Croissant

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Since my previous post was about laminated yeasted products we made in our patisserie class, I thought this post should be about the world’s most popular laminated yeasted product: the Croissant. The croissant is a buttery and flaky bread roll with a unique shape which is described by some as a ‘crescent moon’ and by some as a ‘crab’.
An earlier variant of the croissant, the ‘Kipferl’, developed around the 13th century in Austria.  The story goes that in 1683, the Ottoman Turks invaded Vienna, Austria. They lay seize outside the city for a few weeks and then decided to get inside the city by digging a tunnel underground. They started digging the tunnel around night time and continued till before dawn. It is said that the Viennese bakers were the only ones awake at such unearthly hours of the morning as they were preparing breads for the next morning. The bakers heard the Turks digging under the city and alerted the military. The Viennese military collapsed the tunnel and defeated the Turks. The bakers were honoured for their service to Vienna and were requested to create a bread to celebrate this victory. The bread they made was named ‘Croissant’ to symbolize the Islamic crescent moon on the Turkish flag, so that every time this bread is consumed it shows the defeat of the Turks by the Viennese.
Some even say that the very controversial Austrian princess Marie Antoinette (“Let them eat cake”), who got married to French king Louis XVI in the 18th century brought the recipe of the croissant with her and popularised it in French. It became so popular that the French call it their own today and no French bakery can operate without having the croissant on its display case.
Whatever the story may be and no matter who actually came up with this bread, it is one of the most popular breakfast breads across the world. Many variations of the croissant have been made over the years. ‘Pain au Chocolat’, ‘Almond Croissant’ and ‘Cheese Croissant’ are the most popular variants.
Some people are under the impression that croissant rolling is impossible to do if you haven’t trained in French patisserie all your life. While croissant rolling isn’t the easiest activity to do, it isn’t such a nightmare. The following diagram I have made should help you understand how to roll a croissant.


Let me know if this was of any help and if you would like further guidance regarding making croissants.

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