Le Croissant

Le Croissant. It is probably the most French of all the French delicacies that pops in anyone’s mind when one thinks of typical bites coming from the country of Haute cuisine. According to many historians, the croissant was actually an invention of the Viennese bakers who according to the legend came up with a brioche in the shape of a crescent (ottoman flag) in order to celebrate the defeat of the Turkish army at the siege of the Austrian capital in 1683. To back that claim we have the first recorded sale of a croissant in Paris at Rue de Richelieu in 1837 where two Austrian bakers August Zang and Ernest Schwarzer operated a Viennese bakery.

Since the early 19th century thousands of French bakers have produced tons of puff pastry in all kinds of variations but it was a French Baker by the name of Sylvain Claudius Goy who wrote a recipe in 1915, that would cement the technique that remains at the heart of baking the modern croissant. His use of yeast differentiated his rolls from traditional puff pastries and gave birth to the croissant of the present day. Enough with the history lesson though.

You have surely savored a croissant before and you definitely know that tasting a freshly baked one from a bakery or a pastry shop is a whole different story from the ones you find in a supermarket for example. Being in Paris does not necessarily guarantee that you will be savoring a traditional fresh croissant. More than 50% of the croissants sold in French bakeries today are baked from frozen dough. A safe choice for this, when you’re in Paris, would be Maison Eric Kayser – Artisan Boulanger (a word for a bakery that specializes in bread and especially in French-style bread.) kind provider of our photos. More on this amazing line of bakeries