Ooh La La Croissants: French Pastry Class

Join us for one of our most popular baking classes! In this hands-on class, we'll teach you how to make traditional French croissants the Zingerman's Bakehouse way. We pride ourselves on their rich flavor, tender honeycombed interior, and crispy exterior that shatters a little when you bite into it. It’s mostly about taking the time to do it right and we think it’s well worth the time and effort to do so. Like we say, you really can taste the difference. 

In this class we'll teach you the key techniques for working with a yeasted dough, creating a butter-laminated dough (layering the dough with butter and folding it over), filling the croissants, proofing them properly to achieve the right texture inside, and finally, baking them to a rich golden brown. When you smell the sweet aroma and taste the buttery flavor of your croissants fresh from the oven, you'll be so happy that you made the investment in making them from scratch. We'll give you the option,to fill your croissants with  almond frangipane spread (we'll give you the recipe for that, too) and Nicaraguan bean-to-bar dark chocolate from French Broad Chocolate in Asheville, NC. 

For some storied history of the French croissant, head to our blog and read, "From Kipferl to Croissant: A Brief History." 

You'll leave the BAKE! class with our recipes, the knowledge to recreate them at home, and the croissants you made in class.

In-Person: We'll end class with a tasting of warm croissants and you'll go home with croissant dough to bake later, as well as some great coupons. You may want to bring a cooler and ice pack to class with you for storing your bake-at-home croissant dough on the ride home if you are traveling more than an hour to attend.

Virtual (2-Day): On Day 1 we will make our yeasted, butter-laminated croissant dough, before refrigerating it overnight; and go over filling options, including how to make our almond frangipane. On Day 2 we will roll, fill, and shape our croissants, followed by some downtime for proofing; and then bake them.