Authentic French Croissants Recipe

Mastering a croissant at home is the ultimate baking achievement. I have spent the last 10 days making batch after batch of homemade french croissants, and after trying so many different recipes I think I have finally done it – I’ve mastered the perfect french croissants!

This french croissant recipe is a bit of a beast, but don’t be scared! Even if if it’s your first time making croissants, if you follow the recipe closely and use the right ingredients I promise, with a bit of practice you can make those classic french croissants you get in a boulangerie!

These homemade croissants have a beautiful flavour, shape and honeycomb structure. Good flour and butter make a huge difference here.

Don’t forget to watch puff pastry 101 as this also gives you a great guide on laminating dough.

Ingredients

250 g Laminating Butter, Room Temperature OR 250g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature and 20g Plain/All-Purpose Flour

Method

We need to start by calculating the ‘Base Temperature’. This is a very simple calculation to work out the temperature you need your liquid (in this case water + milk) to be, to reach the ‘desired dough temperature’, which for a croissant is 24C. This final dough temperature affects things such as fermentation time and the overall results of the croissant.

To calculate this we follow this simple formula:

Base Temperature = Liquid Temperature + Room Temperature + Flour Temperature

The base temperature we are aiming for is 48C (Base temperature is different to desired dough temperature so don’t worry, we haven’t mixed up the numbers here). To calculate the room temperature, we simply leave a digital thermometer probe out at room temperature for a few minutes. This will give you the temperature of the room. To read the flour temperature, simply place the digital thermometer probe into your flour and take the reading.

So for example, if the room temperature is 18C and the flour is 20C, then the temperature of our liquid (water + milk) needs to be:

Base Temp = Room Temp + Flour Temp + Liquid Temp

Therefore we need to combine our milk and water, and heat it to a temperature of 10C. Then, once we are done mixing, the dough should reach our desired dough temperature of 24C. It is slightly confusing, but following that formula should give you the correct dough temperature.

Add all of your ingredients except the liquid into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.

Heat your milk and water in a saucepan to the desired temperature. It will only take a very brief amount of time so don’t walk away and make sure to place it on a very low heat.

Pour in the liquid over the top, and mix on a low speed for 7 minutes.

After 7 minutes, increase the speed to medium, and mix for a further 7 minutes. At this point, check the dough temperature, it should be just around 23C hopefully.

Finally, increase the speed to high, and mix for another minute or two. Remove the dough, it should now read 24C (or around there) and when you stretch a small piece of the dough out, it should pass the windowpane test.

Gently knead the dough on your work surface very briefly so the dough comes together, then use a rolling pin to roll it into a rough rectangle shape, don’t worry too much about the size, we just want a relatively even thickness, so that the dough has a consistent temperature throughout (if you were to chill the dough into one large ball - when you roll it the next day, the inner temperature will be different to the edges of the dough so you will have a very inconsistent dough temperature which affect your laminating and fermentation).

Wrap the dough in cling film and chill it for 12 hours - it is best to do this the night before, so you can laminate the dough the next morning.

For the beurrage/butter block - it is really best to use a laminating butter. This is a professional butter that is designed especially for laminating dough as it has a higher fat content, and a higher plasticity, then means it is considerably more flexible when rolling, making it much less likely to crack. I cannot recommend it enough - it will the whole process 100x easier. It is usually available from specialist online grocers, but if you search for ‘Isigny Pastry Sheet Butter’ (there are also many other brands) you will hopefully find it.

If you're using laminating butter, leave 250g at room temperature, then take a large sheet of parchment paper and use a pen to draw a rough rectangular outline, 17.5x20cm (7x8”).

Flip the paper over and place the 250g block of butter into the middle of the square you drew. Wrap the excess parchment around the butter, folding the edges in to match the guides of the neat square you drew. It can help to tape the edges together to stop the parchment paper from moving around or opening up as you roll.

Flip it back over and use a rolling pin to roll the butter, pushing it to the edges and creating an even layer of butter across the rectangle of parchment. Place this in the fridge to chill for at least an hour or again, ideally overnight.

If you do not have professional butter, we can ‘cheat’ the flexibility by adding a touch of flour to regular butter. Add the soft butter and flour into a stand mixer, and beat it to form a paste, ensuring there are no streaks of unincorporated butter.

Follow the same steps as above, shaping the butter into a neat rectangle. Chill it for one hour or ideally overnight.

Temperature is key now - when laminating croissants, if your butter is too cold when you go to roll it, it will crack. If it is too warm, it will simply leak out. Remove your butter from the fridge - it is ready to use when it reaches a temperature of 12C/54F. At this temperature, you will see that the butter is slightly firm but flexible. You can test the temperature by placing a digital thermometer into the butter.

Just before it is at temperature, remove your dough from the fridge. We need this to be at around 4C/40F. Very lightly flour the dough, and give it a quick roll, to make the rectangle of dough slightly larger, around, 35x20cm (13.5”x8”).

Place your butter into the centre of the dough so that the height of the dough and the butter match (20cm/8”).

Fold the exposed sides of dough into the centre so they meet in the middle.

Use your fingers to pinch the dough together to form a seam down the centre.

Using a sharp knife, carefully score the edges of the dough, where it is folded over the butter - this will release tension and make it easier to roll.

With this seam facing towards you, turn the dough 90 degrees so the seam is now horizontal to your body and give the dough a quick roll, to give it a little bit of width.

Turn the dough 90 degrees again so the seam is vertical in line with your body and begin to roll the dough. Working relatively quickly. Apply even pressure and roll the dough into a long even rectangle, flouring very lightly if needed.

Don’t focus too much on the length of the rectangle, but more on getting it into an even rectangle that ends up around 5mm thick (0.2”).

Once you are happy with the thickness and shape, dust off any excess flour with a brush, and if the ends of the dough have gone a bit wonky, cut them off so you have straight edges on either side.

Perform a single fold of the dough, where you take one-third of the dough and fold it up, then take the other third of dough and fold this over the top. This is called a ‘single fold or ‘single turn’.

Wrap the dough tightly in cling film, and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes, then into the fridge for 10 minutes.

Remove the dough from the fridge, and with the open seam facing you (i.e if you were looking at the dough straight on, you would be able to see where it has been folded over itself), use a sharp knife again, to score the edges of the dough where it is folded.

Turn the dough 90 degrees so the open seam is now horizontal to you and give the dough a quick roll, to give it a little bit of width.

Turn the dough 90 degrees again so the open seam is facing you again and begin to roll the dough. Roll the dough into a long even rectangle, very very lightly flouring it, just as we did in step 25.

Trim off the wonky edges, and perform a second single fold. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill it again for 15 minutes in the freezer, and 10 minutes in the fridge.

Remove the dough and roll it out again, following the exact same steps, and performing your final single turn. Wrap the dough tightly in clingfilm and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes. The technique I prefer uses 3 single folds, however for a more open honeycomb structure you could do one double fold and one single fold.

Once chilled, with the open seam facing your body, roll the dough out so that it is around 37cm/14.5” tall, then rotate it 90 degrees, and roll it into a rectangle that is around 3.5mm thick - you will ideally want to use a digital caliper to measure this. Don’t worry about the length of the rectangle, all we are concerned about is the height and the thickness.

Once you have the rectangle, use a sharp knife to cut off any wonky ends, so that it is a neat rectangle that is 33cm/13” tall.

Then using a ruler, with the long edge of the dough facing you, mark intervals along the bottom of the dough, every 8cm/3.1”. Find the midpoint of each 8cm mark (so 4cm in) and use a ruler to mark that interval at the very top of the dough. What we are doing is marking the tip of the triangle.

Use a ruler and a sharp knife or box cutter, to cut the dough into triangles. You should get 7-8 croissants if you rolled them to the right thickness, 6 if things are a little thicker!

Pick up the triangle and gently stretch it with your hands then place it on the work surface. Starting from the 8cm edge, roll the dough up on itself, and press the tip quite firmly into the dough when you finish rolling.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper, and place the croissants, 4 per tray, on the tray, ensuring the tip you just pressed in, is on the bottom, touching the tray. Give them enough space to proof.

Place the trays in the oven, with it turned off, and place a cup with a very small amount of boiling water in the corner - about 3 tbsp. Change this water every 45 minutes.

Proof the croissants until they look very fat, and when you shake the tray they wobble. This can take anywhere from 2-4 hours, so keep an eye on them.

Remove them from the oven, and leave them at room temperature to form a skin while you preheat the oven. Set the oven to 185C/365F Fan Assisted.

Whisk the egg-wash ingredients together until smooth and there are no streaks of egg white and then use a pastry brush to gently brush one tray of croissants with egg wash (or use a fence paint sprayer as suggested in the video). I prefer to only bake one tray at a time - it is fine if the other tray proofs for a little longer.

Place the tray in the middle of the oven and immediately drop the temperature 170C/340F Fan Assisted. Bake for 22-24 minutes or until a nice deep golden brown colour.

Egg wash and bake the remaining tray, then serve warm or allow to cool slightly.

Ingredients

250 g Laminating Butter, Room Temperature OR 250g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature and 20g Plain/All-Purpose Flour

Directions

We need to start by calculating the ‘Base Temperature’. This is a very simple calculation to work out the temperature you need your liquid (in this case water + milk) to be, to reach the ‘desired dough temperature’, which for a croissant is 24C. This final dough temperature affects things such as fermentation time and the overall results of the croissant.

To calculate this we follow this simple formula:

Base Temperature = Liquid Temperature + Room Temperature + Flour Temperature

The base temperature we are aiming for is 48C (Base temperature is different to desired dough temperature so don’t worry, we haven’t mixed up the numbers here). To calculate the room temperature, we simply leave a digital thermometer probe out at room temperature for a few minutes. This will give you the temperature of the room. To read the flour temperature, simply place the digital thermometer probe into your flour and take the reading.

So for example, if the room temperature is 18C and the flour is 20C, then the temperature of our liquid (water + milk) needs to be:

Base Temp = Room Temp + Flour Temp + Liquid Temp

Therefore we need to combine our milk and water, and heat it to a temperature of 10C. Then, once we are done mixing, the dough should reach our desired dough temperature of 24C. It is slightly confusing, but following that formula should give you the correct dough temperature.

Add all of your ingredients except the liquid into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.

Heat your milk and water in a saucepan to the desired temperature. It will only take a very brief amount of time so don’t walk away and make sure to place it on a very low heat.

Pour in the liquid over the top, and mix on a low speed for 7 minutes.

After 7 minutes, increase the speed to medium, and mix for a further 7 minutes. At this point, check the dough temperature, it should be just around 23C hopefully.

Finally, increase the speed to high, and mix for another minute or two. Remove the dough, it should now read 24C (or around there) and when you stretch a small piece of the dough out, it should pass the windowpane test.

Gently knead the dough on your work surface very briefly so the dough comes together, then use a rolling pin to roll it into a rough rectangle shape, don’t worry too much about the size, we just want a relatively even thickness, so that the dough has a consistent temperature throughout (if you were to chill the dough into one large ball - when you roll it the next day, the inner temperature will be different to the edges of the dough so you will have a very inconsistent dough temperature which affect your laminating and fermentation).

Wrap the dough in cling film and chill it for 12 hours - it is best to do this the night before, so you can laminate the dough the next morning.

For the beurrage/butter block - it is really best to use a laminating butter. This is a professional butter that is designed especially for laminating dough as it has a higher fat content, and a higher plasticity, then means it is considerably more flexible when rolling, making it much less likely to crack. I cannot recommend it enough - it will the whole process 100x easier. It is usually available from specialist online grocers, but if you search for ‘Isigny Pastry Sheet Butter’ (there are also many other brands) you will hopefully find it.

If you're using laminating butter, leave 250g at room temperature, then take a large sheet of parchment paper and use a pen to draw a rough rectangular outline, 17.5x20cm (7x8”).

Flip the paper over and place the 250g block of butter into the middle of the square you drew. Wrap the excess parchment around the butter, folding the edges in to match the guides of the neat square you drew. It can help to tape the edges together to stop the parchment paper from moving around or opening up as you roll.

Flip it back over and use a rolling pin to roll the butter, pushing it to the edges and creating an even layer of butter across the rectangle of parchment. Place this in the fridge to chill for at least an hour or again, ideally overnight.

If you do not have professional butter, we can ‘cheat’ the flexibility by adding a touch of flour to regular butter. Add the soft butter and flour into a stand mixer, and beat it to form a paste, ensuring there are no streaks of unincorporated butter.

Follow the same steps as above, shaping the butter into a neat rectangle. Chill it for one hour or ideally overnight.

Temperature is key now - when laminating croissants, if your butter is too cold when you go to roll it, it will crack. If it is too warm, it will simply leak out. Remove your butter from the fridge - it is ready to use when it reaches a temperature of 12C/54F. At this temperature, you will see that the butter is slightly firm but flexible. You can test the temperature by placing a digital thermometer into the butter.

Just before it is at temperature, remove your dough from the fridge. We need this to be at around 4C/40F. Very lightly flour the dough, and give it a quick roll, to make the rectangle of dough slightly larger, around, 35x20cm (13.5”x8”).

Place your butter into the centre of the dough so that the height of the dough and the butter match (20cm/8”).

Fold the exposed sides of dough into the centre so they meet in the middle.

Use your fingers to pinch the dough together to form a seam down the centre.

Using a sharp knife, carefully score the edges of the dough, where it is folded over the butter - this will release tension and make it easier to roll.

With this seam facing towards you, turn the dough 90 degrees so the seam is now horizontal to your body and give the dough a quick roll, to give it a little bit of width.

Turn the dough 90 degrees again so the seam is vertical in line with your body and begin to roll the dough. Working relatively quickly. Apply even pressure and roll the dough into a long even rectangle, flouring very lightly if needed.

Don’t focus too much on the length of the rectangle, but more on getting it into an even rectangle that ends up around 5mm thick (0.2”).

Once you are happy with the thickness and shape, dust off any excess flour with a brush, and if the ends of the dough have gone a bit wonky, cut them off so you have straight edges on either side.

Perform a single fold of the dough, where you take one-third of the dough and fold it up, then take the other third of dough and fold this over the top. This is called a ‘single fold or ‘single turn’.

Wrap the dough tightly in cling film, and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes, then into the fridge for 10 minutes.

Remove the dough from the fridge, and with the open seam facing you (i.e if you were looking at the dough straight on, you would be able to see where it has been folded over itself), use a sharp knife again, to score the edges of the dough where it is folded.

Turn the dough 90 degrees so the open seam is now horizontal to you and give the dough a quick roll, to give it a little bit of width.

Turn the dough 90 degrees again so the open seam is facing you again and begin to roll the dough. Roll the dough into a long even rectangle, very very lightly flouring it, just as we did in step 25.

Trim off the wonky edges, and perform a second single fold. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill it again for 15 minutes in the freezer, and 10 minutes in the fridge.

Remove the dough and roll it out again, following the exact same steps, and performing your final single turn. Wrap the dough tightly in clingfilm and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes. The technique I prefer uses 3 single folds, however for a more open honeycomb structure you could do one double fold and one single fold.

Once chilled, with the open seam facing your body, roll the dough out so that it is around 37cm/14.5” tall, then rotate it 90 degrees, and roll it into a rectangle that is around 3.5mm thick - you will ideally want to use a digital caliper to measure this. Don’t worry about the length of the rectangle, all we are concerned about is the height and the thickness.

Once you have the rectangle, use a sharp knife to cut off any wonky ends, so that it is a neat rectangle that is 33cm/13” tall.

Then using a ruler, with the long edge of the dough facing you, mark intervals along the bottom of the dough, every 8cm/3.1”. Find the midpoint of each 8cm mark (so 4cm in) and use a ruler to mark that interval at the very top of the dough. What we are doing is marking the tip of the triangle.

Use a ruler and a sharp knife or box cutter, to cut the dough into triangles. You should get 7-8 croissants if you rolled them to the right thickness, 6 if things are a little thicker!

Pick up the triangle and gently stretch it with your hands then place it on the work surface. Starting from the 8cm edge, roll the dough up on itself, and press the tip quite firmly into the dough when you finish rolling.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper, and place the croissants, 4 per tray, on the tray, ensuring the tip you just pressed in, is on the bottom, touching the tray. Give them enough space to proof.

Place the trays in the oven, with it turned off, and place a cup with a very small amount of boiling water in the corner - about 3 tbsp. Change this water every 45 minutes.

Proof the croissants until they look very fat, and when you shake the tray they wobble. This can take anywhere from 2-4 hours, so keep an eye on them.

Remove them from the oven, and leave them at room temperature to form a skin while you preheat the oven. Set the oven to 185C/365F Fan Assisted.

Whisk the egg-wash ingredients together until smooth and there are no streaks of egg white and then use a pastry brush to gently brush one tray of croissants with egg wash (or use a fence paint sprayer as suggested in the video). I prefer to only bake one tray at a time - it is fine if the other tray proofs for a little longer.

Place the tray in the middle of the oven and immediately drop the temperature 170C/340F Fan Assisted. Bake for 22-24 minutes or until a nice deep golden brown colour.

Egg wash and bake the remaining tray, then serve warm or allow to cool slightly.

Notes

72 Comments

Hi..I tried to make croissants 3 times… my last time was last weekend… everything went so well… but I did something wrong.. with 2 kids running around..😂.was tasty…
I will try your recipe.. and method starting from tomorrow… very exiting…
Big thank you 🙏 .

Aha I’m sure it is tough with the kids flying around! Good luck with this one 🙂

Thank you! First time they went perfect, second time bad becouse did every time double turn.. so next time your instructions will help a lot! Thank you!

Hope this helps!!

Thank you for the instruction

I’m trying this recipe. I’ve been following the steps since yesterday! I also got two little ones running around. Hoping it comes out good they’re currently proofing. In the oven. I did accidentally put more water than instructed hope that’s okay

Hope they came out ok!!

Thank you ! May you always be blessed 🙏🏼

I really enjoy this recipe. It’s my third time making it. And don’t come out as nice as yours, but it’s still good to look at. 😊

So glad Jenny! It took me 4 years so you’re doing great!

When you write T45 flour what kind of flour can I use because here is professional and in big quantities. Is it bread flour quality?

You will be able to get T45 in big quantities no problem. It is not bread flour though, bread flour has a protein content that is too high for croissants as it will develop too much gluten and make the croissants tough to roll.

Hi, what can I use as a substitute for the T45 flour? And what is T45 flour? Never heard of it where I am from. I really want to try your recipe it looks great!

I’m afraid I only tested it with T45 flour as this is really designed for croissants.

Not sure where you’re from; I googled and it said I could substitute 00 flour (which I have for pizza dough and pasta). In canada I don’t think T45 is a very common type of flour. I’ve never seen it anywhere.

Looks like there is some on amazon.ca!

Hey Matt, I love using your detailed recipes!

I’ve found information on several websites stating that the French standard T-45 is equivalent to the Italian 00 and German 405 standards.

Not really close to 00 flour that is too soft!

Looks like some serious rocket science but I’m gonna try it.🤞🏻

Please do!! I know it looks a bit overwhelming but I wish I had a recipe like this when I first started making croissants! Shout if anything’s unclear!

Hi Matt!
Where can I find t45 flour or can I use a different flour?

I’m afraid I didn’t test it with a different flour – but if you google T45 flour hopefully you can find some online retailers that sell it?

Hi Matt
Do you know if the laminating butter can be frozen in the freezer? I’d invest in the butter to try it but i’ve only found blocks of 1 kg. And your recipe calls for 250g.

Yes absolutely that is what I do! I just leave it out when I need to use it, cut off 250g then freeze the rest! Or cut it up into 250g blocks when it first arrives and freeze those:)

After the final fold, can I rest it in the fridge overnight?

Unfortunately not as the dough will ferment and being to proof. You can freeze it, then defrost it, then put it back in the fridge so that it is cold before you roll it out and shape

Hey,Matt. Can you reccomend some t45 flour brands? I can’t find them at regular supermarkets so I have to order it online. All I can find is by the brand Francine.

I use Faricher or Cotswolds Strong French Patisserie Flour 🙂

Can I use sourdough starter instead of yeast. If so how much?

I’m afraid not – that would be a whole other recipe as the timings, proofing, quantities all need to be adjusted.

Hola matt, soy de Bolivia 🇧🇴 hice esta y algunas mas de tus recetas y todas son muy deliciosas, gracias por compartirlas. 👍🏼🤩

Hey Matt so I should leave the dough to chill in the fridge for 12 hours not freezer

Yes teh dough in the fridge for 12 hours before you laminate it!

Hey Matt, it’s hard for me to find T45 flour, are there any good replacements for it?

I’m afraid I would only recommend t45 with this recipe

I just tried this recipe. The taste and the appearance are divineee. It was my first time to have the honeycomb inside. Thank you so much for creating this recipee 🥰

I have tried this recipe and works like a charm. The taste and appearance of my croissant are divineee. It was my first time to have the honeycomb structure too. I love it so much!

Ah I’m so so pleased!!

Hi! I am a busy stay at home mom and made these over 3 days. They still turned out fabulous. I think if I actually do it in 2 days they will be similar to the ones we ate in France and Switzerland. Thank you so much for all the hard work you put into the directions. So many of your recipes are fabulous!

So so glad Erin! Thanks for letting me know how well it worked!

Hi what are the egg-wash ingredients?

oh sorry I missed that! 2 Whole eggs + 2 egg yolks whisked together!

Hi Matt, love the recipe! I don’t have a stand mixer so I usually knead by hand, any idea how long it should take to knead that way? I haven’t mastered the perfect croissant yet and I’m hoping this recipe leads me there!

I think about 10-15 minutes! Just knead till you pass the windowpane test 🙂

Great recipe! It is the third one I tried and by far the best. I need to figure out when to start day 2 so I can eat them before dinner time though. My only question is: what is the best way to know they are done baking?

So glad! They should be a nice golden colour really. Once they are golden they are cooked it just a matter of then how dark you want them!

Hi Matt! Why are you using mix of t45 and all-purpose flour? Is this to reduce strength of gluten slightly and improve rolling?

Yes that! And it was a ratio I used from someone who taught me about croissants so I never changed it!!

I wanted to ask, I made the dough and I’ve put it to rest in the fridge as per your method. The dough has already doubled in size, is that normal?

It shouldn’t necessarily double but will increase in size as it has yeast in it!

I’ve been making croissants for a year now and every time the butter comes out when baking, until your advice to mix flour into the butter for lamination. Thanks for the helpful advice and better croissants

Hi Matt,
Loved your explanation but was wondering if I live in the tropics where temperatures soar to 31-33C above, how to we get base temperature of 48C. Does it mean that the flour has to be chilled to get the temp of 21C and the water chilled to 10C?
Well no aircon in my home and the only solution if I correctly understand your explanation should be so. Thanks in advance.

You can use some ice water too! Lots of bakeries do that too to keep the dough cold 🙂

Just wondering what the best way to freeze the croissants is. Is it better the freeze them before or after the final proof?

Before! Shape them, then freeze 🙂

Hello !! the video is not able to play

I just checked and it works!

This recipe gave the best results of any I have tried. This is the first time I have used both 84% butterfat butter and T45 flour (Francine brand from amazon.com, only brand and source I could find in the U.S.), and I think that made a huge difference. Also, I suspect the the strict attention to temperature really helped. I did not pick the optimal day for baking croissants, we are in a summer heat wave and even with AC on the combined temperatures of ambient air and flour mixture at the beginning of the process were 49 C, so I had to start by chilling the flour, and after kneading my dough was 26 C. But I REALLY appreciated having exact temperatures for the butter block and dough at the beginning of lamination, I think this was key and that process went very well. I think the heat wave caught up with me by the time I was rolling out the dough for cutting the croissants, it started getting soft and sticky before I got to the 3.5 mm thickness. Nonetheless, the proofing went well, took about 3 hours, and no butter leaked out during baking, a first for me. The results in flavor and texture are the best I have ever achieved. This is the only recipe I have used that I would recommend to others, including the recipes from well-known names in baking.

ah that is amazing to hear Julie!!

Just wanted to add that my husband said the croissant were better than anything I had brought home from a bakery. I have been trying to cut back on sweets, but signed up for your basic level tutorials.

Hi! The video to this recipe won’t load for me, so I’m following your tiktok video as well. My only confusion is that in your tiktok you add the liquids first and then the rest of the ingredients to the bowl instead of vice versa. I’m not sure if it makes a difference, but I’d like clarification if possible? Secondly, in the tiktok you let your dough rest at room temperature before rolling into a rectangle to store in the fridge. It doesn’t say that on this written version, so should I or should I not do it? If I should let it rest, for how long?

Sorry yes add the liquid first! You can give it a quick roll straight after kneading then chill it. No need to rest it for 30m!

Oh one more question! Do you think instant yeast or active dry yeast is best?

I prefer instant!

Ok so I’m doing the recipe right now, but it simply isn’t passing the windowpane test? I don’t want to over-knead. Will it still turn out ok?

I would let it rest for 5, then continue kneading. It really needs to past the windowpane!