Street View Street Food
Croissant
History
The birth of the croissant itself–that is, its adaptation
from the plainer form of Kipferl, before the invention of
viennoiseries–can be dated to at least 1839 (some say
1838) when an Austrian artillery officer, August Zang,
founded a Viennese bakery (“Boulangerie Viennoise”) at
92, rue de Richelieu in Paris.
Culture
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 breads have been made since the
Renaissance, and crescent-shaped cakes possibly since
antiquity.
The croissanterie was explicitly 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.
47