482152 Wed Jan 23 06:12:30 -0800 2008 8 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 3323436 THE CROISSANT; I have heard a rumour recently that the "CROISSANT" was created by a number of French bakers following WW ll as a symbol of victory over Germany. Can you add anything to confirm or dispell the rumour? Wed Jan 23 06:12:30 -0800 2008 151625 fruglescot 1 3323450 The first printed recipe for a "croissant" seems to date to the mid-19th century, although the flaky, layered dough pastry we now know and love showed up about 50 years later: http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodbreads.html#croissants Wed Jan 23 06:18:58 -0800 2008 3323436 12463 mcgeary 2 3325312 Yeah, the food timeline is as reliable source as I've seen on the web. To expand on the above ... ""...croissant in its present form does not have a long history...The earliest French reference to the croissant seems to be in Payen's book "Des substances alimentaires," published in 1853. He cites, among the "Pains dit de fantasie ou de luxe," not only English 'muffins' but 'les croissants'. The term appears again, ten years later, in the great Littre dictionary [1863] where it is defined as 'a little crescent-shaped bread or cake'. Thirteen years later, Husson in "Les Consommations de Paris" [1875] includes 'croissants for coffee' in a list of 'ordinary' (as opposed to 'fine') pastry goods. Yet no trace of a recipe for croissants can be found earlier than that given by Favre in his Dictionnaire universel de cuisine [c. 1905], and his recipe bears no resemblance to the modern puff pastry concoction; it is rather an oriental pastry made of pounded almonds and sugar. Only in 1906, in Colombie's Nouvelle Encyclopedie culinaire, did a true croissant, and its development into a national symbol of France, is a 20th-century history." ---Oxford Companion to Food (p. 228) Wed Jan 23 13:53:11 -0800 2008 3323450 10264 rworange 1 3323495 My understanding was that it was created by Austrian bakers to celebrate victory over the Ottoman Empire (whose symbol was a cresent). Later brought to France by Marie Antoinette. Wed Jan 23 06:35:03 -0800 2008 3323436 112336 mpk07 2 3351004 Fruglescot, Mpk07's version is similar to the one I've heard. The victorious Austro-Hungarian emperor/ruler commissioned his palace pastry chef to commemorate the win over the Turks (whose flag features a crescent) in 1689 with a concoction of his own creation. The croissant was born, and the pastry chef was given credit, but then other bakers took up the creation and the making and eating of croissants became a populist movement, a symbol of victory and national pride. The Food Lover's Companion describes a similar story, though this one involves tunneling -- it's like it's a combo of "The Great Escape" and Paul Revere: croissant -- The origin of this flaky, buttery-rich yeast roll dates back to 1686, when Austria was at war with Turkey. In the dead of night a group of bakers, hearing Turks tunneling under their kitchens, spread the alarm that subsequently led to the Turkish defeat. In turn, the vigilant bakers were awarded the privilege of creating a commemorative pastry in the shape of the crescent on the Turkish flag. Croissant is the French word for "crescent." Originally, the croissant was made from a rich bread dough. It wasn't until the early 1900s that a creative French baker had the inspiration to make it with a dough similar to puff pastry . . . http://www.answers.com/topic/croissant?cat=health" The idea that any recipe or reference in cooking literature did not appear before the late 1800s isn't enough to prove the story true or apocryphal, as few recipes at the time were codified. Thu Jan 31 00:03:19 -0800 2008 3323495 18222 maria lorraine 1 3323728 Here's something to ponder from Wikipedia... "Fanciful stories of how the bread was created are modern culinary legends. These include tales that it was invented in Poland to celebrate the defeat of a Muslim invasion at the decisive Battle of Tours by the Franks in 732, with the shape representing the Islamic crescent; that it was invented in Vienna in 1683 to celebrate the defeat of the Turkish siege of the city, as a reference to the crescents on the Turkish flags, when bakers staying up all night heard the tunneling operation and gave the alarm; tales linking croissants with the kifli and the siege of Buda in 1686; and those detailing Marie Antoinette's hankering after a Viennese specialty. Alan Davidson, editor of the Oxford Companion to Food states that no printed recipe for the present-day croissant appears in any French recipe book before the early 20th century; the earliest French reference to a croissant he found was among the "fantasy or luxury breads" in Payen's Des substances alimentaires, 1853." Wed Jan 23 07:46:48 -0800 2008 3323436 141261 crt 2 4713461 The kipfel, the crescent-shaped roll that became the croissant after August Zang brought it to France in 1839, is documented in Vienna going back to at least the 13th century. Mentions of the croissant itself first start appearing in print around 1850, that is, not too long after Zang introduced viennoiserie to Paris (the concept, that is, not the word, which arose decades later). Davidson, bless his heart, did what he could with what he had, but recipes for the croissant can now be found in the nineteenth century, though not with puff pastry, which was only used later. Mon May 25 14:03:47 -0700 2009 3323728 322816 chezjim 2 4714705 Funny, since Poland didn't exist in AD 732.... Tue May 26 05:32:31 -0700 2009 3323728 13819 Karl S 1 4714194 By the way, the TJ's croissants that you buy frozen and proof overnight before baking are darn close to the French ones I have has in Paris. Mon May 25 19:40:01 -0700 2009 3323436 148886 duck833