How to Make Matcha-Glazed Croissants

Sourdough bread, step aside. The most rewarding baked goods to make in both quarantine and regular life are croissants. This recipe is for jazzed up matcha-glazed croissants. Sure it takes time, but anything worth eating is worth making right.

As a regular customer to the famous Tartine Bakery, I have definitely missed eating perfectly light and crispy croissants between classes. My inner chef (and wallet) has always wanted to bake my own, so when the opportunity presented itself, I did. 

Croissants, which are actually Austrian, are the ideal pastry to enjoy with your morning coffee, sliced in half to make a sandwich, or just plain. Defined by their crescent moon shape and buttery, flakey, laminated layers, croissants take a while to make but the process is what makes them uniquely airy and delicious. Poolish is a pre-ferment, like sourdough starter, which contributes both flavor and gluten structure to the dough. The butter block which is folded into the dough creates the lamination, or hundreds of layers, which provides maximum butteriness and flakiness to the pastry. Without further ado, here is the recipe for matcha-glazed croissants that is derived from the legendary Tartine cookbook!

Matcha-Glazed Croissants

• Prep Time:10 hrs
• Cook Time:25 mins
• Total Time:10 hrs 25 mins
• Servings:12
• Medium

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 and 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 and 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 6 1/4 and 1 1/3 cup flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp salt
• 5 sticks butter cool 1 tbsp butter melted
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tbsp heavy cream
• 2 oz. white chocolate
• 2-3 tsp. matcha powder

• Step 1

  Make Poolish:
  
  Add 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 teaspoon of active dry yeast, and 1 1/3 cup flour. Mix in a medium-sized bowl. Cover and rest for at least two hours at room temperature or overnight in the fridge. It should double in volume and look bubbly when fermented enough.

  

• Step 2

  Make Dough:
  
  Mix remaining yeast, milk, sugar, salt, flour, and melted butter. Rest the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes. Roll into an oval. Rest in fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
  
  Cover the dough and place it back in the fridge to cool while making the butter block.

  

• Step 3

  Prepare Butter Block:
  
  First, cut the sticks of butter into cubes. Then, put the cubes between a sheet of parchment paper folded in half, and smash/roll the butter out until it is approximately the size of a sheet of paper.

  

• Step 4

  Shape Dough:
  
  Folding the dough three times will create 81 layers. Roll the dough out into about 1/2 inch thick rectangle. Place the butter block on top of the dough and slightly to one end. Fold the left and right sides of the dough over the butter block to meet in the middle, and then roll out. Turn it horizontally, and fold again the same way. Cover with cling wrap and place in the fridge to rest for at least an hour to two hours. Roll it out and fold again, this time folding the same way and then adding an additional fold from left to right. You can freeze the dough up to a week and then thaw in the fridge. If making in the same day, chill the dough for another hour.
  
  When you are ready to shape them, roll the dough out again until about 1 cm thick. Use a pizza cutter to cut it in half and then into thin triangles. Roll the triangles up tightly from the widest end to the thinnest point. You could also cut them into smaller rectangles, roll, and place into cupcake liners to make cruffins. The shaped croissants can be frozen or rested for at least 2-3 hours to rise again until doubled in size (last one, I promise).

  

• Step 5

  Bake:
  
  Preheat oven to 400° F. Brush tops of croissant with egg wash made from yolks and heavy cream. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

  

• Step 6

  Glaze:
  
  Melt the white chocolate and add matcha powder incrementally until the taste is to your preference. Drizzle over or dip cooled croissants.

  

Enjoy your hard work!