Basic recipe for stuffed croissants

Ingredients for 24 servings:

• 450 g puff pastry (e.g. frozen)
• 130 ml milk
• 50 g butter
• 3 tbsp butter, liquid
• ½ cube of yeast (fresh; or 1/2 sachet of dry yeast)
• 60 g sugar
• e.g. lemon peel, vanilla sugar or similar.
• 1 pinch of salt
• 250 g wheat flour, type 405 or 550
• 1 egg(s), separated
• 5 tbsp condensed milk, coffee cream, cream or similar

Instructions

Working time approx. 50 minutes; Rest time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 1 hour 50 minutes

super tasty, crispy AND juicy – because it has two layers (yeast and puff pastry)

Thaw the frozen puff pastry sheets side by side – usually 6 rectangular sheets/disks. Heat the milk and butter until the butter melts – and let it cool slightly. Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk, add the sugar. Mix the flour and baking spices, then knead in the egg yolk and yeast mixture. Let the yeast dough rise for about 20-30 minutes (in a warm, draft-free place, cover with a clean kitchen towel). Brush one sheet of puff pastry with 1 tablespoon of butter, place the second sheet on top, and roll it out into a rectangle (60×20 cm) or a circle (40 cm in diameter). If there are fewer than 6 sheets, place 1/3 of the puff pastry on top of each other, possibly with melted butter, and roll it out in the same way. Whisk the remaining egg whites well. Brush some of it onto the puff pastry sheet. Knead the yeast dough thoroughly, roll out 1/3 of it to the same size/shape as the puff pastry, and place it on top. Briefly roll over the triangles with a rolling pin to help the dough layers bond together. Cover again with the cloth and let rise for about 10-15 minutes – I usually use this time to prepare the filling. Then cut the rectangle into quarters crosswise (four 15×20 cm) and divide each diagonally into triangles – or divide the circle into 8 cake slices. Place a little filling (about 2 teaspoons?) onto the triangles: Spread the filling onto the triangle, leaving a border of about 1 cm all around – simply place chunky fillings on the thicker end. Roll the triangles from the narrow side to the tip, shape them into croissants (press the tip, pinch the ends shut, and curl them slightly if necessary), and place them on a baking sheet (preferably lined with a baking mat or parchment paper). Caution: Don’t place them too close together – the croissants will still expand a little! Brush the croissants with a little condensed milk and let rise for another 10-15 minutes. During this time, preheat the oven (200°C). Then bake the croissants for about 20-25 minutes until they are golden yellow to light brown. Process the other two thirds of the dough in the same way. Fill and decorate as desired (see separate recipes in my profile)! They are tastiest fresh, by the way. Regarding preparation/freezing: The yeast dough can also be left to rise in the refrigerator for about 6-10 hours. It’s best not to freeze the finished croissants – depending on the filling, they can get soggy, mushy, or something similar. However, I have already frozen the dough (already divided into triangles, individually pre-frozen, and then wrapped in baking paper between them) as a reserve for unexpected visitors – it works well. Simply thaw when needed and use accordingly.