AI-generated illustration of eight golden all-butter croissants with flaky layers cooling on a wire rack.

Breakfast

Homemade All-Butter Croissants

Published 02 November 2026 · Updated 02 November 2026

These croissants are made from a lightly sweetened yeast dough wrapped around a sheet of unsalted butter. Chilled folds build the layers, while a slow final prove gives the pastry room to open before baking to a crisp, deeply golden finish.

Not kitchen tested by The Black Farmer.
Serves 8
Prep 140 min
Cook 30 min
Total 1290 min

Timing: Baseline 21 hours 30 minutes including a fixed 12-hour overnight rest: 110 minutes standalone prep + 1120 minutes rest/chill/prove + 30 minutes baking + 30 minutes cooling = 1290 minutes elapsed. Hands-on prep is 120 minutes because 10 minutes forming the butter overlaps the initial dough chill; oven preheating is unattended and its 25 minutes are wholly inside the final prove. The initial-chill parallel group is a 120-minute dough chill with butter work at 0–10 and butter chilling at 10–120, not three concurrent tasks starting together. Proof group is 180 minutes with preheat at 155–180. Initial mixing includes 8 minutes kneading; baking includes tray exchange; cooling is 5 then 25 minutes, not an extra transfer period. All are estimates, not testing results. Publisher schema normalisation: active_prep_minutes is the 110-minute non-overlapped prep contribution, not the 120-minute hands-on workload. prep_minutes includes this 110 plus 0 marination plus 30 cooling, giving 140; total remains 140 prep + 30 cook + 1120 rest = 1290. The original method and every timing segment, including overlap offsets, are unchanged.

Ingredients

Adds 1 items across 1 products — £3.80 total.

Pantry ingredients such as oil, salt and herbs are not included.

Other Ingredients You'll Need

  • Strong white bread flour — 425g total: 400g in the dough and up to 25g for dusting (Use bread flour with about 11–12.5% protein. Keep the 25g dusting allowance separate; use it sparingly during rolling and brush away loose flour before every fold. Any unused dusting flour is not added to the dough.)
  • Caster sugar — 36g (All mixed into the dough.)
  • Fine salt — 8g (All mixed into the dough; no added salt in the glaze.)
  • Fast-action dried yeast — 6g (Use yeast labelled for direct mixing with flour, not fresh yeast or a variety requiring activation.)
  • Water — 250ml total: 240ml for the dough and 10ml for the glaze (Use refrigerator-cold water for the dough; keep the glaze water separate.)
  • Egg — 1 medium (Beat with the reserved 10ml water immediately before glazing. Brush on a thin film; discard unused raw glaze.)

Method

Mix a cool, moderately developed dough

Allow 20 minutes for measuring, mixing and kneading. Stir the 400g dough flour, sugar, salt and fast-action yeast together, add 240ml cold water and mix until no dry patches remain. Knead by hand for about 8 minutes within this allowance, until cohesive, smoother and slightly springy rather than stretched to a very thin windowpane. It should feel firm but bend without crumbling; do not add the dusting allowance to stiffen it. Flatten into an 18cm square, wrap without squeezing it tightly and put on a flat tray.

Chill the dough and form the butter block

Refrigerate the wrapped dough for 2 hours at 5°C or below. During the first 10 minutes of this chill, slice all 200g unsalted butter and put it between sheets of parchment. Tap with the rolling pin and roll into a flat, even 16 × 18cm rectangle; square up the corners inside a folded parchment envelope. Refrigerate the wrapped butter for the remaining 110 minutes alongside the dough. Butter preparation and its chilling fit inside the dough chill, not after it.

Match flexibility, not just temperature

Allow 10 minutes for conditioning and checking. Leave the dough refrigerated while gently tapping the parchment-wrapped butter on the counter until it bends slightly without snapping and takes a shallow dent without becoming greasy. Remove the dough only for the final comparison: both should resist a fingertip by a similar amount, though they need not have identical thermometer readings. If the butter smears, return it to the refrigerator; if it fractures, let it soften gradually while the dough stays chilled. Do not microwave. Take longer if needed and record the extra time; cold brittle butter will break into islands and warm butter will merge into the dough.

Enclose the butter and make the first letter fold

Allow 15 minutes. Lightly dust with some of the separate 25g flour allowance. Roll the dough to 18cm wide × 36cm long, with a short edge towards you. Unwrap the 16cm-wide × 18cm-long butter block and centre it on the dough: leave 1cm bare down each side and 9cm bare at each short end. Fold the lower 9cm flap up and the upper 9cm flap down so their edges meet across the middle of the butter. Pinch this join and the side borders closed without trapping flour; the parcel is 18 × 18cm. With the seam underneath, tap gently to distribute pressure, then roll to 18 × 54cm. Brush off loose flour. Fold the bottom 18cm third up and the top 18cm third over it, keeping the edges square: one letter fold, giving an 18 × 18cm packet. Do not add more butter.

Rest between the first and second turns

Wrap and refrigerate for 40 minutes. Keep the packet flat, with room for slight expansion; this chill also relaxes the dough so it is less likely to tear.

Make the second letter fold

Allow 10 minutes. Rotate the chilled packet a quarter turn relative to its previous rolling direction; keep track by setting the folded spine on your left. Roll to 18 × 54cm, brush off excess dusting flour, then fold the lower third up and upper third down to return to 18 × 18cm. Work with light strokes rather than forcing the butter through the dough.

Rest between the second and third turns

Wrap and refrigerate for another 40 minutes, lying flat.

Make the third letter fold

Allow 10 minutes. Turn the packet a quarter turn again, roll to 18 × 54cm, brush away loose flour and make the same three-part letter fold to 18 × 18cm. This completes three letter folds after enclosing the butter; no further turns are needed.

Rest overnight

Wrap and refrigerate the packet for 12 hours at 5°C or below. Plan the next day backwards from serving: the final shaping, proving, baking and cooling still need several hours. The 12 hours are included in the total, not hidden in preparation.

Roll out without crushing the layers

Allow 20 minutes to tap and roll the cold packet gradually to 50 × 30cm, using the remaining dusting flour sparingly. Keep the thickness even, approximately 5–6mm, and lift the sheet occasionally to release tension rather than stretching it against the bench. Cover the sheet on a flat tray and refrigerate for 20 minutes before cutting. If your tray cannot take the full sheet, support it on a clean board that fits the refrigerator; do not fold or stack the final sheet.

Cut exactly eight triangles and shape

Allow 20 minutes, including lining the two trays and transferring the pastries. Trim about 1cm from each edge to leave a 48 × 28cm rectangle; remove the scraps from this recipe rather than kneading them back into the layers. Across the 48cm width, cut at 12, 24 and 36cm to give four 12 × 28cm rectangles. Cut each rectangle corner to opposite corner: this gives exactly eight congruent right-angled triangles, each with a 12cm short base and 28cm perpendicular height, not sixteen pastries. With the 12cm base towards you, gently draw the far point towards the centre line above that base so the roll will not lean; do not pull the base wider or force the triangle longer. Roll from base towards point with light, even tension, without squeezing out the layers. Keep the tip tucked underneath. Leave them straight, four on each tray in two rows, with at least 7cm between shaped pastries. Cover with the deep covers so nothing touches the tops.

Prove gently, and heat the oven near the end

Allow about 3 hours at 22–24°C, out of direct sunlight and away from a radiator. Keep the covered trays level. Do not use a heated oven or any proving space above 26°C: the butter must stay in distinct layers. The croissants should be noticeably larger, with separated edges and a soft wobble when the tray is nudged; a clock alone is not the endpoint. If they are tight and firm, continue proving and add the actual extra time. If butter begins pooling, the space is too warm: move the trays somewhere cooler. During the final 25 minutes of proving, heat a separate oven to 210°C conventional / 190°C fan, with shelves in the upper and lower thirds. This preheat overlaps the prove; the covered pastries stay on the counter, not in the oven.

Glaze without sealing the cut edges

Allow 5 minutes. Beat the medium egg with the reserved 10ml water. Uncover the pastries and brush a thin film over the curved tops; avoid brushing raw glaze into the exposed cut layers or leaving puddles on the tray. Discard the unused glaze, wash the brush and your hands, and load both trays into the fully heated oven.

Bake through, not just until the tops colour

Bake both trays together for 10 minutes at 210°C conventional / 190°C fan. Without removing the pastries, reduce to 190°C conventional / 170°C fan / gas 5 and bake for about 20 minutes more. Halfway through this lower-temperature stage, quickly exchange the trays top to bottom and rotate front to back; this handling is included in the 20 minutes. Look for deep golden tops, browned undersides and set, dry-looking folds, not a pale soft band where layers meet. Extend the lower-temperature stage if needed and count the extra time; do not assume colour on the egg wash alone means the centre is baked.

Cool before serving

Allow 30 minutes from leaving the oven: leave on the trays for the first 5 minutes, then lift carefully to a rack and cool for the remaining 25 minutes so steam can escape. Serve warm rather than piping hot. Jam, sliced strawberries and plain yoghurt make a breakfast alongside one croissant; these accompaniments are separate from the ingredients, basket and timing.

Serving Suggestion

Serve one croissant with strawberry jam, sliced strawberries and plain yoghurt, prepared separately. No relevant accompaniment recipe was established from the supplied inventory; no unrelated existing recipe link is forced in.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the butter cracking or pushing through?

The butter and dough need similar flexibility, not merely equal coldness. Brittle butter breaks under the rolling pin; greasy butter smears into the dough. Stop and correct the texture rather than rolling harder. The conditioning stage and optional extra chill are there for this.

Why does this make eight, not sixteen croissants?

The final trimmed sheet is divided into four rectangles, not eight. A single diagonal cut in each gives eight equal-area right-angled triangles. Position each point over its own base before rolling; the shape is not an isosceles triangle cut from a zigzag strip.

Can I hurry the prove in a warm oven?

Not with this method. Prove at 22–24°C and keep below 26°C to protect the butter layers. A cooler room may take longer than the three-hour estimate; wait for expansion and wobble, not just the timer.

Does all-butter mean the initial dough contains butter?

Here all the pastry fat is the 200g unsalted butter enclosed as a lamination sheet; the initial dough has no added fat. There is no margarine, oil or ready-made puff pastry.