So this recipe is 100% Sam. He has always loved to bake, and especially loves cooking when it comes to Dough or pastry, and croissants were one of his main loves pre-vegan.
He actually never got round to making croissants before becoming vegan, oddly enough, and since becoming vegan hadn’t bothered trying. Croissant pastry is difficult, it needs time, the butter needs to be perfect and all of the elements need to come together to make it right.
This all changed near Christmas time when he decided to give it a go using Nuttelex (a vegan butter/margarine substitute) but unfortunately it didn’t work that well. Deciding that it probably was never going to work because a good Vegan Butter didn’t seem to exist, he gave up on the idea. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when we found out about Miyokos vegan butter. This wasn’t a margarine substitute, it was butter, and it seemed promising. We headed to a local supplier, stocked up and then Sam got to work.
Amazingly, they worked! He managed to create perfect, flaky vegan croissants. They taste exactly the same (just none of the cruelty) and you really wouldn’t notice a difference between this one and a non-vegan version.
Now, croissants take time. Like, a long time, so only make it if you have patience! The dough needs time to laminate and if you rush it, you’ll be left with sub-par croissants.
It is also important to note that you need vegan butter, not vegan margarine. Something like Nuttelex (for Australian readers) or dairy-free Flora (for UK readers) just isn’t going to work. If you can get hold of Miyokos, then you know it will be good, but if not, try and find a vegan butter.
Give them a go and enjoy perfect buttery, flaky, vegan croissants, just like you remember! Serve warm with a layer of jam for the perfect weekend breakfast treat.
Vegan Croissants
Ingredients
- 260ml water
- 14g fast-action yeast (2 sachets)
- 500g plain flour
- 10g salt
- 40g caster sugar
- 360g vegan butter
- Splash of non-dairy milk
Directions
- Step 1 In a large bowl, put your water, sugar and yeast and stir together
- Step 2 Add your flour and 100g of vegan butter and knead until it all comes together (it will be quite dry)
- Step 3 Cover the bowl with cling film, place in the fridge, and leave for 8 hours or overnight
- Step 4 Once you’ve placed your dough in the fridge, take the remaining 260g of vegan butter and place between two pieces of parchment paper or into a sandwich bag
- Step 5 With a rolling pin, flatten the butter until it becomes a square shape that is roughly 7×7 inch (ideally, measure it with a tape measure to be sure)
- Step 6 Wrap in cling film and place back in the fridge and leave until your dough is ready
- Step 7 Once your dough has been left for at least 8 hours, remove from the fridge and place on a lightly floured worktop
- Step 8 With a rolling pin, roll into a rectangle that is 14×7 inches in size
- Step 9 Take your slab of butter and place it in the middle of your dough
- Step 10 Fold the two ends of the dough to meet in the middle over the butter slab, and make sure the butter is sealed by pushing the dough together all around the edges
- Step 11 Starting from the middle, roll your pastry out into a long rectangle, till it’s roughly 22×7 inches in size (do not roll back on yourself, always come back to the middle and roll out towards the edges)
- Step 12 Now it’s time for your first fold. Take one end of your dough and fold about two thirds of the way down, then take the other end, and fold it on top, so that you’ve folded the dough into thirds and you’re left with a rough square shape
- Step 13 Wrap your dough into cling film and put in the fridge for 30 minutes
- Step 14 Remove from the fridge and place it so that the folded end of your dough (the part like the binding of a book) is on your left
- Step 15 Repeat step 12, then cover with cling film and place back in the fridge for another 30 minutes
- Step 16 Remove from the fridge again and repeat step 12 again, cover with cling film and this time place in the fridge for 60 minutes
- Step 17 Remove from the fridge and on a lightly floured surface, roll out to about 24×8 inches
- Step 18 Next, create yourself a template. Cut a piece of card or paper into a triangle shape. The base should be 4 inches wide and it should be 8 inches high
- Step 19 Place your template onto your dough and cut around it (use something sharp like a pizza cutter) to create 9 triangle shapes
- Step 20 Take a piece of dough and make a small slit in the middle of the base of your triangle with a knife
- Step 21 Roll your dough from the base to the end using your finger and thumb, turning by the corners so as to not crush the layers
- Step 22 Repeat for all pieces of dough
- Step 23 Place on a baking sheet with the pointed end at the bottom
- Step 24 Brush each croissant lightly with some non-dairy milk
- Step 25 Cover lightly with parchment paper and leave to rise for 1 hour
- Step 26 Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees fan
- Step 27 Place in the oven for 20 minutes. If they look like they’re browning too quickly, cover with tin foil
- Step 28 Remove from the oven and allow to cool
- Step 29 Serve!
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