I never made croissant before. I was always scared of doing them. Actually I did once but it was not a great success and it reinforced my worries...

At the Mucklestone Primary School fair there were some croissants for sale. They were a great success but it was my brother who made them, not me...

I always thought croissants were an art in themselves. Seeing him doing them showed me it is an art but it also made me want to do some. It is so satisfying to take some basic ingredients (flour, milk and sugar), add some butter in the middle and obtain something that good.

So after taking notes and asking him more questions I finally did some by myself.

As usual, time is of the essence. You must be patient and let the dough do its thing before you can shape it into a croissant. Cutting out on that part will result in something that should not be called a croissant.

There are 2 essential qualities in a croissant:

• it must be flaky on the outside. You should be able to peel its outer skin and it should be crispy.
• the inside must look a bit like a honeycomb and feel like there is more air than pastry.

The secret is called lamination. You put a layer of butter enclosed in the dough then roll it out, fold it on itself and roll it out again. All that is left to do is shaping them and baking them.

Of course it is overly simplified but really it is that lamination that is the most important part.

Below you can see the result of my first effort.