Croissants and butter

Ingredients

• • 260ml water

  • 14g fast-action yeast (2 sachets)

  • 500g plain flour

  • 10g salt

  • 40g caster sugar

  • 360g vegan butter (we used Miyokos or see below)

  • Splash of non-dairy milk

  • Want photo instructions? You can download our photo recipe card with the form at the bottom of the recipe!

Directions

• • Step 1 In a large bowl, put your water, sugar and yeast and stir together

  • Step 2 Add your flour, salt and 100g of vegan butter and knead until it all comes together (mix it in the bowl first before tipping out and kneading). If you have an electric whisk with a dough hook, you can use this

  • Step 3 Cover the dough with cling film, place in the fridge, and leave for 8 hours or overnight

  • Step 4 Once you’ve placed your dough in the fridge, take the remaining 260g of vegan butter and place between two pieces of parchment paper or into a sandwich bag

  • Step 5 With a rolling pin, flatten the butter until it becomes a square shape that is roughly 7×7 inch (ideally, measure it with a tape measure to be sure). Wrap in cling film and place back in the fridge and leave until your dough is ready (you need to be working with the butter cold but not rock solid, so ensure it stays in the fridge until needed, and then work quickly)

  • Step 6 Once your dough has been left for at least 8 hours, remove from the fridge and place on a lightly floured worktop

  • Step 7 With a rolling pin, roll into a rectangle that is 14×7 inches in size

  • Step 8 Take your slab of butter and place it in the middle of your dough

  • Step 9 Fold the two ends of the dough to meet in the middle over the butter slab, and make sure the butter is sealed by pushing the dough together all around the edges

  • Step 10 Turn the dough so that the join is now straight in front of you, not lengthways. Starting from the middle, roll your pastry out into a long rectangle, till it’s roughly 22×7 inches in size (do not roll back on yourself, always come back to the middle and roll out towards the edges)

  • Step 11 Now it’s time for your first fold. Take one end of your dough and fold about two thirds of the way down, then take the other end, and fold it on top, so that you’ve folded the dough into thirds and you’re left with a rough square shape

  • Step 12 Wrap your dough into cling film (make sure it’s well wrapped as this stops it from drying out) and put in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour

  • Step 13 Remove from the fridge and place it so that the folded end of your dough (the part like the binding of a book) is on your left

  • Step 14 Roll your dough again until it’s 22×7 inches (step 10), then repeat step 11 (the fold), wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. Repeat this again (make sure fold is on left, roll and fold), wrap in cling film, but this time place in the fridge for 60 minutes

  • Step 15 After your dough has been in the fridge for its third and final time, remove from the fridge and on a lightly floured surface, roll out to about 24×8 inches

  • Step 16 Next, create yourself a template. Cut a piece of card or paper into a triangle shape. The base should be 4 inches wide and it should be 8 inches high

  • Step 17 Place your template onto your dough and cut around it (use something sharp like a pizza cutter) to create 9 triangle shapes

  • Step 18 Take a piece of dough and make a small slit in the middle of the base of your triangle with a knife

  • Step 19 Roll your dough from the base to the end using your finger and thumb, turning by the corners so as to not crush the layers

  • Step 20 Repeat for all pieces of dough

  • Step 21 Place on a baking sheet with the pointed end at the bottom, then brush each croissant lightly with some non-dairy milk

  • Step 22 Cover lightly with parchment paper and leave to rise for 1 hour. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees fan. Once heated, place in the oven for 20 minutes. If they look like they’re browning too quickly, cover with tin foil

  • Step 23 Remove from the oven and allow to cool

  • Step 24 Serve!

Vegan Butter

Ingredients

• • 200ml water

  • 160g cashews, soaked overnight

  • 250ml refined coconut oil, melted (it is important to use refined and not unrefined to avoid a strong coconut flavour)

  • 20ml sunflower oil

  • 1tbsp apple cider vinegar

  • 2tsp soy lecithin granules

  • 1tsp salt (don't add if using the butter for vegan croissants)

Directions

• • Step 1 Place all ingredients in a high-speed blender

  • Step 2 Blend until smooth

  • Step 3 Pour into silicon mould (or old butter tub) and leave to harden in the fridge

  • Step 4 Serve!