Almond Croissant

Description

A croissant is a buttery, flaky, viennoiserie pastry inspired by the shape of the Austrian kipferl but using the French yeast-leavened laminated dough. Croissants are named for their historical crescent shape, the dough is layered with butter, rolled and folded several times in succession, then rolled into a thin sheet, in a technique called laminating. The process results in a layered, flaky texture, similar to a puff pastry.

Crescent-shaped breads have been made since the Renaissance, and crescent-shaped cakes possibly since antiquity. Kipferls have long been a staple of Austrian, and French bakeries and patisseries. The modern croissant was developed in the early 20th century when French bakers replaced the brioche dough of the kipferl with a yeast-leavened laminated dough. In the late 1970s, the development of factory-made, frozen, preformed but unbaked dough made them into a fast food that could be freshly baked by unskilled labor. The croissant bakery, notably the La Croissanterie chain, was a French response to American-style fast food,  and as of 2008, 30–40% of the croissants sold in French bakeries and patisseries were baked from frozen dough.

Croissants are a common part of a continental breakfast in many European countries.

St. Martin’s Croissant from Poznań, Poland

On 11 November, St. Martin’s Day is celebrated in the Polish region of Greater Poland, mainly in its capital city Poznań. On this day, the people of Poznań purchase and eat considerable amounts of sweet, crescent-shaped pastries called Rogale Świętomarcińskie (“St. Martin’s Croissants”). They are made specially for this occasion from puff pastry with a filling made of ground white poppy seeds, almonds, raisins, and nuts.