Overnight Sourdough Croissants

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 recipe that will take you on a journey to France! Flaky and buttery Overnight Sourdough Croissants are 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 can be a long process, 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 delicious Almond 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)!

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, I would not be discouraged!

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 mastered these, you can venture into the world of Sourdough Pain and Chocolat, Ham & Cheese Croissants, Kouign Amann, Sourdough Cruffins and Danish 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. More on maintaining 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 to make your own sourdough starter from scratch!

Step-By-Step Recipe

DAY 1

First thing in the 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

Place the flour, salt, sugar, water, milk and active sourdough starter in a bowl of your stand mixer, fitted with a dough hook attachment (we absolutely love our Kenwood). Turn the stand mixer on and knead for 5 minutes at medium speed until the dough comes together into a rough (rather stiff) ball. Leave the dough to relax for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, turn the stand mixer on 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. 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 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.

Laminate

Take the butter out of the fridge in advance to soften slightly. Place it on a large sheet of baking parchment (we highly recommend Bacofoil Baking Parchment – it is strong and lasts forever), place another sheet of parchment on top. Using a rolling pin, gently bash to flatter the butter. Then fold the baking parchment 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 the baking parchment, place the butter in the fridge to firm up.

Take the 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 the baking 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 edges of the dough into the middle 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 in baking parchment and freeze on a flat surface for 10 minutes.

First Fold: Take the parcel 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 dough may tear if it sticks. 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 the baking parchment you kept the butter in, or cling film, 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

Shape Croissants

On a lightly floured worktop, roll the pastry out into a 60x28cm (24x11in) rectangle, 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. 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. 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, if you wish.

Place your shaped 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 lamination 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 cold 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 a pastry brush, very gently wash the chilled croissants with the mixture.

Bake the croissants for around 20-25 minutes. Leave the croissants to cool for at least 15 minutes before digging in. They are best served within 2 hours of baking!

How To Store And Reheat Sourdough Croissants?

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 sandwiches, ham & cheese toasties or make these delicious Almond Croissants instead (recipe coming soon)!

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

Recipe Card

Overnight Sourdough Croissants

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 recipe that will take you on a journey to France! Flaky and buttery Overnight Sourdough Croissants are 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!

4.96 from 23 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 3 hours hrs

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Fermenting, Proving and Chilling: 1 day d

Total Time 1 day d 3 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Course Breakfast, Pastry

Cuisine French, Sourdough

Servings 12 croissants

Calories 343 kcal

Equipment

• Stand Mixer fitted with a Dough Hook Attachment
• Rolling Pin we recommend using a stainless steel one
• Baking Parchment
• Pastry Brush

Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

1x2x3x

For Détrempé:

• 450 g strong white flour
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 40 g caster sugar
• 130 ml water
• 90 ml milk
• 150 g active sourdough starter 100% hydration
• 50 g unsalted butter room temperature

For Lamination:

• 250 g unsalted butter room temperature

For Egg Wash:

• 1 egg yolk + 1 tablespoon milk (or double cream)

Instructions

 

DAY 1:

• First thing in the morning, feed your starter and leave it 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:

• Place the flour, salt, sugar, water, milk and active sourdough starter in a bowl of your stand mixer, fitted with a dough hook attachment. Turn the stand mixer on and knead for 5 minutes on medium speed until the dough comes together into a rough (rather stiff) ball. leave the dough to relax for 15 minutes.
• After 15 minutes, turn the stand mixer on 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. It shouldn't be sticky.
• Shape a ball, slash the dough with a sharp knife in a cross on top of the dough (see photos in the text above, 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 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 1.5 times. Place the dough in the fridge for another 3-4 hours to finish proving and double in size.

Laminate:

• Take the butter out of the fridge in advance to soften slightly. Place it on a large sheet of baking parchment, place another sheet of parchment on top. Using a rolling pin, gently bash to flatter the butter. Then fold the baking parchment under into a neat 18x18cm (7×7 in) square and roll the butter inside the parchment parcel into all the edged, aiming for the same thickness across (for detailed process photos, see text above). Enclosing the butter into the baking parchement square will help you get an even butter square with sharp edges. Still wrapped in the baking parchment, place the butter in the fridge to firm up.
• Take the 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 the baking parchment). Place the butter in the middle of the dough on the diagonal (see the photo above).
• Taking one side at a time, fold the edges of the dough into the middle creating a square envelope (see photos in the text above). Once you fold all four sides into the middle, pinch the edges together. You should now have a 20x20cm (8x8in) butter parcel. Wrap it in baking parchment and freeze on a flat surface for 10 minutes.
• First Fold: Take the parcel 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 dough may tear if it sticks. 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.
• 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 the baking parchment you kept the butter in, or cling film, 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 bottom third over (just like before). Wrap and place the pastry in the freexer 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:

Shape Croissants:

• On a lightly floured worktop, roll the pastry out into a 60x28cm (24x11in) rectangle, 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. 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. Separate the rectangles. Use the ruler again to connect the opposite corners of the rectangle and cut across so you are left with two triangles. Once you've all your pastry, you should be left with 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, if you wish.
• Place your shaped 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 lamination 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 cold 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 take the cling film off. 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 a pastry brush, very gently wash the chilled croissants with the mixture.
• Bake the croissants for around 20-25 minutes. Leave the croissants to cool for at least 15 minutes before digging in. They are best served within 2 hours from baking!

Video

Notes

If you cannot eat all 12 croissants within a couple of days, you can freeze them:

1. 1. Freeze Unbaked Croissants: Once you’ve done all the hard work and your croissants are shaped, proved and all puffy, place the whole tray with croissants on top in the freezer, taking care not to touch them on the sides or top of the freezer, as they will be rather fragile and will deflate if not handled with care. Let them freeze for 2 hours until completely solid, then transfer them into ziplock bags. When you’re ready to bake them, lay them out on a baking tray and place them in a preheated oven (190°C Fan) for approx. 25-30 minutes. Leave the croissants to cool down for 5-10 minutes before serving. This is my favourite way to freeze Sourdough Croissants.

1. 1. Freeze Baked Croissants. Once baked, ensure the croissants are cooled completely. Place them in a single layer in a large ziplock bag (or airtight container) and freeze. When you want to serve them, thaw them completely (it takes about an hour at room temperature), then place them in a preheated oven (170°C Fan) for 4-5 minutes.

 

 

Nutrition

Calories: 343kcalCarbohydrates: 33gProtein: 5gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 13gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 54mgSodium: 153mgPotassium: 54mgFiber: 1gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 633IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 21mgIron: 1mg

Keyword Homemade Croissants, Homemade Sourdough Croissants, How to Make Sourdough Croissants, Overnight Sourdough Croissants, Sourdough Croissant Recipe, Sourdough Croissants

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