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January 30th is National Croissant Day. What is a croissant? Here’s the scoop.
> The history of croissants and the croissant sandwich are below.
> Check out the croissant recipes below.
> The year’s 20+ bread holidays.
> The history of bread and the different types of bread: a photo glossary.
WHAT IS A CROISSANT?
Meaning “crescent” and pronounced kwah-SAWN in French, this rich, buttery, crescent-shaped roll is made of puff pastry that layers yeast dough with butter—a technique known as laminating.
Traditionally a breakfast bread served with jam and butter, two classic variations include the almond croissant, filled with frangipane (almond paste) and topped with sliced almonds, and the “chocolate croissant,” correctly called pain au chocolat, baked with a piece of dark chocolate in the center.
In the early 1970s, croissants became sandwich substitutes as they evolved from their two traditional fillings, chocolate, and almond paste, into many savory variations, from broccoli to ham and cheese, as well as additional sweet varieties.
There’s also the Bavarian croissant or pretzel croissant, made of a pretzel-like dough that combines bread flour and whole wheat flour with salt sprinkled on the top, like a pretzel. Some are made of puff pastry, others of a soft pretzel-type dough in a triangle wrap, like a croissant.
THE REAL HISTORY OF CROISSANTS
Stories of the croissant being made in the shape of the crescent of the Turkish flag, after the defeat of the Turks in the Siege of Vienna in 1683, are a perpetuated myth. So is the story that Marie Antoinette, homesick for foods from Austria, introduced the kipferl to the French court.
Recipes for croissants do not appear in recipe books until the early 1900s, according to the Oxford Companion To Food. The earliest French reference is in 1853.
Food historians agree that the croissant is a descendant of the Austrian kipfel, a yeast roll usually filled with chopped walnuts, dried or candied fruit, or other filling, and shaped like a crescent.
Kipferl (or Kipfel) is an Austrian German word meaning crescent or little crescent, referring to the crescent shape of the pastry, which mimics the crescent moon.
It’s a yeasted roll (or sweet, nutty cookies called Vanillekipferl), made plain or filled. It’s the ancestor of both the French croissant and the Italian cornetto.
It arrived in Paris in 1838 or 1839 with August Zang, an Austrian military officer. He opened a bakery, Boulangerie Viennoise, selling kipferl. His wares introduced bakers to Viennese techniques which would one day lead to the baguette and the croissant.
Parisians fell in love with the kipferl (and with Viennese baking as a whole), and bakers imitated the bread in their own shops.
The name “croissant” also began appearing in historical record, referring to the crescent shape of the bread.
In 1915, French chef Sylvain Claudius Goy recorded the first-known French version of the croissant recipe in his cookbook, La Cuisine Anglo-Americaine. Instead of using brioche dough, as August Zang used, Goy transformed the recipe to use a laminated yeast dough (pâte feuilletée levée).
Lamination involves folding butter and dough to create thin, flaky layers of pastry. See the difference between laminated dough and puff pastry in the *footnote below.
You can read more of this history in Jim Chevallier’s book, August Zang and the French Croissant: How Viennoisserie† Came To France (Kindle edition).
The History Of The Croissant Sandwich
While croissants themselves became established in France by the late 19th/early 20th century, filling them with ham and cheese as sandwiches does not have been a traditional French practice. The French seem to prefer their croissants plain, with chocolate, or with almonds. Croissants are breakfast breads.
For sandwiches, the French use baguettes or in the case of Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame and others, pain de mie (French pullman bread).
For lunch, it’s a jambon-beurre sandwich (ham and butter on a baguette), which became famous in the late 19th century with workers of the Les Halles market in Paris. More than three million jambon-beurre sandwiches are sold in France each day, more than any other kind of sandwich, except for hamburgers [source: Bakery And Snacks].
So it seems that the croissant sandwich was an American innovation was making it a standardized, mass-produced, product category. It started with plain, mass-marketed croissants.
Sara Lee introduced a frozen croissant to America in 1981, which soon outpaced its famous pound cakes in sales.
By 1983, supermarkets were selling $100 to $200 million worth of croissants each year [source: Statista], and a lightbulb switched on for someone at Burger King.
Burger King introduced the Croissan’wich, a breakfast croissant sandwich, in 1983: scrambled eggs and American cheese with a choice of bacon, ham, or sausage patty. Arby’s and other fast-food chains followed.
Other chains and local food service jumped on the bandwagon, adding lunch croissants: chicken and tuna salad, ham and cheese, smoked salmon and cream cheese, turkey and Swiss, and numerous others. Donut shops now had something savory to serve to the lunch crowd.
All of this activity has led to more demand for top-quality croissants from artisan bakeries and to their availability at restaurants.
Beyond breakfast bread and sandwiches, American cooks have repurposed croissants as French toast, bread pudding, and more:
Bread Replacement: croissant croutons (cubed and toasted croissants for green salads, panzanella, and soups), dressing/stuffing.
Breakfast: croissant Benedict (eggs Benedict), croissant donuts (Cronuts—the famous Dominique Ansel creation and its imitator), croissant strata (baked egg casserole with layers of croissants, cheese, vegetables, and custard), other croissant-based breakfast casseroles, croissant cinnamon rolls.
Desserts: croissant churros (strips fried and coated in cinnamon sugar), croissant cobbler/crisp (topped with croissant instead of the usual crumb or biscuit toppings), croissant ice cream sandwiches, croissant tiramisu (instead of ladyfingers), croissant trifle (layered with custard, whipped cream, and fruit).
The key is to use day-old/slightly stale croissants since they hold their structure better when mixed with liquids or other moist ingredients.
MORE CROISSANT RECIPES
Cinnamon Crescents (Croissants)
Croissant Hot Fudge Sundae
Raspberry And Cream Croissants
Ice Cream Sandwich On Croissants
10 Uses For Day-Old Croissants
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[1] Coffee and croissants with jam and fresh fruit (photo © The French Farm).
[2] Just out of the oven: a pan of croissants (photo © Marais Bakery | San Francisco).
[3] Pain au chocolate, a.k.a. chocolate croissants, are filled with a piece of chocolate before baking that melts into deliciousness (photo © The Bonjon Gourmet).
[4] Forget the ham and cheese: Here’s the ultimate croissant sandwich. Iberico ham and Brie cheese are partnered poached eggs and garnished with osetra caviar (photo © Regalis Foods).
[5] Croissant French toast. Here’s the recipe (photos #5, #6, #7, and #8 © Taste Of Home).
[6] How about chocolate croissant bread pudding for dessert? Here’s the recipe.
[7] Faux profiteroles: filling croissants with ice cream instead of choux pastry. Here’s the recipe.
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