Cut each of the 3 sticks of butter into 4 lengthwise slices. Refrigerate on a plate. Combine the yeast, milk and sugar in a bowl and let proof for about 10 minutes at room temp. Add the flour and salt (if using unsalted butter) into the proofed yeast mix. Beat for 20-30 seconds, until smooth. Place dough on a board, preferably cold. I use a marble board for this and I place it outside for a couple of hours to chill. Cold is good for this stuff. Press down on the dough to extend it, using as little flour as possible to accomplish this. Use a roller (yes, I have a chilled marble one for this too) and roll the dough out to make a large rectangle. About 18-20 inches long, and about 8-10 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick.
Arrange the slices of butter on the top 2/3 of the dough. Side by side leaving 3/4 to 1 inch of the edge uncovered. (Roughly 6 inches of the rectangle will be uncovered lengthwise.) Fold the naked part of the dough over the adjacent part covered with the butter. Press the outside edges to seal in the butter. Now fold the resulting rectangle in half in the same direction as you folded the plain dough. You will end up with a folded stack of dough-butter-dough-butter-dough or five layers. Again, press the outside edges to seal the butter inside.
If the dough isn't too elastic, complete the" first turn" now (Refrigerate and allow to rest for 30 minutes or so if the dough is too springy). Turning: Place the rectangle of layered dough in front of you so that a shor side faces you. Roll it out to make a rectangle about 18 inches long, 9 inches wide and 3/8 inch thick. Lightly flour the top and bottom surfaces as needed to keep it from sticking to the surface, keep it cold. After rolling to size brush off any excess flour and then fold over the 2 short sides so their edges meet in the middle (you will now have a square, 2 dough layers thick, about 9 inches on a side and close to 3/4 inches thick). Fold this square in half along the seam where the 2 outside edges come together in the middle, with that seam inside-like a book. Now you have a 4 layered piece of dough. Place the dough in a plastic bag and refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes to let it relax. This step needs to be repeated twice so you will have a total of 3 turns of the dough. Once the final turn is done, return the dough to the plastic bag and referigerate again for 2 to 3 hours to rise (it can go overnite too).
On your lightly floured board, roll out the risen dough. Start from the center and roll first away from you, pick up the rolling pin and go back to the center and roll towards you. Now roll the dough to your left and then to your right. Always work from the center. Avoid rolling back and forth (this will make for a very tough croissant). You should end up with a rectangle about 24 inches long, 16 inches wide and 1/8 inch thick. Let the dough rest where it is for about 8 to 10 minutes covered with a damp towel. You may make different sizes depending on how you cut the dough.Ifyou make 20 small croissants from the rectangular the off-cuts can be used to make "Pain au Chocolat" (bittersweet chocolate rolled up inside. I like to make 10 Large ones and 4 small ones from the half triangles. I prefer a larger size so I will give you that method for cutting and rolling.
Okay this is the toughy, making them look good. Before attempting this with your dough you might want to make a pencil sketch on paper first just to get the idea down. This is how it's done; along a long edge, make a mark every 8 inches beyond a corner, as though you were going to divide the dough sheet in thirds. Mirror those marks along the opposite edge. Make another indentation in the center of each short edge. With the long edges running from left-to-right in front of you, make a cut with a sharp knife from the upper left corner of the dough rectangle to the first 8 inch mark on the opposite (lower) dege. Starting from the lower left corner, do the same up to the frist 8 inch mark on the upper dege. what you'll have at this pont is a half of a diamond (it's vertical center is the left-hand edge of the dough rectangle) adjacent to 2 triangles connected point -to - point. Repeat this sequence, this time starting from the first 8 inch mark along the top edge down to the second 8 inch mark on the bottom edge, then from the bottom edge's first 8 inch mark up to the top edge's second 8 inch mark. You following this ok? Then, if so, do it again; your cut endpoints will now be the upper and lower right corners of the dough rectangle. OK, you will now have, from left to right, a diamond sliced verically in half, 2 triangles point-to-point, a full diamond, another pair of triangels, another diamond, a final pair of triangles and an ending half diamond. Turn your knife and make a final cut between the short-sie halfway marks. Now, you should have 10 triangles whose bases are 8 inches wide, and at the short ends, 4 right triangles whose bases are only 4 inches wide
:Some variations- for smaller croissants, mark the long edges of the dough every 6 inches, rather than 8, you;ll get 14 medium croissants and 4 small ones. Play with the shape of the final dough rectangle and the width of the strips to get to the length and bulk of the croissants you like best. Norrow long triangles make short fat croissants, with soft middles, while short triangles yield cripser, drier croissants.
Roll them up, start from the wide end and roll up. Easy part. Curl the ends in abit to get that cresent moon shape. Place them on to a parchment lined baking sheet (lightly oiled will work) about 3/4 to an inch apart. Once all placed on the sheet, lightly brush them with water to remove any excess flour and then place them in a proofing box (a large garbage bag with air blown in, to make a tent like thing) and let rise for about 60 minutes or so, till doubled in size. Remove from the proofing container, and gently brush with the egg wash. Place on the middle rack of a preheated oven(400 F) until golden, about 15-18 minutes. Cool on racks and then dive in.
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