Croissants Lab114 recipes
← Croissants Lab

What goes into croissants

The main ingredient list of all 114 recipes, with names merged so one choice counts once: unsalted and salted butter are butter, light and dark brown sugar are brown sugar, kosher and table salt are salt. Different flours stay apart. Frosting, glaze and other extras are counted on their own at the end.

In short

  • For sugar, 86% use white sugar alone and 11% honey or other syrup (with or without sugar).
  • Of the recipes with yeast, 45% call for instant or rapid-rise yeast, 29% fresh yeast, and 13% active dry yeast.
  • For the liquid, 38% use milk and water together, 31% milk alone, and 19% water alone.
  • For eggs, 50% use no egg, 32% whole eggs alone, and 10% egg yolks alone.
  • 11% add chocolate and 3% cheese, herbs or other savory; 85% add none of these.

The main choices

Each block sorts every recipe into one group by a single decision. Amounts are the median among recipes in that group, scaled to 500 g of flour, the size of a typical batch. The recipe named under each group is the one in it closest to the typical batch on every ingredient.

White, brown or a syrup

Each recipe counted once, by the sweeteners in its main ingredient list.

"With honey or other syrup" means any liquid sweetener (honey, other syrup, maple syrup and barley malt), with or without dry sugar.

Instant or active dry yeast

Among the 107 recipes with yeast, by the type the ingredient list names.

Rapid-rise, quick-rise and bread machine yeast count as instant.

Water, milk or something richer

Each recipe counted once, by the liquids in its main ingredient list.

Cream includes heavy cream, whipping cream and half-and-half.

Whole eggs, yolks or whites

Each recipe counted once, by the parts of the egg it uses.

A large egg is about 50 g out of the shell, a yolk about 18 g, a white about 32 g.

Which flour

Each recipe counted once, by the flours it combines.

Add-ins

Share of recipes that add at least one of each. A recipe can add several, so the shares do not sum to 100%. 85% add none of these.

  • Chocolate11%

    bar chocolate 10%

  • Cheese, herbs or other savory3%

    cheese 3%

How often each ingredient appears

Share of the 114 recipes that list it at least once, for every ingredient in 5% or more of them. The median amount is among recipes that use it and give a weighable amount, scaled to 500 g of flour; for a flour, it is that flour's share of all the flour in the recipe.

  1. Salt100%

    114 recipes · median 10 g

  2. Granulated sugar98%

    112 recipes · median 50 g

  3. Butter94%

    108 recipes · median 300 g

  4. Yeast93%

    107 recipes · median 12 g

  5. All-purpose flour83%

    95 recipes · median: all of the flour

  6. Milk75%

    86 recipes · median 201 g

  7. Water65%

    75 recipes · median 155 g

  8. Eggs39%

    45 recipes · median 51 g (about 1 large egg)

  9. Bread flour20%

    23 recipes · median: all of the flour

  10. Egg yolks17%

    20 recipes · median 19 g

  11. Bar chocolate10%

    12 recipes · median 164 g

  12. Sourdough starter8%

    10 recipes · median 133 g

  13. Cream7%

    9 recipes · median 60 g

  14. Honey7%

    9 recipes · median 11 g

Toppings and extras

35% of recipes (41 of 114) list something beyond the main recipe: a frosting, glaze, filling, crumb topping, a boiling bath or a sprinkle on top. None of it is counted above. The most common extra ingredients, as a share of all recipes:

  • Eggs17% (20)
  • Egg yolks8% (10)
  • Cream4% (5)
  • Milk4% (5)
  • Water4% (5)

How the ingredients are counted

A recipe uses an ingredient when any line of its main ingredient list names it. Names are merged by the words in them, so “1 cup unsalted butter, softened” and “salted butter” are both butter, and a line that offers a choice (“walnuts or pecans”) counts as the first one named. Canola, vegetable and other neutral oils are one oil; coconut and olive oil are listed on their own.

Lines only for greasing the pan are left out (1 of them). Lines for brushing, sprinkling or serving, and lines that belong to a frosting, glaze, filling or topping, count as extras.

Amounts come from the grams on each recipe page: printed by the source, or converted from cups and spoons with standard densities. Scaling them to 500 g of flour lets a small recipe and a double batch line up. Percentages are rounded down.