Cédric Grolet reveals the recipe for his croissants

The ingredients of the recipe

For the croissant dough:

• 1 kilo of T45 flour
• 420g water
• 50g whole eggs
• 45g fresh yeast
• 18g salt
• 100 g caster sugar
• 20g honey
• 70g butter
• 400 g tourage butter

For the gilding:

• 300g egg yolks
• 30 g liquid cream

Preparing the recipe

Croissant dough:

1. In the mixer bowl fitted with the kneader, put the flour, water, eggs, yeast, salt, sugar and honey.
2. Mix on 1st speed until the dough is smooth, then on 2nd speed until the dough comes away from the walls. Add the softened butter and knead again until you obtain a smooth dough.
3. Cover it with a damp cloth, then leave to rise at room temperature (24 to 25°C) for 1 hour.
4. Degas by working the dough by hand. Then spread it according to the width of the butter and twice its length.
5. Place it in the freezer for 5 minutes, then in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
6. Place the tourage butter in the middle of the dough, cover it with the edge of the dough on each side.
7. Place the exposed butter in front of you. Using a rolling pin, make a double turn: roll out from bottom to top until you obtain a thickness of about 7 mm. Make a light cue mark in the middle of the dough, fold the top and bottom over that middle, then fold the dough in half again like a wallet.
8. Leave to rest for 10 minutes in the refrigerator.
9. Finally, make a simple trick: roll out the dough 1 cm thick, fold the top over a third of the dough and then the bottom over the top.
10. Roll out straight to 3.5mm thickness.

Gilding:

1. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and cream.

Assembly :

1. Cut out triangles 7 cm in base by 35 cm in height. Roll the triangles on themselves from the base to form the crescents. Leave to rise for 2 hours at 26°C.

Finishes and cooking:

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Arrange the croissants on a baking tray covered with baking paper and, using a brush, place a thin layer of gilding on each of them. Bake and cook for 15 mins. Remove from the oven, remove the croissants and let them cool on a wire rack.

A recipe taken from the book “Opéra”, Cédric Grolet, 2019, Ducasse editions