Are you seeking the best sourdough croissants recipe? How about one that features chocolate and almond flavors? And one that has a great story behind them? Look no further. This best sourdough croissants recipe won our “best sourdough bread contest” at the 2022 Minnesota State Fair.

They come from Guillermo Guardia, who tells us that in his home country of Peru, croissants are known as cachitos. Guillermo is a ceramics artist, art teacher and now, a blue ribbon winning sourdough baker.

By his own admission, Guillermo is not really into cooking but loved baking bread in a bread making machine. When it suddenly broke one day, with dough in it. He took it out and worked with the dough for the first time and loved the experience.

It was fascinating to see the dough change and rise. It was magical. Since then, baking has become a stimulating and rewarding activity.

At some point I was baking almost every weekend, especially Sundays. I even named my sourdough starter Dominga, a Spanish female name for Sunday.

Baking and ceramics are somehow similar. Both use raw materials/ingredients that are mixed together with water and shaped by hand into something that is transformed by heat into something new. Because of  my art clay training, kneading and shaping the dough came naturally to me.

Guillermo started with sourdough baguettes, because they were his father’s favorite. Soon he was ready to tackle croissants. He noted, “I could use my clay skills with every key step, from laminating and rolling the dough to cutting and shaping it for the oven.”

His efforts paid off. The deciding judge on contest day said his croissants were “unbelievably good, beautiful, and perfect in every way.”

Congratulations Guillermo!

*Check back on this post as we hope to catch up with Guillermo in-person at some point and add some helpful technique photos. In the meantime, if you’re a fan of sourdough bread baking, give this recipe a try!