Vegan Cornetti - Italian Croissants

vegan brioche bread croissants with pastry cream

5 from 8 votes

Vegan Cornetti - Italian Croissants

These vegan cornetti or Italian croissants with custard are the ultimate Italian breakfast recipe. The dough is light, soft and aromatic, and you can fill them with our delicious vegan custard or with your favourite jam. Our recipe is easy to make, with simple ingredients that you already have in your pantry.

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time15 mins

Proofing3 hrs

Total Time3 hrs 45 mins

Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Plant-Based, Vegan

Servings: croissant

Calories: 181kcal

Author: Nico

Equipment

Pastry piping bag with long nozzle (only if you want to fill them)

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

500 g bread flour or all-purpose + 2 to 3 tablespoon for kneading*
100 g sugar
7 g instant dry yeast or 7g active dry yeast, or 20g fresh brewer's yeast but in this two cases dissolved in warm water.

Wet Ingredients

150 g plant-milk soy, almond, oat
150 g water
60 g sunflower oil
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 orange zest
1 pinch salt

For the filling

vegan custard
apricot jam

Metric - USA

Instructions

In a bowl add flour, sugar and instant dry yeast and give it a quick stir.
Now add the rest of the ingredients: orange zest, lukewarm plant-milk, water, sunflower oil, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Mix with a spatula till all the ingredients come together.
NB: if you don't have instant dry yeast, you can use either 7g (1.4tsp) of active dry yeast or 25g of fresh yeast. In both cases, you need to first dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water and sugar before adding it to the flour.
On a worktop add 2 tablespoon of flour, then transfer the dough on it, and knead with your hands. Let the dough absorb all the flour, then knead vigorously for 5 minutes. If the dough is too wet, you can add an additional tablespoon of flour.
But keep in mind that by the end, your dough should be elastic, soft and moist. It should almost stick to the worktop.
You can use a kitchen-aid if you prefer.
Put the dough in a bowl, brush it with a thin layer of oil and cover the bowl with a damp kitchen cloth, leaving enough space for the dough to double in volume. Let proof for 2 to 3 hours in a warm place.
TIP: turn the oven on for 30 seconds, then turn it off and put the dough in it to proof.
After proofing, transfer the dough onto a clean worktop and flatten it, first with your hands, then with a rolling pin.
Make a rectangular shape of 50cm by 30cm (20inch by 12inch).
With a sharp knife or with a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 9 to 10 triangles.
Roll each triangle on itself to give it the shape of a croissant. With the scraps, repeat the same process.
Put the finished croissants on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, leaving some distance between them. On a standard tray, I fit 9 croissants. Let proof for 1 hour in a warm place.
TIP: turn the oven on for 30 seconds, then turn it off and put the croissants in it to proof.
Preheat the oven to 180C or 356F. Brush the top of the croissants with plant-milk and bake on the mid-lower oven rack for around 20 minutes.
NB: The time really depends on the oven and on the size of the croissant, so keep an eye on them. They should be slightly golden on top.
Let cool down for 10 minutes before eating them or before filling them with our vegan custard***, or with your favourite jam.
To fill them you need a pastry piping pag with a long and narrow tip.

Video

Notes

MEASUREMENTS

We recommend using the metric system for this recipe.

*the dough for the croissants should be quite wet, so try to add as little flour as possible while kneading. 2 to 3 tablespoon should be enough.

**for best results use a scale and precise grams measurements.

*** here's the link to our vegan pastry cream recipe/vegan custard recipe.

NB: Nutritional values are for croissants without filling.

Nutrition