Croissants Lab · Calculator

Design your own croissants

The sliders start at the typical batch: the median of 114 recipes for each ingredient, in grams per 100 g of flour. Move any of them within the range that 90% of recipes use (the 5th to the 95th percentile) and the grams update, with where your choice sits among the recipes and what that ingredient does.

This scales ratios; it is not a tested recipe. Each ingredient moves on its own against the flour, and a combination no recipe uses may not bake the way you expect. For the method, pan and oven, follow the real recipes nearest your numbers.

Flour

Flour weight (g)

500 g, about 4 cups, makes one typical batch.

Start from a recipe

Load a real recipe's percentages into the sliders. Search by title or site.

Grams per 100 g of flour

Butter
300 g · 60%about 1 1/3 cups
In the middle: 43% of recipes use more, 45% less.
Most of it is the butter block folded into the dough; more butter means more, thinner layers and a shatterier crust, and a dough that is harder to keep cold.
Milk or water
290 g · 58%about 1 1/4 cups
In the middle: 44% of recipes use more, 51% less.
Enough milk or water for a dough soft enough to roll thin without tearing, but firm enough to hold the butter in layers.
Sugar
50 g · 10%about 1/4 cup
In the middle: 48% of recipes use more, 41% less.
A little sweetness and browning; French viennoiserie runs about 10%.
Salt
10 g · 2%
In the middle: 35% of recipes use more, 42% less.
About 2%, as in bread.
Yeast
8 g · 1.6%
In the middle: 49% of recipes use more, 48% less.
Yeast lifts the layers apart during the final proof; sourdough croissants use a levain instead.
Egg in the dough
8 g · 1.6%
In the middle: 50% of recipes use more, 50% less.
Many recipes use none; some add an egg for richness. The egg wash on top is not counted.

Your croissants

Your croissants in grams, with approximate volumes
Ingredient	Grams
Flour	500 gabout 4 cups
Butterbutter, oil and shortening	300 gabout 1 1/3 cups
Milk or watermilk, buttermilk, yogurt, cream and water	290 gabout 1 1/4 cups
Sugarwhite sugar, brown sugar, honey and syrups	50 gabout 1/4 cup
Salt	10 g
Yeast	8 g
Egg in the doughwhole eggs, yolks and whites	8 g
Total	1,166 g

1,166 g in all from 500 g of flour, counting only the groups above.

Closest real recipe: Homemade Croissants Step-by-Step (bakingwithbutter.com).

BakeThe median of 93 recipes is 375°F (190°C), most for 15 to 30 minutes at their own size. A bigger or smaller batch, or a different pan, changes the time.

The 3 real recipes nearest your numbers

Measured on butter, milk or water, sugar, salt, yeast and egg in the dough at once. These are published, tested recipes: follow one for its method, pan and timing, or load its percentages and adjust from there.

1
Homemade Croissants Step-by-Step · bakingwithbutter.com
butter 58% · milk or water 58% · sugar 10% · salt 1.9% · yeast 1.5% · egg in the dough 0%
2
Homemade Croissant Recipe · baranbakery.com
butter 59% · milk or water 63% · sugar 10% · salt 2.1% · yeast 1.5% · egg in the dough 0%
3
Pain au chocolat (chocolate croissants) · theflavorbender.com
butter 66% · milk or water 58% · sugar 10% · salt 2% · yeast 2% · egg in the dough 0%

How the calculator works

Every recipe is reduced to baker's percentages: grams of each ingredient group per 100 g of flour. The starting point is the median of all 114 recipes for each group separately, so no single recipe is exactly the starting batch. Grams are your flour weight times each percentage, rounded to the nearest 5 g above 50 g and the nearest gram or half gram below.

“More than 80% of recipes” counts the recipes with strictly less of that ingredient per gram of flour. The nearest recipes are measured on every ingredient at once, each scaled by how much recipes vary on it, so a wide-ranging ingredient does not outweigh a narrow one.

Only the groups listed are counted. Vanilla, spices, mix-ins and toppings are left out unless they have their own slider. Volumes are approximate: flour at 125 g a cup, sugar 200 g, butter or oil 225 g, milk and other liquids 240 g, a large egg 50 g.