1. Mix the water and milk together, warm to 100°-110°F. Pour ¼ cup into a small bowl and dissolve the yeast, leave to stand for 5 minutes or until foamy.
2. In a large bowl blend together flour and ¼ cup of the butter using a fork, pastry blender, or a food processor on a dough setting. Blend until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and salt.
3. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the yeast and the remaining milk and water. Mix well to form a dough, knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth, about 6 minutes. Return to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 20 minutes. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; these will be needed for the chilling steps of the dough.
4. Place the remaining butter between 2 sheets of wax or parchment paper and flatten with a rolling pin until it is a level and approximately 7″ x 7″ square, chill until ready to use. Turn dough out onto the lightly floured surface, roll into a 10″ x 10″ square.
5. Place the flattened square of butter on top of the dough, rotated to a diamond shape (corners of butter point to straight sides of dough), fold the exposed corners of the dough over the butter to meet the middle like an envelope, gently pinching the edges together. Be careful to not overlap the dough, just meet the edges together. Chill for 20 minutes.
6. Start rolling the dough from the middle outwards, creating a rectangle 24” long by 10” wide. Try to keep the sides and corners straight and square. Fold into thirds, brush off excess flour as you go, bring the left third on top of the middle third, then fold the right third over the stack, you are left with a 10” x 8” rectangle. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 20 minutes. Rotate rectangle horizontally and roll out to 24” x 10” and folding into thirds again, chill another 20 minutes. Next roll the rectangle to 24” x 16”, cut the long side of the dough in half, so you have two 12” x 16” pieces, place one on top of the other, aligning the cut edges, cover in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
7. Roll to 20” x 12”, cut in half lengthwise so you have two pieces 20” long x 6” wide, cover and chill for another 10 minutes. Starting with the first piece, roll the dough out 30” long by 8” wide. Make triangles using a ruler, measure out 5” increments down long edge, cutting a small slit at each interval. Along the opposite side do the same, starting the notches in the middle of the other marks so you create a “point” to your triangle. Using a pizza cutter, connect all the marks so you are left with 11 triangles, plus two halves, which you can press together to make another triangle, 12 in total. One at a time, roll up each triangle tightly from base to tip, brushing off any excess flour as you go. Place on baking sheet in 3 rows of 4 evenly spaced, tips tucked underneath, allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, or about one hour. Repeat process for second piece of dough.
8. Preheat oven to 350°F or convection bake at 325°F. In a small bowl beat egg with a pinch of salt, brush croissants with egg wash and bake for 20-25 minutes or until deep golden brown.
9. Melt one package of pink candy melts (follow instructions on the package)
10. Roughly chop 1 cup of pistachios and set aside
11. Roughly crumble 1 cup of freeze dried raspberries and set aside.
12. Dip one half of the croissant into the candy melt and place on a wire rack. Immediately sprinkle with pistachios or raspberries and gently press into the wet candy melt. Repeat for the remaining croissants. Let the candy melt set before serving, approximately 15 minutes.

Tips

Butter must always remain cold when working with the dough, if it gets too soft chill dough in fridge until firm again, up to one hour, if needed. Be careful not to roll your dough so thin that the butter seeps through, try adding a bit of flour if this happens to prevent sticking when rolling. Try to use as little flour as possible when rolling so your dough doesn’t turn out dry.

For flavoured croissants

Chocolate croissants, place about half a dozen chocolate chips near the bottom edge of the triangle before rolling.
Almond croissants, place about 1 teaspoon of almond paste rolled into a small log along bottom edge of triangle before rolling up. Brush with egg wash and roll in sliced almonds to decorate the outside of your croissants.

Freeze shaped croissants for later use

Once you have rolled your croissants you can freeze them immediately by placing on a tray in the freezer until solid, once frozen store in freezer bag for up to two months. When ready to bake remove from freezer, thaw in refrigerator overnight on a parchment-lined baking sheet, covered loosely with plastic wrap. In the morning allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size before baking. Brush with egg wash and bake as directed in recipe.