Croissants

The time it takes to produce croissants varies depending on production and quality requirements. The entire process can take anywhere between four hours and three days. Traditional croissant production is spread over approximately three days:

• Day 1 – Mix the ingredients, knead the dough, allow it to rise overnight
• Day 2 – Laminate the dough with butter or margarine, allow it to rise overnight again
• Day 3 – Sheet the dough to the desired size, cut croissant triangles out of the dough band, roll up the dough triangles, place on a baking tray and bake

The longer you allow the dough to sit, the longer the yeast will remain active in the dough. This produces more natural flavours. However, this only applies to rising times of more than 8 hours, i.e., allowing the dough to rise overnight is best.

Dough sheeters are very useful during the production process. They save time and reduce physical labour during the sheeting and laminating process. In fully automated production, bakery machines take over the laminating process from start to finish.

There are an enormous number of varieties of croissants. These differ, for example, in terms of ingredients (whether made with margarine or butter, or with other special ingredients), the filling (sweet, savoury) or the shape, size and weight. Croissants can weigh approx. 25 – 100g from small to large, and 10 – 120g for special variants. 

The type of dough also offers scope for variety. Besides standard croissants, there are also croissants made from wholemeal dough, dough with added seeds (e.g. sesame or linseed) and ‘free-from’ dough (vegan or gluten-free). The soft pretzel croissant, which is glazed with lye after curling but before baking, is special in terms of how it is made. 

In recent years, trends in croissant and laminated dough products have become increasingly diverse. One example is fusion croissants, which have a special shape and filling. This has seen the emergence of ‘cronuts’, cube croissants, croissants with matcha or pistachios, and the more well-known bi-coloured croissants, which get their unique appearance from a coloured layer of dough.

Butter and margarine have different melting points. It is best to prepare dough laminated with butter at ambient temperatures below 18 degrees Celsius, whereas margarine can be prepared perfectly well at 18 – 22 degrees Celsius. This makes margarine easier to work with when making croissants. The drawback with margarine, however, is the appearance and flavour of the final products. Many consumers prefer butter croissants to croissants made with margarine because of their fantastic flavours. Margarine-based croissants, however, can also be made vegan. Modern croissant machines, such as our Croissomat 4.0, can cut and curl triangles of dough to an artisanal standard, regardless of whether vegetable or animal fat is used.