.buttery croissants.

When I had the bakery, we made a lot of things with or croissants -- breakfast sandwiches, chicken sandwiches... you know.. those types of things.  However, we usually *bought* them from our supplier because making croissant dough is a feat and when you're expecting to make a bazillion sandwiches each week, there's just no way to keep up *and* run a bakery.

However, we did make enough croissant dough for our danishes.  The flaky, buttery goodness just melts in your mouth.  If you would like to try your hand at this, it's not hard... just time consuming!  Trust me.. the results are well worth the effort.

First you want to start out by making your dough.  I use the same recipe I use for my french bread.  It's a very simple dough.  Let it rise in the fridge until double.

Flour your counter and roll the dough into a rectangular shape as best you can.  Don't roll too thin.

I used only half the dough because we just didn't need that many croissants.  If you make the whole batch at once, you'll need to double the butter measurement below.

Take 2 sticks butter (1 cup) and flatten them.  I used the palm but you can use your rolling pin.

Place the butter down the center of the dough.

Fold half the dough over the butter.

Then fold the other side over.

Then fold one end up 1/3 of the way.

Then fold the other half over.  All cute and snug as a bug. :)

Wrap the dough with saran and put in the fridge.

It's important to keep the dough cold.  This keeps the butter from working into the dough too much each time you roll.  This gives you those wonderful flaky layers that make croissants sooooo desireable!

After the dough has been held in the fridge for about an hour to hour and half, pull out and roll out again into a rectangle.  Repeat the folding steps. 

Re-wrap with the saran and put in the fridge.  You need to roll and fold another 5-6 times.  Wrap well after the last time and keep in the fridge overnight.

The next day, your dough whill be all ready to go!

Unwrap and roll out into a rectangle again.

Cut into triangles.  I made my croissants small because we had them with breakfast.  If I were using these for danish or sandwiches, I would cut the slices much bigger.

Roll the dough up and bend into crescent shapes.

Make sure you either butter your baking sheet or spray with Pam.

Put in a 400* oven and bake for about 30 minutes.  When they are beautiful golden, pull them out and let cool.

Serve with jam.