Croissants
‘Nothing is created, nothing is lost, all is transformed.’
Croissants
From a freshly baked baguette to a bowl of café au lait, the croissant is so much a part of the fabric of daily French life that it’s hard to believe it isn’t really French. There are countless stories about how and where this pastry originated, with most theories suggesting that it was Marie Antoinette, originally from Vienna, who introduced the Austrian kipferl (a rolled-up plain brioche) to the French Royal Court. It wasn’t until later that a French baker invented the method of layering butter in a sweet bread dough, which, in turn, led to the creation of puff pastry, Danish pastry and, of course, the famed butter croissant we know and love today. It is not entirely clear why the croissant has become so closely associated with French culture; however, what is clear is that there really is no such thing as a true ‘local’ creation. As much as we might think otherwise, all our favourite specialties are in fact just the last step in a long line of small improvements that have been made over many years, all subjective and bearing witness to the various influences of a long line of bakers.
As a small boy, I remember looking longingly at the baskets filled with golden brown pastries that adorned the window of my local pâtisserie, and even now I can still remember the warm, buttery smell that wafted out the door. I loved trying to catch a glimpse of the pale and dishevelled baker inside, rolling those small triangles of dough into croissants at warp speed, the trays of perfectly shaped crescents of dough glistening under the fluorescent lights. Now, every time I see a small child looking up at me when I am in the kitchen rolling croissants, the same way it’s been done for a hundred years, I wonder if he sees the magic of the moment as I did all those years ago, or if all he sees is a pale and dishevelled middle-aged man playing with flour.