Croissant

The ', an Austrian crescent-shaped pastry, can be dated back to at least the 13th century in Austria, and came in various shapes. The ' can be made plain or with nuts or other fillings (some consider the rugelach a form of ''''). In either 1838 or 1839, an Austrian artillery officer, August Zang, founded a Viennese bakery () at 92, rue de Richelieu in Paris. This bakery, which served Viennese specialties including the '' and the Vienna loaf, quickly became popular and inspired French imitators (and the concept, if not the term, of viennoiserie''). The French version of the ' was named for its crescent (') shape and has become a universally identifiable shape across the world. The earliest known recipe for the present-day croissant appears in 1905, although the name croissant appears among the "fantasy or luxury breads" in 1853. Earlier recipes for non-laminated croissants can be found in the 19th century and at least one reference to croissants as an established French bread appeared as early as 1850. Zang himself returned to Austria in 1848 to become a press magnate, but the bakery remained popular for some time afterwards, and was mentioned in several works of the time: "This same M. Zank ...founded around 1830 , in Paris, the famous Boulangerie viennoise". Several sources praise this bakery's products: "Paris is of exquisite delicacy; and, in particular, the succulent products of the Boulangerie Viennoise"; "which seemed to us as fine as if it came from the Viennese bakery on the Rue de Richelieu". By 1869, the croissant was well established enough to be mentioned as a breakfast staple, and in 1872, Charles Dickens wrote (in his periodical All the Year Round) of "the workman's '''' and the soldier's '''', to the dainty croissant on the boudoir table". The viennoiserie technique that now characterizes the croissant was already mentioned in the late 17th century, when La Varenne's gave a recipe for it in the 1680 – and possibly earlier – edition. It was typically used not on its own but for shells holding other ingredients (as in a ''''). It does not appear to be mentioned in relation to the croissant until the 20th century. The first recipe corresponding to the modern croissant, not only for the shape but also the texture of the dough and the taste, was published in 1906, in Paris, in Colombié's ''''. Sylvain Claudius Goy was a French chef who is sometimes said to have recorded the earliest recipe of the modern croissant. His 1915 book '''' contains a croissant recipe which Frey Fine Books consider to be the first such recipe published, and they describe the recipe as having "[given] birth to the croissant of present day". Goy's recipe uses a laminated yeast dough known in French as ''''. Culinary legends Stories of how the ' – sometimes confused with the croissant – was created are widespread and persistent culinary legends, going back to the 19th century. However, there are no contemporary sources for any of these stories, and an aristocratic writer, writing in 1799, does not mention the ' in a long and extensive list of breakfast foods. The legends include tales that it was invented in Europe to celebrate the defeat of the Umayyad forces by the Franks at the Battle of Tours in 732, with the shape representing the Islamic crescent; that it was invented in Buda; or, according to other sources, in Vienna in 1683 to celebrate the defeat of the Ottomans by Christian forces in the siege of the city, as a reference to the crescents on the Ottoman flags, when bakers staying up all night heard the tunneling operation and gave the alarm. The Islamic origin story seems to have originated with the 20th-century writer Alfred Gottschalk, who gave two versions: For this reason, the Islamic State attempted to ban croissants during the Syrian civil war. ==Variants==

Uncooked croissant dough can also be wrapped around any praline, almond paste, or chocolate before it is baked (in the last case, it becomes like pain au chocolat, which has a different, non-crescent, shape), or sliced to include sweet or savoury fillings. It may be flavored with dried fruit such as sultanas or raisins, or other fruits such as apples. In France and Spain, croissants are generally sold without filling and eaten without added butter, but sometimes with almond filling. In the United States, sweet fillings or toppings are sometimes used, and warm croissants may be filled with ham and cheese, or feta cheese and spinach. In the Levant, croissants are sold plain or filled with chocolate, cheese, almonds, or zaatar. In Germany, croissants are sometimes filled with Nutella or persipan; in southern Germany, there is also a popular variety of a croissant glazed with lye (Laugencroissant). In the German-speaking part of Switzerland, the croissant is typically called a Gipfeli; this usually has a crisper crust and is less buttery than the French-style croissant. Argentina and Uruguay Croissants are commonly served alongside coffee for breakfast, aperitivo (a light mid-morning meal), or merienda (a mid-afternoon meal). They are referred to as medialunas ("half moons") because of their shape and are typically coated with a sweet glaze (medialunas de manteca, "half moons of butter"). Another variant is a medialuna de grasa ("half moon of lard"), which is not always sweet. Italy A cousin of the croissant is the Italian cornetto (in the center and south) or brioche (in the north). These variants are often considered to be the same, but that is not completely true: the French version tends to be crispy, whereas an Italian cornetto or brioche is usually softer. Furthermore, the cornetto vuoto () is commonly accompanied by variants with filling, which include crema pasticciera (custard), apricot jam or chocolate cream. They often come covered with powdered sugar or other toppings. Cornetto with cappuccino at the bar is one of the most common breakfasts in Italy. Poland 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 filled with ground white poppy seeds, almonds, raisins, and nuts. Portugal The first type of Portuguese croissant is similar to the French, and can be plain or filled with custard, chocolate, fruit jam, or a typical Portuguese cream made of egg yolk and sugar, "doce de ovo". It is customary for these to also have powdered sugar on top. The second version has a similar consistency to brioche and is commonly eaten with ham and cheese. Sometimes this type is also served like toast, with a spread of butter. While the first type of croissant is considered sweet and is eaten during breakfast or tea, the second type is a more filling meal and is usually considered a sandwich and often prepared for picnics or as travel food. Both types share the same name (French/Portuguese: "croissant") but are typically found in different bakeries: the sweet croissant is more commonly found in Portuguese pâtisseries and the brioche croissant is usually found in coffeehouses. Turkey A pastry with croissant shape is the Turkish ay çöreği. It is filled with cinnamon, walnut, hazelnut, cacao and raisin. Its rectangular shape variant is known as pastiç or İzmir çöreği. It is generally eaten during breakfast or with tea. ==Overview of manufacturing==

The first step of manufacturing croissants is the "predough" formation. To prepare predough, flour, water, in-dough fat, yeast, salt, and sugar are mixed together in a single step. In comparison to the mixing of bread dough ingredients, pastry predough is considered underdeveloped in that mixing is stopped as soon as the dough appears homogeneous, to allow for further dough development in the next step. The second step is the lamination process. Lamination is necessary to produce multilayered dough with alternating layers of predough and fat. Generally, there are two methods for folding fat into the dough: the English method and the French method. In the English method, one fold results in two fat layers and three dough layers. After spreading out predough, roll-in fat is flattened to a similar thickness as the predough and spread over two-thirds of the surface of the laminated predough. The exposed third of predough is then folded over half of the roll-in fat, while the other end (one predough and one fat layer) is folded on top. In the French method, one fold results in one fat layer and two dough layers. After spreading out the predough and putting a layer of roll-in fat over the center surface of the dough, the corners of the predough are folded toward the middle of the fat. Croissant dough is typically laminated until 16–50 fat layers are obtained. The optimal number of layers can be determined by balancing certain crumb properties with specific volume. On one hand, a low number of layers yields large specific heights as well as irregular crumb structure with large voids. On the other hand, a large number of relatively thin layers leads to interconnections between different dough layers as well as less dough lift. After lamination, the dough is formed into its famous crescent shape. First, the laminated dough is cut into triangles of the desired size. The triangles are then rolled with three-and-a-half to four full turns, and finally, the ends of the roll are curved inwards to form a crescent. The third step is the fermentation process. Croissants are different from other puff pastries in that they include yeast, which, during proofing, increases the dough volume. Ideally, the optimum croissant quality is achieved at a yeast level of 7.5%, with a proof time of 60 minutes at . The croissants are finished proofing when the dough has expanded by two-and-a-half times its original volume. The fourth step is the baking process. Also known as "pastry lift" or "dough lift", the dough expands as water is converted to steam, thus increasing the pressure between each dough layer. As a result, the croissant dough rises up to yield its characteristic flaky texture. Depending on the type of oven used and specific size of the croissant, the baking time can range from 10 to 20 minutes and the oven temperature can be set anywhere from . The final steps are the cooling and storage of the croissant. Croissants are generally not stored for very long and are typically consumed soon after baking. ==Ingredient functionality during processing==

Predough Gluten proteins affect the water absorption and viscoelastic properties of the predough. The role of proteins can be divided into two stages of dough formation: hydration and deformation. In the hydration stage, gluten proteins absorb water up to two times their own weight. In the deformation or kneading stage, the action of mixing causes the gluten to undergo a series of polymerization and depolymerization reactions, forming a viscoelastic network. Hydrated glutenin proteins in particular help form a polymeric protein network that makes the dough more cohesive. On the other hand, hydrated gliadin proteins do not directly form the network, but do act as plasticizers of the glutenin network, thus imparting fluidity to the dough’s viscosity. Starch also affects the viscosity of predough. At room temperature and in a sufficient amount of water, intact starch granules can absorb water up to 50% of their own dry weight, causing them to swell to a limited extent. The slightly swollen granules are found in the spaces between the gluten network, thus contributing to the consistency of the dough. The granules may not be intact, as the process of milling wheat into flour damages some of the starch granules. Given that damaged starch granules have the capacity to absorb around three times as much water as undamaged starch, the use of flour with higher levels of damaged starch requires the addition of more water to achieve optimal dough development and consistency. Secondly, cold water is comparable to the temperature of the roll-in fat to be added later, which better facilitates the latter’s incorporation. The resulting interconnections between different dough layers would over-increase dough strength and allow water vapor to escape through micropores during baking, consequently decreasing dough lift. The role of fat also influences the separation of layers, as will be discussed next. Roll-in fat affects the flakiness and flavor of the croissant. In laminated dough, fat layers alternate with dough layers. As such, the most important function of roll-in fat is to form and maintain a barrier between the different dough layers during sheeting and folding. While butter is appealing due to its high consumer acceptance, its low melting point, , actually makes it undesirable for production purposes. The use of butter as roll-in fat during the lamination step will cause problems of oiling out during sheeting and fermentation if the temperature is not tightly controlled, thus disrupting the integrity of the layers. At the same time, the roll-in fat should have plasticity comparable to that of the dough, such that the fat layers do not break during sheeting and folding. This process releases energy that is used by the yeast for growth. After consuming all of the oxygen, the yeast switches to anaerobic fermentation. At this point, the yeast partially breaks down sugar into ethanol and carbon dioxide. Once saturates the dough’s aqueous phase, the gas begins to leaven the dough by diffusing to preexisting gas cells that were incorporated into the predough during mixing. In order to ensure the flaky texture of the croissant, it is important to balance the yeast activity with steam production. If the yeast overproduces , then the well-defined layers may collapse. At higher temperatures, intermolecular disulfide bonds form between glutenin molecules, as well as between gliadin and glutenin. With more bonds being made, the gluten network becomes more rigid, strengthening the croissant’s crumb texture. Additionally, the baking process significantly stretches the dough layers due to the large macroscopic deformation that occurred during fermentation’s dough lift. The fat phase also contributes to dough lift through gas inflation, which will be described next. Water is converted to steam during the baking process, which is the main factor behind the leavening of the dough. The water for steam production comes from both the dough layers and the roll-in fat. As the fat melts, the continuous oil phase is no longer able to stabilize the water droplets, which are then released and converted to steam. Although the exact mechanism of steam entrapment is still unclear, it is likely a result of both steam expanding inside each dough layer and steam migrating to oil layers, where it inflates gas bubbles. The steam migration to oil phase is likely due to the smaller pressure differential required to inflate a bubble of steam in liquid fat than in solid dough. Starch plays a major role in the degradation of croissants during storage. Amylopectin retrogradation occurs over several days to weeks, as amorphous amylopectin chains are realigned into a more crystalline structure. The result of this redistribution of water is a firming up of the croissant, caused by a decrease in starch plasticity and an increase in gluten network rigidity. Due to the presence of large pores in croissants, moisture is lost to the environment at a faster rate than bread products. As such, croissants generally become harder in texture at a faster rate than breads. Fat also affects the quality of croissants in storage. On one hand, an increased amount of in-dough fat has been found to correspond to a reduction in crumb hardness immediately after baking. This is likely attributed to the high-fat content of croissants, as increased fat levels decrease moisture diffusion. On the other hand, although roll-in fat softens the croissant’s initial crumb, its effect on croissant hardness during storage is still unclear. ==See also==