That authentic French croissants are rarely found anywhere but at a Pâtisserie is a clue about how much of a pain in the derrière they are to make at home. But the fact that there are precious few Gluten-Free croissants available anywhere in the world necessitates a home-made remedy. The task is not hard but it does take time, like say more time than flying to Paris and buying one. These are a labor of love. They take patience, practice and persistence.
This croissant was created as best I could in the image of the croissants and pain au chocolat we had in France when we lived there for a short time. American made croissants are a poor substitute – too big, too fluffy, too bland and not enough flake. A good croissant is slightly chewy and has a great tear when ripped with visible layers. There’s plenty of butter in the layers and no extra slathering of the butter is necessary when eating it. A croissant should be rather small and compact and even feel slightly heavy.
What You’ll Need
To make this croissant* a few ingredients are absolutely essential. If you save these ingredients just for this purpose you’ll get many cost-effective batches out of your stash. And it’s still cheaper than flying to Paris.
- Expandex which is tapioca flour that has a little zingy science to it that creates the perfect inside chewy texture. You can get that at Gifts of Nature.
- xanthan gum and guar gum and pectin.
- Dry milk powder. Nonfat is fine.
- Whole milk is required – not low fat or nonfat.
- Sparkling mineral water is necessary. And San Pellegrino is just what you want. Others were tried and did not work as well.
- Any good unsalted butter is fine. Don’t bother with the fancy schmancy expensive American-made (pretend) European butters. It’s not necessary and actually doesn’t work all that well with the GF flours for this purpose.
- Yeast. Instant or Bread Machine Red Star or Saf (Red Star) instant yeast. Other yeasts, including the regular stuff just did not cut it.
- The flours that worked best were from Authentic Foods – superfine brown rice flour, superfine white rice flour along with tapioca flour. I wish that we could find the stuff locally and that their shipping was slightly less expensive. You can order all three directly from Authentic Foods.
- You will need 2 eggs. Can’t do this without them.
- And get that kitchen scale you’ve been meaning to buy. All these measurements are by weight because it will bring you the best result. A scale like this is inexpensive and perfect.
Pretty Please Remember This
- Until you are certain you have it nailed, please follow the recipe exactly as directed and that includes using the requisite ingredients. We spent months* developing this tested GF croissant recipe. We want you to make a really great croissant. Which brings me to this next point:
- Unless you’ve successfully made croissants in the past, do not be discouraged if it is not perfect the first time or so you make it. But with practice, it will work perfectly. It might take a few times to get used to the feel of the dough and how it all develops as you follow the recipe. Making croissants is a lot like learning to drive or ride a bicycle. It is terrifying at first and nothing makes sense. But then all of sudden it does. But before that happens you may have some mishaps along the way. Expect them. But remember what they say – you never forget how to ride a bicycle once you learn. Croissants. Same.
Press, Roll, Fold and Turn
Become familiar with the terms: turn, press, roll and fold.
Turn: 90 degree turn of the folded dough, clockwise.
Press: Pressing the dough = great croissants. Use the rolling-pin to press the dough, almost walking it down the dough as you move and strike/flatten it all the way to the edges. That is how you keep the laminated dough together in layers– by pressing with the rolling-pin before rolling. Always, always press all the way to the ends of the dough which secures the layers – before rolling. In the beginning when you first insert the butter packet, make sure the dough surrounding the butter is well padded and flaps are sealed/pinched closed.
Roll: Only roll after you’ve flattened the dough by pressing it. Roll gently from the center out to the edges with even pressure to just smooth the dough. Too much rolling screws up the layers. More press, less roll.
Fold: There are two fold techniques for this croissant recipe. The first is the tri-fold which simply means folding the dough like a business letter in thirds. A book fold is the other. Bring the edges of the long side together to meet in the middle and then fold one side over the other. It looks like you’ve brought the pages of a book together and closed it.
Critical Links
Zen Can Cook – I began with his croissant recipe and subsequently adapted it. I have used several other recipes in the past, but his was by far, the best. He adapted it from Pierre Hermé.
And along came JoePastry. Joe has a tutorial on laminating dough and making croissants that was like finding a top-secret decoder ring for all things pastry. Read about laminating the dough here and making croissants here.
From Helene at Tartlette I learned that the butter package has to be encased in the dough on top of a cushion. Think padded-top mattress.
Trouble Shooting
The butter breaks through the dough
- Padded dough section missing (inserting butter package)
- Did not pinch the edges closed
- Rolled too aggressively or not enough pressing first
Dough too stiff or breaks
- Too much flour worked into the dough
- Rolling with too much force
- Not enough pressing first (see the laminating link)
- Did you use all the required ingredients and the amounts?
- Did you weigh the ingredients? It matters.
Dough won’t rise
- Yeast is old
- Wrong yeast
- Did you heat the milk (don’t do that)
Croissants puffed up and then fell flat in the oven
- Usually over-proofing before baking
- Yeast might be too old or not Red Star/Saf Instant
Butter leaks out while croissants are baking
- Too much butter in the packet
- Did you use all the ingredients and follow the recipe?
- A little butter leaking is normal, a lot is not good
- Over proofing at the end can also be a cause
Dough sticks to everything when rolling
- Silpats are your best friend - Parchment is your 2nd best friend
- Use more flour under the dough and on top
- A plain counter top is not your friend
Dough breaks when rolling up croissants
- Did you use all the ingredients indicated in the recipe?
- Don’t stretch them so enthusiastically
- Test a small piece to see if there is stretch – if not don’t try to stretch the dough – just lightly roll it out
- Sometimes it happens for no good reason, sadly
- Rolled too thickly (yes, thinner is better than thick)
| Croissants, Gluten Free |
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- 220 grams Authentic Foods GF flour (plus more for rolling etc.) (110 grams superfine brown rice flour, 55 grams superfine white rice flour, 55 grams tapioca flour)
- 35 grams Expandex Tapioca Flour (4 tablespoons)
- 1.5 teaspoons xanthan gum
- ¼ teaspoon pectin
- ¼ teaspoon guar gum
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 100 grams or 7 tablespoons superfine sugar
- 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon powdered milk
- 8 tablespoons whole milk (not low fat or non fat), room temperature
- 2 tablespoons yeast (use instant or bread machine Red Star or SAF)
- 2 tablespoons soft unsalted butter, cut into small chunks.
- ½ cup San Pellegrino, room temperature
- 1 large or x-large egg white, room temperature
- 13 tablespoons unsalted chilled butter (1 stick plus 5 tablespoons more)
- 1 tablespoon brown or white rice flour
- 1 whole large egg (for brushing croissant dough)
- optional for pain au chocolat: 25-30 bittersweet chocolate chips
- Mix the flour with the Expandex, x-gum, pectin, guar gum, salt, superfine sugar and 2 tablespoons powdered milk. Whisk to combine. Set aside. Whisk the yeast, one teaspoon of powdered milk with the room temperature whole milk in a small glass container. Whisk again to fully incorporate. Set aside.
- Add 2 tablespoons of very soft butter pieces to the flour and work it in lightly with a fork or your fingers, leaving large pieces. Don’t get overzealous with the mixing. Using a fork add the San Pellegrino and stir well. Add the egg white and stir to thoroughly distribute. Add the milk/yeast mixture and work that in with the fork until everything is well mixed. It will be very wet and very sticky – like muffin batter sticky. Take a teaspoon of flour and dust the top of the dough. Switch to a silicone spatula and get all the dough off the sides of the bowl and turn the dough over mixing in the new flour. Add one more teaspoon of flour just to get the dough to turn with the spatula as you fold it. It will still be quite wet and sticky which is perfect. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft free place for at least two hours or until it somewhat doubles in size. It won’t get that large, but it will rise and needs a lot of time to do that. Don’t rush. What the dough looks like: it should look more like batter than dough at this point. The spatula will come away with some sticky residue on it. That is perfect.
- Once it has risen or a couple of hours go by, just place the whole bowl into the refrigerator. Leave it in there for about an hour or so. A couple of hours is even better. At the end of that time, grab the dough ball and wrap the plastic around it and place it in the freezer for about 30 to 45 minutes. What the dough looks like: It will have risen slightly and should look shaggy. After the refrigerator it should look only slightly like the dough it will become later – it is still shaggy and sticky.
- Before you remove the dough from the freezer, gather your butter and cut each stick in half length-wise. Place it on a piece of plastic wrap that has been dusted with a little flour and form the pieces into a square shape. Add a little more flour on top and cover with more plastic wrap. Using a rolling-pin, hit the butter until it flattens somewhat to about half its depth. Roll and pat into a smooth 6 inch square. Place the butter in the refrigerator to get a little less smooshy. What the butter package looks like: it should be a 6 inch square about ¼ to ⅓ of an inch thick and will be speckled flour.
- Remove the dough from the freezer. Using two silpats or parchment lined up to create a long rectangle and dusted with flour, place the dough and pat into a rectangular shape. Dust with more flour. Cover with plastic wrap and press with a rolling-pin from the center out to the edges. Pressing is done until the dough is able to be rolled. Roll the dough gently to smooth it into a long rectangle about 3x longer than it is wide. Leave a thick, padded dough square in the center that is a little bigger than the butter package (think padded-top mattress). Using a pastry brush remove the excess flour from the dough. Place the butter on the padded portion and fold the rolled edges over each other and the butter. Pinch the edges closed with your fingers. Press the top with your palm and then the rolling-pin – very gently to seal the butter in there. What the dough looks like: The butter package will be invisible to the eye but you should be able to just feel it. Make sure the dough is thickly padding it on the top and bottom and pinch those sides closed. It should be rather smooth at this point and square.
- First sets of tri-folds: Dust with more flour, cover with plastic wrap and press with the rolling-pin to flatten but making sure you don’t pop the butter through the dough. That is very important. Once it is pressed and flattened, roll the dough so that it is 3 times longer than wide (wide side is always facing you). Brush off the excess flour with a pastry brush. Fold the dough from the length ends like a business letter – in thirds – a tri fold. Brush off excess flour as you go. Turn the folded dough package 90 degrees, clock wise and repeat that process. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for at least an hour and more is fine. What the dough looks like: It won’t be sticky, but it will look rather rough yet. But it should fold without cracking. See trouble shooting if it cracks.
- Repeat the process: press, roll, tri-fold: turn, press, roll, tri-fold: refrigerate
- Repeat the process: press, roll, tri-fold: turn, press, roll, book-fold, refrigerate overnight. Book fold description: Brush off excess flour. Take each end (length) and bring those to meet in the center like you are bringing pages of a book to the center. Brush off any excess flour again. Now bring one side over the other just like closing a book. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight. What the dough looks like: smooth, smooth, smooth. You might see some butter but it will be under the layers of dough. You should not see much butter. Butter might poke out of the edges – pay no attention. If you’ve been pressing rather than rolling you will have great layers within the dough but you should not be able to see any visible layers. The dough should fold easily with no cracking at all.
- Prepare two baking sheets by lining them with parchment.
- Rolling the croissants: Press the dough and roll exactly as before. This time you are rolling the dough into a rectangle about 25 inches long by 9 inches wide (the 9 inch wide side is facing you). It should be about ⅛ inch thick – take care to roll the evenly so it is the same thickness throughout.
- Trim the edges using a pizza cutter so that you have a nice, clean edged rectangle.
- Using the pizza cutter, mark off every 5 inches and slice vertically through the width. You should end up with 5 pieces about 5 inches wide by 9 inches tall. For regular croissants, use the pizza cutter to cut each of those pieces in two from opposite corner to opposite corner creating triangles. You should get two triangles out of each piece. They aren’t perfect triangles – but don’t worry about that.
- For Pain au Chocolat, leave the pieces 5×9 inches. Cut each of those in two so that they now measure 5 by 4.5 inches.
- For regular croissants take each triangle and brush off the excess flour. Pick it up from the bottom of the triangle and try to gently work it into a straighter bottom. If it feels like it will break, don’t work it. Make a small vertical slice in the bottom of the triangle and begin rolling up by fanning out those flaps keeping the dough rolling evenly. The tip should be on the bottom when you are done, like a little tail. See JoePastry link in the post (croissants) for a photo of what that looks like.
- Place on the parchment lined baking sheet and repeat. Leave a couple of inches between each croissant.
- For Pain au chocolat: Place about 6 bittersweet chocolate chips or disks at one end of each of the square pieces of croissant dough. Roll up. Place seam side down about 2 inches apart on the prepared parchment lined baking sheet.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let them rise (proof) about an hour to 1.5 hours only. Over proofing will make them deflate in the oven and leak butter.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove plastic wrap and brush the croissants with the egg wash 3x. Begin at one end of the pan and repeat twice more. Bake at 400 for 2 to 3 minutes and then turn oven to 350 and bake about 18-20 minutes more or just until they are dark golden brown, have risen and their internal temperature is 200 degrees. Don’t over bake them. Let them cool about 30 minutes for best flavor – if you can wait that long. Try – it is worth it.
Cliff Notes: A Croissant Making Snapshot
- Mix dough ingredients and cover bowl
- Dough Rises 1-2 hours
- Refrigerate dough 1-2 hours
- Freeze dough 30 minutes
- Prepare butter package
- Roll dough-Insert butter package into dough-pinch closed
- Press- Roll-Fold (tri fold)
- Turn –Press-Roll-Fold (tri fold)
- Refrigerate dough one hour minimum
- Press- Roll-Fold (tri fold)
- Turn –Press-Roll-Fold (tri fold)
- Refrigerate dough one hour minimum
- Press- Roll-Fold (tri fold)
- Turn –Press-Roll-Fold (book- fold)
- Refrigerate dough overnight
- Press-Roll-Cut dough into croissants
- Rise about one to 1.5 hours, no more
- Brush with egg wash 3x
- Bake about 20 minutes
*We worked through more than 16 croissant-wrecks and half-dozen successes to develop this recipe. We purchased all the ingredients, just like you. If you use other ingredients or change the recipe in any way, it matters. The croissant you yield will be different.
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OMG Lisa, you are amazing!! These look absolutely perfect. There is puff, shape, flakiness, serious congratulations are in order!!
Thanks, Jenn. It was a long road to here, but worth it. We love croissants.
Thank you so much for taking the time to test, try and share this intricate recipe. I’ve had to cut all gluten for 2nd time in my life, and this is the first time i’ve happed upon your blog. Love it. Great attention to detail! Alexx
Thanks, Alexx. Glad to see you here. Enjoy!
Absolutely gorgeous! I’ve been working on puff pastry this week and having a terrible time. The links will be helpful. And I’m with Jen, you deserve serious congratulations.
Wow, this is amazing. I’ve always wondered if GF croissants were possible! I’m a little nervous trying, especially the first time. So you think a couple of goes will be in order to “perfect” it?
I’d like to get this recipe down before my parents visit me from overseas. So only absolutely get the rice flour/tapioca flour from the brand you used? We live in Alaska and the shipping can be crazy, but I did want to double check if an alternative was possible?
Thank u for sharing this!! Good job on persevering!
Hi Mae. Thank you. GF croissants are very possible. If you’ve worked with pastry dough before it will feel familiar – the same only different. If not it will probably take a few tries to become comfortable with what the dough should feel and look like at each stage. And yes, this recipe was developed using those ingredients. The good news is that if you save the ingredients for this purpose you can make many batches out of one order. Have fun.
Thanks for posting such carefully laid out direction! I’ve been longing (and dreaming) about croissants, and as I just realized that Wed will be my 4th anniversary of my celiac diagnosis… I’m clearing my day, putting a Zen/Inspirational playlist on my Iphone, and tackling these at last on my anniversary. Things have been a wee bit tough on the allergy front lately, and these look like JUST the kick in the butt I need to remind myself that GF can be darn tasty! Thanks so much for these. (And all the other amazing things you post)
Thank you, Jenna. I really appreciate your comment. And yep. GF can be perfectly tasty. Have fun and enjoy them.
These look absolutely amazing! Well done!
Thank you, Adina.
Thank you so much for this recipe. Your croissants are gorgeous! I can’t get over the shots of the insides–the texture looks perfect. Can’t wait to try these.
Hi Olivia. The texture was a big challenge, but it finally got there. Thanks!
These look absolutely fantastic. My other half is a fantastic baker, he must make these for me!!!
That sounds great – enjoy and thank you.
Wow! these look amazing! Will make some for my GF daughter. I’m sure it wall make her day!
this post deserves a hallelujah chorus soundtrack. they are beautiful and perfect! gold star for recipe and persistence… you’ve done us all a tremendous service. the idea of a pain au chocolat may just outweigh my nerves about taking this one on. you are brilliant.
Right back at you Ms. Gretchen. And thank you! I ate my share of pain au chocolat during the trials. More than my share…
Have you tried making them with milk substitutes? My son is not only gluten free, but casein free. He’s 13 and been GFCF for about two years now. He has a great attitude towards it… most of the time.
One thing he misses is a variety of breads. Looking forward to your response & suggestions!
Hi Patti. I have not used milk substitutes. Milk provides important proteins and flavor for this recipe and in fact, for croissant dough in general. But I bet if you do a Google search for casein free gluten free croissants you might find something that is sort of the same – maybe crescent rolls?
Very intersting post…I would love to try these..Though going to have to look for tapioca flour and the Guar gum in the local stores out here…Thanks for sharing a lovely recipe.
http://www.cookingwithshy.wordpress.com
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Clarification: make sure your baking pan has a rim. If the butter leaks it is always good to catch it in the pan.
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I’m on the first state of rising!
I acknowledge, though, that I wasn’t able to get the superfine white or brown rice flour in time for my instant gratification baking kick. So I took what I had and put it in the blender for a super fine mix. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll know, but I bet I’ll have a decently tasty pastry “thing”!
I loved every moment of making these! With one exception – I didn’t think to cool my house to less than 80ish degrees. After I’d get about 2 croissants rolled, they’d turn into a sweaty, doughy ball. I still rolled ‘em up, and they were messy as all get out, but they were overall delicious. Too grainy as I didn’t use the superfine flour, but amazing nonetheless. THANK YOU SO MUCH! I’ve ordered the superfine flours and cannot wait to set aside the time to make another batch (or lots of batches, because YUM).
Fantastic, Jen! I know what you mean – I have to cool the house off while making them if it is too hot outside or the dough does get sweaty. I think you’ll be surprised what a difference the superfine flours make. Glad they were delicious. And thanks for letting me know.
Thank you for developing and sharing this recipe. I used to bake glutinous croissants for my family for years, before celiac entered the picture.
However, my first attempt with your dough was a disaster. It remained a gooey batter throughout, oozing and dripping, never attaining the consistency necessary for the folding process. Even after several hours of rising, refrigeration, then freezing.
Any suggestions, as I stand over the wreckage of a day’s work?
PS: I was forced to make two substitutions, which might be the culprits.
1) Well water for Pellegrino.
2) Almond milk for dairy.
Hi Bryan. For certain, almond milk will not work. The dairy is important for the protein factor in the recipe. And the Pellegrino really is important to the rise. How about the flour? Were you using the superfine flours plus the Expandex modified tapioca starch? And were you weighing or using volume for measures? If you can give me more info, I could probably help, but yes, those two changes alone would be a problem.
If the dough or batter did rise, you could refrigerate it overnight and use it in well greased muffin tins to make a sweet roll. Make a bit of streusel and add that to the top and let it rise and bake. Just a thought.
These sound and look delicious -How many calories are in each croissant?
Hi Daniela – lots and lots. I have no idea – we don’t do calories on the blog. But whatever might be in a regular croissant would be similar to these. Lots of butter.
Could the dough be made in advance and frozen to be baked later? Thanks!
Sadly, no. Frozen GF (unbaked) yeast dough doesn’t hold up well in the freezer.
Any chance of a video tutorial? What size silpats? Thank you for posting, I’ve about to celebrate my 12th year GF and plan to make these for it.
Hi Heather – not at this time, no video. For rolling out the dough, a full sheet size is handy, but you can use parchment. I like to bake them on parchment, not a silpat for best results. And half-sheet size.
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Oh my goodness, I just found your blog! my mouth is watering!!! I am not a baker and don’t think I every will be
my question to you is do you sell your baked goods? if you had a restaurant I would be there allot! well depending on if it were close to me in Austin.
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I would love to make these. I made them once before i was gluten free. I have an allergy to rice flour and egg whites, but not egg yolks.
I’m glad you posted this for readers.
Any ideas for me, except to watch for other recipes.
Hi Beverly – As you probably guessed, I don’t have any suggestions for croissants that would not use rice flour or egg white. That is a tough one. You’d have to find something to replace the protein properties in the whites which is a really important part of the rise. The rice flour is not as big a deal though I don’t have any suggestions but I am sure there are other flour combinations that might work. Sorry I couldn’t be more help.
i can’t wait to give this a try!
I must be doing something wrong
I’ve made a lot of croissants over the years so am familiar with the process. But the dough remains too sticky to work the butter in. Going to try a third time but probably won’t pursue passed that. Makes for expensive trials 
Hi Nic – indeed! expensive, not to mention not fun when it doesn’t work. how about if we trouble shoot before that 3rd trial? happy to help. we can do it here (which might help other people) or via email. your choice. let me know. I have a couple of ideas, but would like to get more info first. looking forward to hearing from you. (the email is [email protected])