I don’t know anyone that doesn’t like a croissant and as you bite into the lovely flaky layers and close your eyes you could be transported to a café in Paris ……. or should that be Vienna!!!!! It is well documented that the Croissant has its ancestry in the Viennese Kipferl, a soft yet heavier dough that was filled with nuts and assorted goodies. This ancestry is still recognised today as the French refer to the certain pastries, the croissant being one of them, as viennoiseries which are different from French pastries.
Some believe that the Archduchess of Austria, Marie Antoinette’s, love for the Kipferl is what made them famous amongst French aristocracy, but their fame is attributed to August Zang, a Viennese baker that brought the treats to the streets of Paris. It was not until 1915, that the Croissant truly became French when Sylian Claudius Goy, documented a recipe that revolutionised the croissant and made it as we know it today. A lamination technique, where layers of butter and dough are folded together. A 3-fold technique give the croissant, 55 glorious puffy layers with a crispy outside and that irresistible aroma of caramelised butter. It may have taken a while for the croissant to make its mark, but now we cannot imagine the world without it.
