Lesson 5 of 5 · Pastry & Croissant School

Baking and reading the crumb

  • Free video
  • Advanced
  • Pastries & Croissants
  • 28 min
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Video by Preppy Kitchen on YouTube: “Homemade Croissants Recipe” Watch on YouTube ↗

What you'll learn

Lesson 5 of 5

Bake croissants to a deep golden brown and read the inside to see what went right or wrong with lamination and proofing.

  • Bake hotter than you think, to a deep golden brown
  • An open honeycomb crumb means good lamination and proofing
  • Cool on a rack so the bottoms stay crisp

Ingredients for this lesson

Madagascar Vanilla Beans, Grade A, 5 BeansVanillaGoods$15.00
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Madagascar Vanilla Extract, 2 oz BottleVanillaGoods$13.00
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Lesson notes from VanillaGoods

Baking

Bake at about 375–400°F (190–200°C) for 15–20 minutes, until deeply golden all over. Pale croissants are often doughy inside. Check your oven with a thermometer; laminated dough is unforgiving of a cool oven.

Reading the crumb

  • Open honeycomb with thin walls: well laminated and properly proofed
  • Dense, bready center: underproofed or layers merged during folding
  • Big hollow gaps under the crust: dough was too cold or underproofed
  • Greasy bottoms and butter on the tray: proofed too warm

Watch for

Cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes. Croissants keep a day; refresh them in a 350°F oven for 3–4 minutes.

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Tools for this lesson

The equipment that makes this easier. VanillaGoods vanilla is always our own; these tools are from Amazon.

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Put it into practice

Bake along with a VanillaGoods recipe that uses this technique.

Find croissant recipes

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