Photo Courtesy Bouchon Bakery
Make a Beeline to Bouchon! I had a ball oogling the proofing racks at Bouchon in Yountville on my visit to California in 9/2011. Makes one want to stuff your tote bag full of these amazing light but crispy members of the viennoiserie family and go and hide behind a tree and stuff your face – slowly and carefully, though. This is a treat to savor…….
Right on the heals of National Chocolate Cake Day which was on Sunday, yesterday was National Croissant Day. I saw this on Facebook when I got up this morning. Who decides and anoints these things anyway? I am certainly not going to argue with having a day to celebrate croissants, but I must say that along with some other invented “National” holidays which occur at this time of year, I can’t help but think these are the outgrowth of someone yearning for indulgences and pleasures to help one pass, less painfully, through this time of year. Who needs any excuse to sample the best of the best of these, anyway, anytime??
Laminated doughs – ahhhhh, yes, I remember those days in Pastry School well. Thank you Chefs Sim and Chad! And then, when I was doing my internship, I watched my mentor make them over and over, working diligently to make sure they did not weep butter in the ovens. I confess I would rather eat croissants than make them, even though some pastry chefs claim they adore getting lost in this process. If I had a sheeter, I guess, I would be a lot more inclined to do this. Along with the puff pastry experience, this is one of those tasks that is great to be forced to learn in order to help one to properly appreciate it. But, I would rather skip it on a vocational basis as it is tedious and fraught with pitfalls. I wish I was one of those people who got up in the morning and was dying to make these. This is a multi-day task, along with good brioche, and so, well, I am just too impatient, generally speaking.
Anyway, I suppose the absolute best croissant I ever had was in Paris, no surprise there – we were sitting in a cafe in the morning and they came straight out of the oven to our table. This was a very long time ago – the same trip as my last trip to London, about 12 years ago when we took the kids to London and then to Paris on the Eurostar. Sublime – all around. Thomas Keller’s pages in his book, Bouchon Bakery and well, Ciril Hitz……, if you don’t have his book, he and it are stellar.
Personally, I feel that using croissants in any but their purest form is some sort of sacrilege. So, if you want to use them to make bread puddings or some other concoctions, be my guest, but I don’t subscribe. And, like my own purity in terms of eating fresh-baked goods, when they are, well, fresh, I don’t keep them, freeze them, and would only under the greatest duress, re-heat (aka re-crisp) them. Sorry. I am one of those who believe that if you can’t have a freshly-made, freshly-baked croissant, let it go, have something else or walk away. I don’t want a mushy one, don’t want one on a damp or humid day – I only want one when it is, well, perfect. Otherwise, I am let down and disappointed. I see that a lot of people are making sandwiches with croissants these days too, and well, I guess I can understand this. But, I still prefer mine with only some fresh sweet butter and maybe some intense jam a la, say, Christine Ferber, thank you. There are lots of great jams around, like the Thursday Cottage collection, and I did have to restrain myself from filling my basket with a broad selection last week at Fortnum and Mason.
As Michael Paul says in his 2012 book, Sweet Paris, “Connoissers of the perfect croissant demand a crunchy, caramelised exterior (called a Maillard reaction) that crackles when you bite into it and, importantly, a soft, honeycombed interior as light as air that smells freshly baked and has a very subtle hint of salt”.
There are all sorts of stories about the origin of croissants: coming originally from Vienna in the form of Kipferl, involving Ottoman invaders and their flag, and descending from other crescent-shaped pastries originating in the Middle Ages. But, the popularity of the current and, in modern times, popular form began in Paris in the 1920s. My advice? Keep it pure and true – don’t compromise with store-bought, frozen or anything coming from a cardboard tube.
You will find recipes and methodologies for making croissants in a myriad of cookbooks and pastry books. I happen to think Cyril Hitz’s book is the best I’ve seen.
If I were in Baltimore today, taking care of Christin, who has the flu, I’d try to find her one, two or three perfect croissants. Maybe at Patisserie Poupon? Or, Bonaparte Breads……. What a tough job……..searching out great croissants….. Sorry, honey…..