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Crescents or Croissants

A buttery, layered pastry made with milk, yeast, lard, sugar, flour, salt, and butter, shaped into crescents.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Crescents or Croissants

Oven400°F, then 350°F

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Scald milk.

  2. Add lard, sugar, and salt to the milk.

  3. Cool until lukewarm.

  4. Dissolve yeast in water.

  5. Add the yeast mixture to the milk mixture.

  6. Stir in or knead in flour to make a soft dough.

  7. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic.

  8. Place in a greased bowl and turn so all sides are lightly greased.

  9. Cover with a damp cloth.

  10. Let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

  11. Cover the dough with a lid and chill thoroughly, at least 20 minutes.

Laminate the dough

  1. Roll dough out into an oblong 1/4 inch thick.

  2. Beat butter until creamy.

  3. Dot 2/3 of the surface of the dough with 1/4 cup of the butter.

  4. Fold the undotted third over the center third. Fold the doubled portion over the remaining third of the butter-dotted portion.

  5. The dough is now in 3 layers thick.

  6. Turn the layered dough 1/4 turn and repeat again. Do this two more times, making it a total of four times that you roll it and fold it.

  7. Cover and chill at least 2 hours.

Shape and bake

  1. Roll the dough again on a floured surface.

  2. Cut the dough into 3-inch squares. Cut the squares in half diagonally.

  3. Roll the triangular pieces beginning with the wide side and stretching it slightly as you roll. Shape the rolls into crescents.

  4. Place on a baking sheet and chill for 1/2 hour.

  5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

  6. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees.

  7. Bake them for about 10 to 15 minutes longer or until done.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

870Calories
21 gProtein
34 gFat
120 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 8 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Cakenot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure and chew.
Butter
Layered through the dough to create flaky separation as it bakes and steams.
Yeast
Produces gas as it ferments, causing the dough to rise and become light.
Milk
Adds moisture and richness, and its sugars help the crust brown.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning to the crust.

The step that matters

Laminating the dough with butter. The butter must stay cool and spread in even layers; if it softens into the dough, the layers blend and the croissant loses its flaky separation.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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