Croissant, pronounced khru-ah-son, is a light, buttery, flaky puff pastry. It gets its name from its form, as a croissant is French for crescent. Though this flaky pastry is commonly identified from France and is a staple in most French boulangeries (bakeries), food historians think it originated in Austria and was introduced to France by two Austrian bakers in the 19th century.
Typically, croissants are produced with yeast-risen dough. The dough is coated with butter before being rolled. It is folded several times in a process known as lamination. The dough is then sliced into triangles, formed into a crescent shape, and baked. The flaky texture and airy shape of croissants are due to the laminating process. We all like alternatives, and there are many different sorts of croissants to select from. Let's look at the different sorts of croissants available.
1. Pain Au Chocolat
This croissant combines the flavour of two delicious ingredients: butter and chocolate. The croissant is formed by folding chocolate bars into a buttery dough and baking it. Pure couverture chocolate is folded into Danish pastry dough to make pain au chocolat.
2. Pain Aux Raisins
This croissant is available with raisins or a custard or almond cream filling. It is a sweet, flaky pastry that can be eaten alone or with a hot beverage such as tea or coffee. It's a filling snack because of the variety of fillings.
3. Croissant Au Beurre
Because it is cooked with a lot of butter, this version of flaky pastry is delectable. Your taste buds are exposed to the salty, flavorful taste of butter with each bite. The butter croissant is typically crescent-shaped and comprised of around 70 layers of flaky dough. It goes well with tea and coffee, so include it in your breakfast menu or as a teatime snack.
4. Croissant Aux Amandes
They are also known as almond croissants because they have an almond cream filling and are topped with chopped almonds. The croissants are then re-baked until they are crisp.
5. Croissant Ordinaries
This is a standard croissant that may be made with margarine rather than butter. It is crescent-shaped and lacks the buttery flavour of a croissant au beurre. This style of croissant can be eaten for breakfast or turned into a sandwich by splitting it in half and filling it with your favourite sandwich fixings.