How to Make Stunning Croissants at Home

Get those perfectly burnished, flaky pastries straight from your oven with this expert advice.

Does anything in the baking realm rival a fresh croissant, the way its burnished shell shatters, then yields to the silky, bready, layered interior? Simply, the answer is no. A pastry as miraculous as a croissant is, predictably, tricky to make at home. There is the lamination — the process of rolling and flattening butter into thin sheets between layers of dough — and the rolling and folding of that butter-layered dough, a technique called a “turn.” In professional settings, machines called slab rollers in temperature-controlled rooms laminate the dough quickly and effectively, producing light, flaky, uniform croissants. Home bakers, however, must complete these tasks by hand, making it harder, slower and much more variable.