honeycomb, flakiness and ‘au beurre
Fresh and flakey on the outside, a slightly chewy honeycomb texture on the inside … it tastes of toasted buttery caramelisation, tangy undertones of Normandy milk, the sweet richness of cultivated yeasts and long fermentation. Buttery streaks on your fingers, tiny, and sometimes not-so-tiny shards of golden-brown flakes of crust on your shirt … more often than not an almost messy exercise at breakfast … an emotional exercise first thing in the morning … yes indeed, the croissant … Croissant au Beurre … bien sûr …
A Damascene moment every time at my first breakfast in Paris. It may be my favorite chocolatier I visit, first thing when I arrive, or Gérard Mulot for a Kuglof. But really looking forward … I am to my first petit déjeuner … café, jus d’orange frais et croissant au beurre … Same ritual every time.
Kuglof from Gérard Mulot, 76 Rue de Seine, 75006 Paris
I am a baker. I have learned the art of fermentation and lamination from some very good and passionate people, … artist at yeasts, flour and butter …
‘Petit déjeuner’ at Café Delmas at Place de la Contrescarpe
Many probably not quite liberté, égalité, but if you belong to the few, … the masters of flakey butteriness, … then definitely … fraternité.
… so, yeah, it is emotional … !!
• The Kipferl, ancestor of the croissant, has been documented in Austria going back at least as far as the 13th century, in various shapes.
• The French version of the Kipferl was named for its crescent (croissant) shape and has become an identifiable shape across the world.
• Lamination is term for the process of alternating layers of dough and butter when making pastry.
• The best tasting and best looking laminated dough use butter. When heated, the water in butter turns to steam. The thin layers of butter in laminated dough cause the dough to puff up and rise during baking, giving croissants and puff pastry their layered and crispy look, and the milk solids in the butter cause the pastry to brown – and, of course, tastes delicious.
There are plenty of recipes for Croissant au Beurre out there, so I don’t have to bore you with one more. But if you feel adventurous, here is a whole-wheat croissant recipe from David Lebovitz you may wan a give a try.