Description
This sourdough croissant recipe offers bakery-quality, flaky, buttery cardamom pastries for home baking. It’s a healthy and satisfying treat, perfect for weekend breakfasts, promising golden croissants everyone will love.
Ingredients
Scale
- 100 g (3.5 oz) active sourdough starter
- 450 g (15.9 oz) bread flour, plus extra for dusting
- 50 g (1.8 oz) granulated sugar
- 10 g (0.35 oz) fine sea salt
- 5 g (1 tsp) ground green cardamom
- 180 ml (0.75 cup) cold water
- 25 g (0.9 oz) unsalted butter, softened
- 225 g (8 oz) high-quality unsalted butter, very cold (min 82% fat), for lamination
- 1 large egg, whisked with 1 tbsp (15 ml) water, for egg wash
- 50 g (1.8 oz) raw shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp (25 g) granulated sugar, for glaze
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) water, for glaze
- pinch ground cardamom, for glaze
- 15 g (0.5 oz) powdered sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- Prep Sourdough Starter: Feed your sourdough starter overnight so it’s bubbly, peaked, and active by morning.
- Mix Croissant Dough: Combine dry ingredients, then add cold water, active starter, and 25g softened butter. Mix until shaggy (2-3 min) then knead (5-7 min in a mixer) until smooth and elastic.
- Ferment and Chill Dough: Rest the dough for 30 min. Bulk ferment for 3-4 hours at 20-22 degrees C (68-72 degrees F). Shape the dough into a rectangle, wrap it, and refrigerate for 12-18 hours until firm.
- Prepare Butter Block: On Day 2, flatten 225g of very cold butter between parchment paper to a 15×15 cm (6×6 inch) square. Chill for 20 min until pliable.
- Laminate The Dough: Roll out the chilled dough. Enclose the butter block, sealing completely. Roll out the dough and perform one single fold (folding into thirds). Chill for 30 min. Repeat this fold twice more, chilling the dough for 30 min after each fold. If the butter breaks during rolling, chill for 10-15 min.
- Shape Croissants: On Day 3, roll the dough to 30×90 cm (3-4 mm thick). Cut 8-10 triangles with a 10 cm base. Incise the base of each triangle, stretch, roll tightly, and curve the ends. Place the shaped croissants on parchment paper.
- Proof Croissants: Proof the croissants in a warm, humid environment (24-26 degrees C / 75-79 degrees F) for 3-5 hours until they are puffy, soft, and doubled in size. (An unheated oven with hot water can create this environment).
- Bake and Finish Croissants: Preheat oven to 190 degrees C (375 degrees F). Brush the proofed croissants with egg wash. Bake for 18-22 min until deep golden brown. While warm, brush with the prepared cardamom glaze, scatter with toasted pistachios (toasted for 2-3 min until fragrant), and dust with powdered sugar.
Notes
For a variation, add chocolate batons to shape pain au chocolat. Store baked croissants in an airtight container at room temperature for 1-2 days, or freeze for longer storage.
- Prep Time: 120 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Category: Breakfast, Pastry
- Method: Baking, Lamination
- Cuisine: French
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 croissant (approx 90 g)
- Calories: 380 calories
- Sugar: 12 g
- Sodium: 350 mg
- Fat: 24 g
- Saturated Fat: 14 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 9 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 45 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 8 g
- Cholesterol: 60 mg
Keywords: sourdough, croissants, cardamom, flaky pastry, baking, breakfast, French, laminated dough, pistachios, homemade