Croissants

Dough (should be on the dryer side)
500 g of strong-gluten flour
175 ml milk
50 g butter
2 eggs
10-15 g salt
30 g sugar
7 g dry instant yeast

Stretching butter
250 g butter
25 g flour

Glaze: 1 egg yolk, sweet cream or milk

1.  Prepare stretching butter and dough: Cut the butter into pieces, add the flour, and knead into a ball (either dough hook or by hand).  Flatten into a square (5" square) and place in the refrigerator.

Combine dough ingredients and knead for 10-15 minutes.

Place in a covered bowl and allow to rise for 30 minutes.  Then place in the fridge for 45 minutes to cool.

2.  Begin layering: flour your work surface.  Take dough out of the bowl and cut a cross about 1" deep.  Pull the edges out and use a rolling pin to form it into a "plus" shape, where the center is 4 times as thick as the sides.  You'll want the center square to be slightly larger than the butter square.  Brush off all excess flour between layers, and try to stretch the flaps as square as possible, though not so much that the dough rips.

Fold the four side pieces over the butter square.  If the butter has started to get too soft, put the package in the fridge for about 20 minutes.  Regardless - roll out the package to 12" x 12" next.

Single fold: Put the square on the workplace with the seam up.  Fold it like a letter (in thirds).  Give the folded dough a couple of rolls with the pin and then put it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Now roll the dough out again.  This time, it will be rectangular after rolling.  Give it another single fold, turned at 90 degrees in relation to the first fold.  You now have 9 layers.  Wrap the dough and put it in the fridge again for 30 minutes.

Next, a double fold.  Roll out the dough until it is approximately 10x12".  With the seam up, fold both ends in to the center.  Then fold the sides in to the center, so the ends are tucked inside.  Roll the whole thing a few times with the rolling pin.  Wrap the dough and put it in the fridge again for 30 minutes, or overnight.

Now, roll the dough out to its final size.  The chances for ripping are the highest at this stage, because the dough layers will get thin.  Flour the surface well.  When rolling, you probably need to relax the dough for a couple of minutes after some rolling/stretching.  Your goal is a size of about 20x20 inches.  Then, fold it in half and cut triangles of your desired size.  Stretch the triangles at the tips, remove excess flour, put scrap dough in the middle of the triangle, and roll the croissant.

Allow to rise for 1.5 to 2.5 hours at room temperature.  The dough should approximately double in size.

Preheat the oven to ~400 degrees F.  Egg wash your croissants if desired.  Bake at 390 for around 5 minutes, or until you see the croissants begin to brown.  Then reduce the oven temperature to ~340 degrees F for the remaining time.  Bake for around 15 additional minutes.