth it and just takes a little bit of planning ahead. You can complete this recipe over 2 days or spread it out to 3 days (more even if you want to make the dough ahead of time and leave it in the fridge for a few days before shaping).
What butter is best for croissants?
When making croissants, it is important to use butter that is high in fat, such as an organic European grass-fed butter. I purchase this organic butter in bulk for a great price from Azure Standard and it is amazing quality. Or you can make your own butter from the cream of your raw milk if you buy milk locally.
Tools to Make Sourdough Croissants:
- Mixing Bowl
- Kitchen Scale
- Dough Whisk
- Plastic Wrap/Beeswax wrap
- Unbleached Parchment Paper
- Bench Scraper
- Basting Brush
- Silicone Baking Mat (optional)
- Baking Sheet
How to make Sourdough Croissants
Feed your Sourdough Starter
For this recipe, you need 150 grams of active, mature sourdough starter. Active starter is sourdough starter that has been fed equal parts flour and water within the past 4-6 hours and has doubled and is bubbly.
If you want to set aside the exact amount of sourdough starter for this recipe, combine 50 grams of sourdough starter, 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water in a glass jar. You will use all of the starter for the recipe, so make sure you have extra reserved.
Make, Knead and Proof the Sourdough Croissants Dough
Once your starter is bubbly and active, whisk the sourdough starter, melted unsalted butter, water and whole milk together in a bowl. Then add in the organic unbleached all-purpose flour, sugar and salt. Using your hands or a dough whisk, mix the ingredients together until the dough is formed. Cover the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, flip the dough out onto a clean counter (no flour needed). Knead the dough for about 3-5 minutes until it is no longer sticky but forms a nice smooth dough ball.
Place the dough into a butter greased glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap or beeswax wrap. Allow the dough to bulk rise at room temperature until it has doubled and looks a bit puffy- about 4-6 hours.
Once the dough has doubled, place it in the fridge to continue a slow fermentation for a minimum of 12 hours. You can leave it in the fridge like this for up to 3 days as long as it is covered with the plastic wrap so the dough does not dry out.
Le Beurrage (Butter filling)
On the day you are ready to bake your sourdough croissants, grab some good quality, high fat, room temperature unsalted butter to make the butter filling, or beurrage.
Start by folding parchment paper into an 8×8″ square packet. The first fold will need to extend past the 8 inches and then will be folded over again on itself. I found that prefolding the parchment paper is easier than trying to measure and fold while the butter is already on the paper.
Make sure your butter is at room temperature. Otherwise it will be a little more difficult to manipulate into the parchment paper packet.
Slice the butter to 1/4″ or so thickness and lay the slices down on the parchment paper. Fold it back up, enclosing the butter, and roll the butter into all of the corners and spaces within the packet. This is called le beurrage and is essentially going to give your sourdough croissants those amazing flakey layers when baked.
Place the beurrage in the refrigerator for 6 minutes until it is a little cool but has not hardened. You want the butter to be pliable and a similar consistency to the cold dough you will be working with.
If the butter gets too hard, it will break while you roll it in the dough and will result in less flakey croissants. If the butter hardens, it really is best to give it time to soften until it is more flexible.
Laminate the dough
Once the beurrage is at the right temperature, pull the sourdough croissant dough out of the fridge. Place it on a floured surface and begin to roll it out into a 8×17″ rectangle. The dough will be just slightly longer than the beurrage so that it can fold over and cover it completely.
Unwrap the beurrage and lay it down on the bottom half of the dough. Fold the top half of the dough down and over the butter so that the edges of the dough meet.
Turn the dough 90 degrees and roll the dough/butter layers to about 18″ long.
Remember to keep your work surface nicely floured as you work with the dough. You do not want to have the dough stick or break while you are laminating.
Fold again x2
Once it is rolled out, fold the top part of the dough down to about 3/4ths of the way down. Bring the bottom part of the dough up to meet the edge of the folded dough. This should create somewhat of a square. Keeping the dough in the same position, fold it in half.
Turn the dough 90 degrees and roll the dough lengthwise to about 20″ long. When rolling it, focus on elongating the dough rather than making it more wide.
Last fold!
Fold the top part of the dough 2/3rds of the way down. Then bring the bottom portion all the way up and over the dough you just folded down – like a pamphlet.
*I felt like I needed to chill my dough for about 10 minutes at this point. If your dough/butter is still cool, feel free to skip the chilling and roll it out to the final rectangle before cutting and shaping the croissants. This will depend on the temperature of your house, how quickly you work with the dough, surface temperature, etc. The main thing you want to avoid is the butter getting too warm and melting. If you need to chill it, cover the dough in plastic wrap and place it on a flat surface in the fridge till it is cool again.
Once the dough is folded pamphlet style, turn it 90 degrees and roll it out to create your final rectangle. Make this one approximately 8×24″.
This all may sound super complicated, but it really is just a bunch of folding and then rolling it out and folding it and rolling it out! 🙂 If you don’t follow my instructions exactly with the folding, don’t worry. As long as you are getting several layers of the dough/butter, your croissants will still have those beautiful, flakey layers.
Shape Sourdough Croissants
With a knife or pastry cutter, trim the edges to make straight lines. On the long side of the rectangle, make a small mark with your knife every 3 1/2 inches. On the opposite side, make a mark in the middle of each of the marks you already made.
Make clean slices across the dough connecting the marks in the zig-zag pattern to make triangles.
Take one triangle and roll it on the counter into a croissant, starting with the wider end and rolling it with the palm of your hand towards the point. Place the croissant on a parchment paper lined baking sheet with the point of the croissant touching the pan. This ensures that the croissant will not unroll when it is baked.
Repeat this for the remaining croissants. Depending on the size of your final rectangle and size of the triangles, this recipe will make around 10-12 croissants.
Proof Sourdough Croissants
Whisk an egg and apply egg wash onto the croissants with a basting brush. This will keep them from drying while they proof. Cover the whisked egg bowl and basting brush and store in the fridge. You will use it one more time before baking.
Leave the croissants to proof and double in size for 2-4 hours in a spot that does not have a draft. A cool oven is a good place for this, just don’t forget about them and accidentally turn the oven on!
If you would like, you can cover them with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight if you are wanting fresh baked croissants in the morning.
These croissants can also be frozen, just place them in the freezer after they have proofed. Bake from frozen by adding just an extra 2-3 minutes.
Bake!
Once the croissants have doubled, set the oven to 380℉ and apply the egg wash once more. Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until they are a dark golden color.
Bring them out of the oven and allow them to rest on the baking sheet for about 15 minutes undisturbed. They are still baking and this is an important time to leave them alone. If any butter has leaked out, usually it will reabsorb into the croissants if they are left alone.
Once they have rested, enjoy the amazingly delicious reward of your work! There is nothing quite like the feeling of biting into a freshly baked flakey homemade sourdough croissant! Bon appétit!
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Sourdough Croissants made with Sourdough Starter
Flakey and buttery sourdough croissants. A labor of love, but it is so worth it when your first bite takes you straight to a Parisian café.
Ingredients
- 150 grams active sourdough starter
- 113 grams filtered water
- 113 grams whole milk
- 50 grams butter, melted
- 450 grams organic unbleached all-purpose flour
- 45 grams granulated sugar
- 9 grams sea salt
- 250 grams unsalted butter, room temperature for butter filling
Instructions
Feed your Sourdough Starter
For this recipe, you need 150 grams of active, mature sourdough starter. Active starter is sourdough starter that has been fed equal parts flour and water within the past 4-6 hours and has doubled and is bubbly.
If you want to set aside the exact amount of sourdough starter for this recipe, combine 50 grams of sourdough starter, 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water in a glass jar. You will use all of the starter for the recipe, so make sure you have extra reserved.
Make, Knead and Proof the Sourdough Croissants Dough
Once your starter is bubbly and active, whisk the sourdough starter, melted unsalted butter, water and whole milk together in a bowl. Then add in the organic unbleached all-purpose flour, sugar and salt. Using your hands or a dough whisk, mix the ingredients together until the dough is formed. Cover the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, flip the dough out onto a clean counter (no flour needed). Knead the dough for about 3-5 minutes until it is no longer sticky but forms a nice smooth dough ball.
Place the dough into a butter greased glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap or beeswax wrap. Allow the dough to bulk rise at room temperature until it has doubled and looks a bit puffy- about 4-6 hours.
Once the dough has doubled, place it in the fridge to continue a slow fermentation for a minimum of 12 hours. You can leave it in the fridge like this for up to 3 days as long as it is covered with the plastic wrap so the dough does not dry out.
Le Beurrage (Butter filling)
On the day you are ready to bake your sourdough croissants, grab some good quality, high fat, room temperature unsalted butter to make the butter filling, or beurrage.
Start by folding parchment paper into an 8x8" square packet. The first fold will need to extend past the 8 inches and then will be folded over again on itself. I found that prefolding the parchment paper is easier than trying to measure and fold while the butter is already on the paper.
Make sure your butter is at room temperature. Otherwise it will be a little more difficult to manipulate into the parchment paper packet.
Slice the butter to 1/4" or so thickness and lay the slices down on the parchment paper. Fold it back up, enclosing the butter, and roll the butter into all of the corners and spaces within the packet. This is called le beurrage and is essentially going to give your sourdough croissants those amazing flakey layers when baked.
Place the beurrage in the refrigerator for 6 minutes until it is a little cool but has not hardened. You want the butter to be pliable and a similar consistency to the cold dough you will be working with.
If the butter gets too hard, it will break while you roll it in the dough and will result in less flakey croissants. If the butter hardens, it really is best to give it time to soften until it is more flexible.
Laminate the dough
Once the beurrage is at the right temperature, pull the sourdough croissant dough out of the fridge. Place it on a floured surface and begin to roll it out into a 8x17" rectangle. The dough will be just slightly longer than the beurrage so that it can fold over and cover it completely.
Unwrap the beurrage and lay it down on the bottom half of the dough. Fold the top half of the dough down and over the butter so that the edges of the dough meet.
Turn the dough 90 degrees and roll the dough/butter layers to about 18" long.
Remember to keep your work surface nicely floured as you work with the dough. You do not want to have the dough stick or break while you are laminating.
Fold again x2
Once it is rolled out, fold the top part of the dough down to about 3/4ths of the way down. Bring the bottom part of the dough up to meet the edge of the folded dough. This should create somewhat of a square. Keeping the dough in the same position, fold it in half.
Turn the dough 90 degrees and roll the dough lengthwise to about 20" long. When rolling it, focus on elongating the dough rather than making it more wide.
Last fold!
Fold the top part of the dough 2/3rds of the way down. Then bring the bottom portion all the way up and over the dough you just folded down - like a pamphlet.
*I felt like I needed to chill my dough for about 10 minutes at this point. If your dough/butter is still cool, feel free to skip the chilling and roll it out to the final rectangle before cutting and shaping the croissants. This will depend on the temperature of your house, how quickly you work with the dough, surface temperature, etc. The main thing you want to avoid is the butter getting too warm and melting. If you need to chill it, cover the dough in plastic wrap and place it on a flat surface in the fridge till it is cool again.
Once the dough is folded pamphlet style, turn it 90 degrees and roll it out to create your final rectangle. Make this one approximately 8x24".
Shape Sourdough Croissants
With a knife or pastry cutter, trim the edges to make straight lines. On the long side of the rectangle, make a small mark with your knife every 3 1/2 inches. On the opposite side, make a mark in the middle of each of the marks you already made.
Make clean slices across the dough connecting the marks in the zig-zag pattern to make triangles.
Take one triangle and roll it on the counter into a croissant, starting with the wider end and rolling it with the palm of your hand towards the point. Place the croissant on a parchment paper lined baking sheet with the point of the croissant touching the pan. This ensures that the croissant will not unroll when it is baked.
Repeat this for the remaining croissants. Depending on the size of your final rectangle and size of the triangles, this recipe will make around 10-12 croissants.
Proof Sourdough Croissants
Whisk an egg and apply egg wash onto the croissants with a basting brush. This will keep them from drying while they proof. Cover the whisked egg bowl and basting brush and store in the fridge. You will use it one more time before baking.
Leave the croissants to proof and double in size for 2-4 hours in a spot that does not have a draft. A cool oven is a good place for this, just don't forget about them and accidentally turn the oven on!
Bake!
Once the croissants have doubled, set the oven to 380℉ and apply the egg wash once more. Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until they are a dark golden color.
Bring them out of the oven and allow them to rest on the baking sheet for about 15 minutes undisturbed. They are still baking and this is an important time to leave them alone. If any butter has leaked out, usually it will reabsorb into the croissants if they are left alone.
Once they have rested, enjoy the amazingly delicious reward of your work! There is nothing quite like the feeling of biting into a freshly baked flakey homemade sourdough croissant! Bon appétit!
Notes
If you would like, you can cover them with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight if you are wanting fresh baked croissants in the morning.
These croissants can also be frozen, just place them in the freezer after they have proofed. Bake from frozen by adding just an extra 2-3 minutes.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 367Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 57mgSodium: 333mgCarbohydrates: 38gFiber: 1gSugar: 4gProtein: 5g
Wow these look so amazing! I have baked with sourdough for 2 years but have never tried croissants!
Same! It took me a while to try making them, but I’m so glad I did! Let me know if you give them a try 🙂
These croissants looks delicious. Is the 50g of melted butter in unsalted butter as well? Can I use the same butter used for the beurrage/butter filling? I can’t wait to make these. 🙂
On my first try my butter was too soft and spilled out all over the place during folding. I made them anyway and they were, meh, okay I guess. (: I tried again with harder butter and as I’m watching them bake in the oven now I see butter spilling out everywhere. Is this normal?
Hi! Yes it is normal for the butter to melt out a bit during baking. Leave them undisturbed to completely cool once you bring them out of the oven and a lot of the butter should absorb back into the croissants. Thank you for giving the recipe a try!
Unsalted butter since you add salt. If you are going to use salted butter, just reduce the salt amount in the dough.
When you say we can put them in the fridge over night and bake in the morning, is this after proofing or will the proofing be done in the fridge overnight?
Hi! You could place them in the fridge after they have proofed for 1-2 hours, or even right away if you wish. They will continue to proof in the fridge, it will just slow down the process.
I made them today and they turned out heavenly! Thank you for such and awesome recipe!
I’m by my self so I have some left overs trying really hard not to eat them all hahaha, how do you recommend I store them? Room temp? Or should I go a head and freeze them?
Thank you!
I’m so glad they turned out great! Not eating them all is such a struggle! You can definitely store covered at room temperature for a few days, or freeze them. If you freeze them, you can reheat them in the oven for 10 minutes or so at a low temperature (300 or so) and they will be crispy again. Thanks for trying the recipe!
Just one more question for future reference, if I do end up putting them in the fridge after snapping them (saying I don’t let them proof at room temp for the 2 Hours) when I’m ready to bake them do I bake them straight from the fridge? Or should I let them proof at room temp before?
Yes, ideally, I would let it come to room temp/proof for a few hours before baking if you have not proofed prior to refrigeration.
If the butter started to spill out when I’m rolling it out is that bad? Will it effect it a lot?
It might melt out a bit more during baking if it is still visible once you shaped the croissants, but they should be okay still. Thanks for trying the recipe!
Hi! I was wondering if you could answer a few of my questions. This is the first time I’m trying croissants. And everything was going good until I got to the after the pamphlet fold it was so hard for me to roll out like I could not get it to the right size, do you think I did something wrong? Maybe I need a better rolling pin. Also I have them in my off oven right now rising and it’s been 4 hours and they still don’t seem much bigger. Do you think I just need to let them rise more before I bake? Thank you! 🙂
Hi Britney! How did they turn out? I am thinking the rolling out may have been difficult because it was either too cold or sometimes leaving the dough to rest for 15 minutes or so helps it roll more easily. It definitely is a trick figuring out how to get it just right! As for the rise, did you use starter that was active/peak rising? If not, that could slow the rise time. Thanks for trying out the recipe! Let me know if you have any more questions 🙂
Thanks for getting back to me! They turned out yummy but a little almost doughy in the middle but flaky on the outside. I’m going to try again and see if I can get the rolling portion better 😄 I’m still not sure why they didn’t double in size, my starter was definitely active and ready, do you think my kitchen was too cold?
You could increase the baking time, the outside should be really golden and almost brown.. I wonder if they needed a little longer in the oven. Also, be sure to let them cool before cutting into them. They continue to cook on the inside when you pull them out of the oven.
That is odd that they did not rise much for the second rise.. temperature could impact that. Did they puff up at all? They may have needed a little longer if you are in a cooler climate. It sounds like you were pretty successful, though! Just may need to play around with it 🙂
Excited to make these. Will they be sandwich size for an egg? I’m wanting to make them for an egg sandwich for my girls but I’m not sure if these are smaller or big enough to fill? Thanks!
They should be large enough for an egg, but you can always go a little longer for the wider side if you want them to be even larger.
Loved making these it was my first time making crescents and it was so fun and easy! They’re delicious!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for sharing 🙂
First time! Was very worried about the fold and roll out part. Mine seemed much thicker. But I rolled with it! Not the prettiest but they are soooo good!!
Great job!! It took me a few times to get the process down but it sounds like it worked out! Thanks for trying the recipe:)
SO delicious!! Thank you for sharing this recipe and making croissant making easy!! Making these for the second time because the first batch was enjoyed very quickly!