Skip to content
FriendsPantry

Argentine

Medialunas (Argentine croissants)

Contains egg (no meat or fish)

Medialunas

Small, sweet, laminated crescent pastries, softer and more bread-like than French croissants, brushed with syrup straight from the oven. The Argentine breakfast staple.

Medialunas (Argentine croissants) is an Argentine pastry from Argentina, ready in about 5 hours 15 minutes and made with all-purpose flour and unsalted butter. It serves 24 and is rated advanced to cook.

Start cooking

No licensed photograph of this dish yet.

Prep
1 h 30 min
Cook
15 min
Rest
3 h 30 min
Total
5 h 15 min
Serves
24
Level
Advanced
Calories
189

Ingredients

24 medialunas

For laminating

For the syrup

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    Mix the flour, sugar (opens in a new tab), yeast, salt and zest; add the milk (opens in a new tab), eggs (opens in a new tab), honey (opens in a new tab), vanilla (opens in a new tab) and soft butter and knead 6–8 minutes to a smooth, medium-firm dough. Flatten into a rectangle, wrap and chill 1 hour.

    Hands kneading dough on a floured surface
    How it looks · Photo: Klaus Nielsen on Pexels

  2. Step 2

    Roll the dough into a 30 × 20 cm rectangle, set the cold butter square in the centre and fold the dough over to enclose it, sealing the edges.

  3. Step 3

    Roll into a long 60 × 20 cm strip and fold in three (a single fold). Wrap and chill 30 minutes. Repeat twice more for three folds in total.

    • 30 min

    If butter breaks through or the dough fights back, chill longer — cold dough and pliable butter are the goal.

  4. Step 4

    Roll the dough 4 mm thick into a long rectangle about 25 cm deep, cut it in half lengthwise and cut each strip into long, narrow triangles (base about 9 cm). Notch the base, roll each up loosely from base to tip and curve into a crescent on lined trays.

  5. Step 5

    Proof at warm room temperature (no hotter than 26 °C) for 60–90 minutes until clearly puffy and wobbly. Heat the oven (opens in a new tab) to 200 °C. Boil the sugar (opens in a new tab) and water for 2 minutes to make the syrup.

    Food safety: Hot sugar syrup burns — let it cool slightly before brushing.

  6. Step 6

    Bake 12–15 minutes until deep golden. Brush with syrup as soon as they come out so they turn glossy and sticky.

About this dish

Origin
Argentina · Well documentedAlso popular in UruguayMore food from Argentina
Dish
Breakfast · Snack · Pastries
Cooking method
Oven-baked, Fermented
Taste
sweet, buttery, mild
Diet
Vegetarian (lacto-ovo) · No nut ingredients
All labelsVegetarian (lacto-ovo) · Eggetarian · Pescatarian · Flexitarian-friendly · No nut ingredients · Pork-free · Beef-free
Worked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for
Make-ahead · Freezer-friendly · Festive & celebration
Cook more with
All-purpose flour · Unsalted butter · Milk · Sugar · Egg · Instant yeast
Techniques
Baking · Kneading · Fermentation

Allergens

  • Contains: Milkfrom milk, unsalted butter
  • Contains: Eggsfrom egg
  • Contains: Wheatfrom all-purpose flour
  • Contains: Glutenfrom all-purpose flour

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

189 kcal per serving

Calculated

1 serving ≈ 54 g · recipe makes 24

Where the energy comes from

  • Protein 7%
  • Carbohydrate 52%
  • Fat 41%
Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
NutrientPer servingPer 100 g
Energy189 kcal349 kcal
Protein3.1 g5.8 g
Carbohydrate24.7 g45.6 g
Net carbohydrate24.1 g44.4 g
Sugars8.7 g16.1 g
Added sugars8.2 g15.2 g
Fibre0.6 g1.2 g
Fat8.7 g16 g
Saturated fat5.2 g9.5 g
Trans fat——
Cholesterol37 mg68 mg
Sodium109 mg200 mg
Salt equivalent0.3 g0.5 g
Vitamins & minerals per serving
Potassium
45 mg
Calcium
18 mg
Iron
1.1 mg
Magnesium
6 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)
76 µg
Vitamin C
0 mg
Vitamin D
0.2 µg
Vitamin B12
0.1 µg
Folate (DFE)
70 µg

How these numbers were made

  • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
  • Optional ingredients are not included: orange zest.
  • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
  • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Tips

  • After shaping, you can freeze medialunas raw; thaw overnight in the fridge and proof in the morning.

Common mistakes

  • Proofing somewhere hot melts the butter layers and makes greasy, bready pastries.

Serve with

  • Serve with café con leche or mate.

Food safety

  • Hot sugar syrup can cause burns; keep children away from the pan.

Storage

  • Best the same day; freeze baked up to 1 month.

Reheating

  • Warm at 170 °C for 4–5 minutes.

Variations

  • Medialunas de grasa (Argentina): Made with beef fat instead of butter: less sweet, straighter in shape and often served with ham and cheese.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Built from the recipe’s own sections. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

What the dish is built around

Main ingredient

Used in step 1

Baker’s notes

Customise in Bread & Bakery

Timeline and readiness cues

  1. Mix and knead · about 1 h 30 min

    Weigh everything. Knead until smooth and elastic: a small piece stretches thin enough to see light through (the windowpane test).

  2. Rest · about 2 h 30 min

    Covered so it doesn't dry out; relaxed dough rolls and shapes without springing back.

  3. Final proof · about 1 h 15 min

    Poke test: the dent springs back slowly and only partly. Springs back fast = needs longer; doesn't spring back = over-proofed, bake now.

  4. Bake · about 15 min at 200 °C

    Deep golden; bread sounds hollow when tapped underneath, or reads 93–96 °C inside (enriched breads 88–90 °C).

  5. Start to finish: about 5 h 30 min. Times are a guide — warmth changes everything; follow the cues.

The dough

The dough in baker's percentages. Flour = 100%.
IngredientRoleWeightBaker’s %
All-purpose flourFlour500 g100%
Unsalted butterFat230 g46%
MilkOther liquid206 g41.2%
EggEgg100 g20%
SugarSugar80 g16%
HoneySugar21 g4.2%
Instant yeastYeast7 g1.4%
SaltSalt6 g1.2%
Vanilla extractOther4 g0.9%
Total flour
500 g
Hydration
—
With milk, eggs…
51.6%
Wholegrain
0%

Hydration = water ÷ flour × 100. Milk is about 87% water and eggs about 75%, so they’re shown separately as “with milk, eggs…”.

  • Salt 1.2% — on the low side (1.8–2.2% is typical for bread).
  • Sugar 20.2% — an enriched, sweet dough; rises more slowly and browns quickly.
  • Fat 46% — a rich, tender dough.

If something goes wrong

  • Pale crust

    Likely causes

    • Oven too cool
    • Too little sugar or no milk/egg for browning
    • Over-fermented (yeast ate the sugars)

    What to do

    • Check the oven with a thermometer
    • Brush with egg wash or milk
    • Shorten the fermentation
  • Burnt bottom

    Likely causes

    • Tray too close to the heat
    • Dark tray absorbs more heat
    • Too much sugar in the dough

    What to do

    • Bake on the middle shelf
    • Double up trays or use a light-coloured one
    • Lower the temperature 10–15 °C and bake a little longer
  • Dough didn't rise

    Likely causes

    • Dead yeast (expired or killed by hot liquid)
    • Kitchen too cold
    • Salt in direct contact with fresh yeast
    • Starter not active

    What to do

    • Liquid should be lukewarm (no hotter than 40 °C)
    • Proof somewhere warm (an oven with just the light on)
    • Mix the salt into the flour, not onto the yeast
    • Feed the starter until it doubles in 4–8 hours
  • Over-proofed (sour smell, collapses when scored)

    Likely causes

    • Too warm
    • Too much yeast
    • Left too long

    What to do

    • Knock back, reshape and proof again briefly (yeast doughs)
    • Use less yeast or a cooler proof
    • Set a timer and check early with the poke test
  • Pastry didn't puff or layers leaked butter

    Likely causes

    • Butter too warm and melted into the dough
    • Layers sealed when cutting
    • Oven not hot enough

    What to do

    • Chill between folds; keep everything cold
    • Cut straight down with a sharp knife — don't drag
    • Bake hot (200–220 °C) so the water in the butter steams the layers apart

Reviews & corrections

Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

You might also like