Quick Croissants

Looks pretty good and they taste good too!

The wife and I love croissants. The problem is we don't have the time to make the fancy ones.

This recipe only takes about 45 minutes to make. Not including the time it takes in the freezer, refrigerator or to let it rise.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup of unsalted butter, chilled
• 2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup of milk + some for the wash
• 3 tablespoons of white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Yield: 8 croissants

Directions:

1. Warm the milk and stir in yeast and sugar.
2. Cube the butter.
3. Combine flour, salt and butter with a fork. I wouldn't recommend your hands as that would melt the butter. Better if the mixture was somewhat lumpy.
4. Combine milk and flour mixture. The butter pieces still need to be visible and not completely mixed in.
5. Place mixture into a sheet of plastic wrap and shape into a square.
6. Freeze for 30 minutes.
7. Flour your work surface and start rolling the dough until it is  3 times as long as the width.
8. Fold the short sides in and meet in the middle. Roll slightly to lengthen and then fold the short sides in again to meet in the middle.
9. Flip it around and repeat steps 8-9 three times.
10. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
11. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 16cm x 10cm rectangle.
12. Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into triangles.
13. Starting from the wide side of the triangle, roll the dough up.
14. Place the croissants on a baking sheet with parchment paper.
15. Cover and let rise for 1-3 hours.
16. Preheat oven to 450°F.
17. Brush some milk over the croissant.
18. Bake croissants for 8 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 375°F and bake for another 10-12 minutes.
19. Transfer croissants to wire rack to cool.