Brioche croissants (recipe with step by step)

I am in love with brioche dough. It's sweet, it's light and smooth and totally accessible to make at home. What I was dying for was to find the perfect recipe to make brioche croissants , and I certainly have found it! It is an easier croissant to make than the traditional one, also different in flavor and texture, and delicious.

National Croissant Day is this coming January 30, and since the croissant has always been one of my favorite snacks (accompanied simply by a few ounces of chocolate it has no equal), I wanted to honor it properly.

So after many tests, some disappointment, several successes and a lot of desire, I have been getting closer to finding this recipe to make delicious Brioche Croissants . I leave you with the step by step with photos to make these croissants and some considerations that I hope will help you enjoy it a lot and in a variety of ways.

In this case I have made 6 very large croissants, but I will tell you in the recipe how to cut the dough to make 12 medium croissants .

Why make brioche croissants

In recent months I have been finding bakeries and pastry shops with brioche croissants on their counters. Yes, brioche croissants are in fashion : very appetizing and with that body of such a delicious dough, I needed to find the recipe to make them, because apart from liking it infinitely , brioche dough is very easy to make. These homemade croissants are one of the easiest you can make at home, within the homemade croissants in which you develop the dough yourself.

If there is one thing I love about brioche croissants, it is that since they are not an excessively sweet dough, they can be used for many uses : they are delicious on their own; if you want to enjoy them in a sweet breakfast you can accompany them with butter, chocolate or jams; And if you want to eat them salty, you can fill them with ham, cheese, tuna... They are also ideal for a salty breakfast.

By making the homemade, natural croissants, without additives or preservatives, the croissans will last you well for two to three days (although believe me they will fly the first!).

NOTE: If instead of brioche croissants you want to make traditional croissants, you will find the recipe here .

Ingredients

• 70 + 100 ml of whole milk
• 18 gr of fresh yeast
• 500 gr of flour of force
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs M (140 gr)
• 90 grams of white sugar
• 130 g of softened butter

Also, have on hand:

• Flour for dusting
• egg to brush
• Half a glass of water and 4 tablespoons of white sugar for the final touch of sweetness (or icing sugar for sprinkling)

Preparation

We prepare the dough:

1. Heat the 70 ml of milk a little, slightly and without burning.
2. Introduce the fresh yeast into the milk and stir. Let it dissolve and reserve.
3. Pour the 500 gr of flour, the teaspoon of salt, the eggs and the sugar in the bowl of the KitchenAid mixer and turn on speed 2 with the hook accessory.
4. When the eggs start to mix with the dough, add the reserved milk with the yeast and the remaining 100 ml of milk.
5. Increase to medium speed and let a dough be made. It will be quite dry and solid. It is time to add the butter.
6. Cut the softened butter (neither cold nor melted) into cubes and pour a third of it into the dough. Wait until it is practically integrated and add the other third. Finally and when it is also incorporated, add the rest.
7. Now it's time to knead, rest and knead. Several times, as the gluten in the dough must develop and get a smooth dough: knead for 12 to 15 minutes and let the dough rest for a couple of minutes. Knead again for 5 more minutes and let it rest. Do it again if you need it, until the dough is ready and elastic.
8. When ready, brush the bowl with oil and leave the dough to rest, covered with a cotton cloth, in a warm place*, until doubled in volume (about 1.5 to 2 hours).

*I usually turn on the oven at 40º while I prepare the dough, and I stop it when I'm finishing with it. It is a great place to let the dough rest, the heat that the oven retains during that time helps to raise the dough quickly.

Maxwell and Williams Wombat Cotton Washcloth

We form the croissans

1. When the dough has doubled in volume, we pour it onto a clean and floured surface.
2. We remove the air by pressing with our knuckles and stretch the dough with the help of a rolling pin , forming a rectangle**.
3. With the help of a bread scraper , we cut the dough crosswise several times (as in the photo), thus forming triangles in it.
4. At the base of each triangle, we make a not very long cut, it will help us to separate the "bañas" when forming the croissant.
5. Now we must shape the croissant: take the first triangle, slightly separate the ends of the base and start turning it on top of itself, rolling the entire triangle up to the tip. Turn the ends if you want to make those characteristic "baths" of the croissant, or leave it without turning if you want the croissant straight.
6. Form croissants with the rest of the dough triangles you have, and arrange them on a baking tray (I used the Nordic Ware Naturals tray , which is very wide, with the De Buyer perforated silicone mat ).
7. Cover with a cotton cloth and let rest for half an hour, so that the dough relaxes again.

**I have chosen to make large croissants. I have made mine really very large, I have made 6 units only with a very generous amount of dough. I recommend you stretch the dough more (make a longer rectangle, so you can make more triangles), or cut the rectangle in half lengthwise, so that from each half you can make 6 triangles and thus obtain 12 medium croissants.

We bake the croissants

1. Preheat the oven to 170ºC.
2. Brush the croissants with beaten egg and place them in the oven, with heat at the top and bottom but the tray in the rather low part of the oven.
3. Wait for them to bake. It will depend on the size that you have made the croissants that will take more or less, but do not walk away, you can have them in 15 or 20 minutes.
4. (Optional) When they start to turn golden, mix 3-4 tablespoons of sugar in half a glass of water, and brush the croissans generously with the mixture. With this you will get not only more shine, but also give them that characteristic and sweet touch of croissans. If you prefer to leave them without that touch, simply skip this step, and you can present the croissants with icing sugar on top once baked, or without at all.
5. Let the croissants cool on the tray before serving.

How to flavor or fill your croissants

If you want, you can flavor the croissants :

• If you like your brioche with a hint of vanilla, add a tablespoon and a half of vanilla extract to the batter when you add the milk;
• If you want to make lemon or orange flavored croissans, add the zest of these citrus fruits and a couple of tablespoons of their juice to the dough.
• It is also interesting to make these coconut flavored croissants: add 3 tablespoons of coconut oil and half a cup of grated coconut.

Surely you consider making chocolate brioche croissants . In this case you have several options:

• Add a cup of chocolate chips to the dough (not the best option I think at the time when we make the brioche in the form of a croissant, but it is certainly a very convenient option).
• Put one or two ounces of chocolate inside the dough: put them just when the small cut you have made in the dough ends, so when you turn the dough over, the chocolate will be in the middle. Don't overdo the chocolate or it will spill out as it melts in the oven.
• You can also insert white chocolate, or cocoa cream and hazelnuts if that is what you like at home.
• You can make brioche with cocoa dough: add a cup of cocoa powder to the dough when you prepare the dough (in this case, I encourage you to also add a few tablespoons of coconut oil to the dough, which apart from helping to integrate the cocoa marries wonderfully with the flavor of chocolate).

Other things to keep in mind

• Remember what has been said about the number of croissans: I recommend making twice as many units, simply by cutting the rectangular dough in half, thus obtaining twice as many triangles afterwards.
• Store brioche croissants in a cotton bag or storage jar. Here you will see many ideal containers for it.