MDDM23: Croissant

[David Morris]

>From: Dave Monroe <davidmmonroe at yahoo.com>
>
>"'You could not find this even in Bethlehem at
>Christmastide.'  The object is a Croissant,-- 'a sort
>of ev'ryday Roll among the French, who put Butter in
>all they cook, Madam,' the worldly Mr. Edgewise
>instructs her,--" (M&D, Ch. 36, p. 268)

I suspect most everyone already knows this:

http://frenchfood.about.com/library/weekly/aa021000.htm

History books note that the croissant was invented by permission of the 
Empress of Austria in 1683 after the siege of Vienna by the Ottoman Turks 
was ended through a coalition of countries who defeated the Turks. During 
the 58 days 6000 men, women and children starved. In fact, the city would 
have been destroyed if it wasn't for the bakers who worked at night to 
provide the city with bread. It was they who alerted the forces to the 
tunnel invasion of the Turks.

In honor of their heroics and to celebrate the end of the seige, the Empress 
commissioned the bakers to create the crescent-shaped roll called a kipfel. 
They took the design from the Turkish flag. The Viennese survivors ate the 
crescent shaped rolls as a sign of the defeat of the Turks. It immediately 
became a popular bread with peasants and royalty.

The kipfel arrived in Paris with Marie Antoinette who was 14. The daughter 
of the Austrian empress Maria Theresa, she married the 15-year-old French 
dauphin. In her honor French bakers turned the kipfel into the croissant 
pastry that became a national French breakfast treat.

There is little difference between the Viennese and French versions of the 
croissant, except the French use more yeast. Their croissants are flakier 
because of the added puffiness. They are served warm to intensify the flavor 
of the buttery dough. The outer layers are flaky, the inner layers soft and 
light.


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