What is a croissant?
A croissant is a flaky, buttery, crescent-shaped pastry made from layers of yeast dough and butter. It is a classic French breakfast food.
Croissants are made from a laminated dough. Bakers fold a block of cold butter into yeast dough, then roll and fold it several times to create many thin layers of dough and butter. When baked, water in the butter turns to steam and pushes the layers apart, creating the light, airy, flaky texture.
The name croissant means crescent in French, describing its curved shape. In France, croissants made with butter are often shaped straight, while those made with margarine are traditionally curved, though this varies. Making croissants by hand takes skill and can take two or three days.
Variations
Popular variations include the pain au chocolat, with chocolate inside, and the almond croissant, filled with almond cream. In recent years, bakeries have created hybrids like the cronut, a croissant-doughnut, and the cruffin, a croissant-muffin.
Did You Know?
A classic croissant can have dozens of thin layers. Some recipes create more than 50 layers through repeated folding.