A ‘Kipferl’ … it was …
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 Kipferl can be made plain or with nut or other fillings (some consider the rugelach a form of Kipferl).
The “birth” of the croissant itself – that is, its adaptation from the plainer form of Kipferl, before the invention of Viennoiserie – can be dated with some precision to at latest 1839 (some say 1838), when an Austrian artillery officer …
It’s not THAT of a stretch to these croissants … and YES, … I made those …
A croissant is a buttery flaky viennoiserie bread roll named for its well known crescent shape. Croissants and other viennoiserie are made of a layered yeast-leavened dough. The dough is layered with butter, rolled and folded several times in succession, then rolled into a sheet, in a technique called laminating. The process results in a layered, flaky texture, similar to a puff pastry.
Crescent-shaped food breads have been made since the Middle Ages, and crescent-shaped cakes possibly since old times. Croissants have long been a staple of French bakeries and pâtisseries.
YES, the Viennese bakers started it all. Some say with a little help of the Ottomans (Turks) at the time, but …. semantics …. and French refined it it seems …. good on them ….
BUT we needed the Americans for the ….
Big Chill
The rape of the good old croissant
… that is …
It all started with Chef Dominique Ansel of the Chef Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York. He called it the Cronut.
It probably happened when some apprentice dropped carelessly some croissant dough in the deep-fryer. It may even had somebody hurt in the process … all in the name of progress. And then it happened. A few tried to emulate. But as we all very well know, If you copy, you probably will always stay second best …
A few even had their own “original” idea ….
… the version of Arlequin Café
How about New York’s City Bakery’s “Pretzel Croissant”. So don’t throw the good old croissant into hot oil but rather into a sodium solution, and then salt it and bake like a German Pretzel …. Sounds like a French version for the Oktober Fest …
And here is what happens when you bring the good old OREO into the equation …
Toronto’s Mail writes about the “Crookie”. Clafouti Patisserie et Cafe in Toronto, Canada, have “invented” the crookie. The originality is, or the lack thereof, that you stuff an OREO into a croissant. Oh well …
Naturally there had to be a savory version of the madness of sorts. The Maple Bacon Jam Cronut Burger …. Got it … Bacon_Jam-Cronut-Burger … quadruple madness …. Und you’ll find it here …. well …. in Toronto ….
There must be something in the air up north that those guys come up with something like that. Or just cold enough …. By now you all have probably reached for your cholesterol tablets, and if not …. Bon Appétit ….
