Overnight Sourdough Croissants (Step-By-Step Recipe) | Somebody Feed Seb (2024)

How nice would it be to enjoy a freshly home-baked Croissant and imagine you’ve just bought it in a lovely Parisian viennoiserie? Oh yes… This is a Sourdough Croissant recipe that will take you on a journey to France! Flaky and buttery OvernightSourdough Croissantsare made over two days and boast all the lovely features of a traditional Croissant: the crescent shape, the layers created by lamination and the crispy brown exterior!

We promise you two things, with a bit of practice, these Overnight Sourdough Croissants will taste even better than the ones you get in a coffee shop and, more importantly, you will feel so very proud of yourself that you may ask your friends and family to call you ‘Chef’ from then on!

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Sourdough Croissants: Labour of Love

There are no two ways about it, making Croissants takes a long time, and making them with sourdough starter instead of commercial yeast draws out the process a little bit longer still.

What you get in return, though, is totally worth it! You will be left with a good amount of flaky buttery pastries that you can do a lot with:

• Eat them fresh on the same day on their own!
• Stuff them with sweet or savoury fillings
• Make a Croissant Bread & Butter Pudding if your Overnight Sourdough Croissants have gone a bit stale after a couple of days. Or make our deliciousAlmond Sourdough Croissants!
• On Day 2 after the Croissants have been baked, reheat them in the oven for 3-4 minutes to make them crispy and fresh tasting again
• You can freeze unbaked or baked croissants and enjoy them on-demand (see tips below)!

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I made these Sourdough Croissants a handful of times now, and I will have to admit that the first two batches, whilst still delicious, were not perfect! It takes a certain amount of practice to get croissants right, but even if you’re a novice baker or it’s your first attempt at making croissants, I would not be discouraged! After making these a couple of times, you will be a pro at making the best sourdough croissants every weekend!

Naturally leavened pastry, laminated with a generous amount of butter simply cannot taste bad! So we encourage you to read all the tips that we collected over our own trials and give this recipe a go!

You will be surprised that you don’t really need baking skills to make our Overnight Sourdough Croissants. All you need is time, patience, a little temperature control and A LOT OF BUTTER!

And once you master these, you can venture into the world ofSourdough Pain and Chocolat(Chocolate Croissants),,Kouign Amann,Sourdough CruffinsandDanish Pastries!

So let’s get into the technical bits!

Sourdough Starter For Croissants

Sourdough Croissants are made without any commercial yeast and only rely on natural yeasts in sourdough starter for the rise of the dough. It is, therefore, very important to have a great sourdough starter. What do I mean by great?

Well, first of all, it needs to be low in acid. That means that your starter needs to be frequently refreshed prior to using it to make croissants. Détrempé (the dough) for croissants is enriched with butter and sugar and will require the extra strength of the yeast to rise the dough. Feed your starter for 2-3 days in a row before using it for Sourdough Croissants. Regular feeds will ensure both low acidity and strong yeast colonies.

Of course, you know your own starter well, so adjust as needed. More onmaintaining sourdough starter here.

Another important thing to remember is to use your starter as soon as it reaches its peak (and never once it starts to deflate unless the recipe specifies ‘sourdough discard’). Once you fed your starter one last time before making croissants, leave it in a warm spot for 4-5 hours.

It should double (maybe even triple in volume) in that time and you’re fine to use it then. If you leave it for longer, your starter may reach its peak and then start deflating – this means the yeast is ‘hungry’ again and the starter will be too acidic to use. If your starter hasn’t doubled in 4-5 hours at 20-24°C, you may need to keep feeding it for a couple more days before it’s fit for purpose (and the purpose is to make great Sourdough Croissants, right?).

And if you haven’t yet taken to leap away from commercial yeast and into the world of Sourdough, we encourage you to do so! It’s fun! And it’s very rewarding! Here’s our guide on how tomake your own sourdough starter from scratch!

Equipment Needed

• Stand Mixerfitted with a Dough Hook Attachment: but if you want to knead the dough by hand, it is possible (whilst it will get sticky after adding the butter, you should be able to work it without too much difficulty).
• Rolling Pin: we recommend using a stainless steel one as it tends to stick less.
• Baking Parchment
• Cling Film (Plastic Wrap): we use and love Kirkland Signature Cling Film. Or you may use a large clean plastic bag to cover the croissants for their final proof.
• Sharp Knife.

Ingredient Notes

Here’s what you’ll need to make these buttery sourdough croissants:

• Flour:we highly recommend using strong bread flour with a gluten content of at least 12%.
• Salt.
• Caster Sugar: also known as superfine sugar. It may be replaced with white granulated sugar.
• Milk: we use full-fat/ whole milk in this recipe.
• Active Sourdough Starter (100% hydration – equal parts of flour and water): see more details in the section above.
• Unsalted Butter: you will need butter for the dough and to create butter layers (300g of butter in total). We highly recommend using European-style butter that is higher in fat.
• Egg yolk+ 1 tablespoonmilk or cream, for egg wash.

Find the ingredient quantities and full step-by-step instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

Step-By-Step Recipe

The entire process of making this sourdough croissant recipe takes 2 days. On day 1, we feed the sourdough starter, make détrempé, bulk ferment and finally make the laminated dough. It is left to chill overnight to develop more of that sought after sourdough flavor. The next day, we shape the pastry into crescent rolls, leave them to rise again in a warm place and then egg wash and bake them!

Day 1: Détrempé, Bulk Fermentation & Lamination

First thing in the early morning, feed your starter and leave it in a warm spot to at least double in size. This should happen within 4 hours in 20-22°C temperature. If it takes longer than that, you may need to feed your starter again, to ensure it’s active and not too acidic to make great croissants.

Make Détrempé (Croissant Dough)

Place the flour, salt, sugar, water, milk and active starter in a bowl of astand mixer, fitted with a dough hook attachment (we absolutely love ourKenwood). Turn thestand mixeron and knead for 5 minutes at medium-low speed until the dough comes together into a rough (rather stiff) ball. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, turn thestand mixeron again on medium speed, and start adding 50g of room temperature butter a little bit at a time. Keep the mixer running for around 8-10 minutes until the butter is fully incorporated and you have a smooth dough. You may need to scrape the sides of the bowl once of twice if your butter sticks to them. It shouldn’t be sticky.

Shape a ball, slash the dough with a sharp knife (a razor or a dough scorer) in a cross on top of the dough (see photos below, doing this will help you to roll it out into a square later) and place the dough in a lightly greased bowl.

Cover and leave it in a warm spot to bulk prove for approx. 4 hours. Ideally, you need a temperature of 21-23 C. If it is warmer, adjust the timing: your dough should rise x1.5 times. Place the dough in the fridge for another 3-4 hours to finish proving and double in size.

Butter Parcel

Take the cold butter out of the fridge in advance to soften slightly. Place it on a large sheet ofbaking parchment(we highly recommendBacofoil Baking Parchment– it is strong and lasts forever), place another sheet of parchment on top.

Using a rolling pin, gently bash to flatten the butter. Then fold the parchment paper under into a neat 18x18cm (7×7 in) square and roll the butter inside the parchment parcel into all the edges, aiming for the same thickness across (for process photos see below).

Enclosing the butter into the baking parchment square will help you get an even butter square with sharp edges. Still wrapped in thebaking parchment, place it in the fridge to let the butter cool down and firm up.

Take the chilled dough out of the fridge and place it onto a floured worktop. Knock the air out with the bottom of your palm and roll it into a square around 28x28cm (11x11in). Try to make it even.

Unwrap the butter (keep thebaking parchment). Place the butter in the middle of the dough on the diagonal (see the photos below).

Taking one side at a time, fold the corners of the dough into the middle of the butter block creating a square envelope. Once you fold all four sides into the middle, pinch the edges together. You should now have a 20x20cm (8x8in) butter parcel. Wrap it inbakingpaper and freeze on a flat surface for 10 minutes.

Laminate

First Fold:Dust the clean work surface with flour. Take the butter package out of the freezer, unwrap and roll the parcel out into a rectangle that’s around 50x20cm (20x8in). Make sure your dough isn’t sticking to the worktop as you roll: you want the butter encased and the bottom of the dough may tear if it sticks (having cold dough at all times helps with this). Dust with flour if needed. Using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter, cut off any untidy short edges that don’t have any butter in them.

Fold the rolled-out dough like a letter: from the short edge, hold ⅓ of the sheet into the middle, then take the opposite short edge and fold it over the first one. Wrap the dough in thebaking parchmentyou kept the butter in, or plastic wrap, and place in the freezer for 15 minutes, then transfer to the fridge for 1 hour.

Second Fold:Take the dough out of the fridge and place it short edge in front of you. Roll the dough out to 50x20cm (20x8in) again. Fold the top third towards the centre and then the bottom third over (just like before). Wrap and place the pastry in the freezer for 15 minutes, then fridge for 1 hour.

Third Fold:Just like before, roll out the dough to 50x20cm (20x8in) rectangle. Fold like a letter, wrap and place in the fridge for a minimum of 6 hours (we leave it in the fridge overnight).

Day 2: Shaping, Final Proof, Baking

Shape Croissants

On a lightly floured surface roll the pastry out into a large rectangle measuring 60x28cm (24x11in), gently getting all the air out of the pastry. You don’t want pockets of air to burst abruptly though, exposing the butter.

Trim the sides so your rectangle has straight lines on each corner of the dough. Cut 6 rectangles (approx. 10x28cm or 4x11in) using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter. I use a long ruler to make sure the rectangles are even width on both sides and make small marks with a knife before I cut.

Separate the rectangles. Use the ruler again to connect the opposite corners of the rectangle and cut across. You should now have two triangles per rectangle. Once you cut all your pastry, you should have 12 triangles.

Trim the bottoms to create a straight edge.

Make a little cut in the centre of the bottom of each triangle and stretch it out ever so slightly so the base of the triangle is wider. Roll the triangles tightly, from the bottom to the tip. Bend the ends of croissants to make a crescent shape to make traditional croissants, if you wish.

Place croissants on two baking-parchment lined trays spaced out significantly, leaving plenty of space for them to rise. Cover lightly with cling film (you may oil the cling film first) and leave them in a warm spot (21-23°C) to proof for 4-5 hours. They should really puff up and the layers of butter should be clearly visible between layers.

***If you live in a very dry climate or your kitchen is very cold: Boil a kettle of water and pour the water into an ovenproof dish. Place it in a turned-off oven to create steam and leave it shut for 5-10 minutes. The steam shouldn’t make the oven too hot (keep it under 23°C – you don’t want the butter to melt) but it should be warm and humid (this will prevent skin from forming on your croissants and hindering the proving process).

Once proofed, take the trays and the water dish out of the oven. For freezing, stop here, and see the tips in the text above.

Carefully remove the clingfilm. Place the croissants on the baking trays in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes.

Egg Wash & Bake

Preheat the oven to 190°C Fan.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk and milk. Using apastry brush, very gently wash the chilled croissants with the mixture.

Bake the croissants for around 20-25 minutes until they puff up, have visible flaky layers and are deep golden brown. Leave the croissants to cool for at least 15 minutes before digging in. They are best served within 2 hours of baking!

Tips For Best Results & FAQs

If it is your first time making croissants, here are a few questions we often get asked:

Storage and Reheating

Whilst these croissants (just like other pastries) are best on the day that they are baked, you can keep and enjoy them in the next days too. Generally speaking, homemade sourdough croissants will keep in an airtight container in a cool dark cupboard for up to 3 days (if you want to preserve them for longer, see the section below about freezing Sourdough Croissants).

Croissants will become less crunchy and flaky with each day, but you can pop them in a preheated oven for 3-5 minutes to warm them through and make the tops crispy again.

Alternatively, use older croissants to make small sandwiches, ham & cheese toasties or make these delicious Sourdough Almond Croissants instead!

Other Sourdough Pastry Recipes

If you keep a sourdough starter and are looking for other pastry ideas, have a look at our favourite treats to make below:

• Sourdough Danish Pastry with Almond Filling
• Sourdough Pain Au Chocolat
• Sourdough Cheese Straws
• Sourodugh Kouign Amann