Where is croissant original from

This bakery served Viennese specialties including the kipfel croissant and the Vienna loaf and quickly became very popular and inspired French bakers. The dough became lighter and more delicate throughout time, and the kipfel was developed into what it is known now as the croissant.

Today, the croissant is both a symbol of French culture and tradition, shared throughout the world. Share this story the next time you enjoy one of our delicious croissants. And as food historian Jim Chevallier notes , origin stories for both the bagel and the yeasted Kugelhopf cake also mention the Ottoman siege of Vienna as the moment of invention for two other enduringly popular baked goods. But historians generally say this account is incorrect, and that the baked good only became popular in France during the 19th century.

They attribute the arrival of the kipferl to a bakery opened in Paris in by Austrian-born bakers August Zang and Ernest Schwartzer.

While the bakery at 92, Rue de Richelieu only operated for two years, the French craze for viennoiseries literally, Vienna-style baked goods was born. The term, of course, has stuck: any sort of pastry that has a bread-like base, from pain au chocolat to pain aux raisins and croissants, are strictly speaking not patisseries , but viennoiseries.

The word croissant began appearing in dictionaries and other texts from the midth century in reference to butter and flour-based, crescent-shaped breads. And from or so, bakers in Paris— then around France— whipped up their own versions. By the s, the term had crossed the channel, referenced by Charles Dickens and others in relation to French culinary delights.

This changed the texture and mouthfeel of the croissant significantly, yielding an airier, puffier, crispier specimen than the one introduced by Zang in the s—this time with flaky, buttery, well-differentiated layers.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the butter croissant made with puff pastry had all but completely eclipsed its Austrian predecessor, with scores of boulangeries around France expanding their repertoires beyond bread to include viennoiseries. If during the nineteenth century, the croissant was essentially a luxury good reserved for the bourgeois and aristocratic classes, by the First World War it became more accessible and widely available.

Interestingly, though, consumption habits fell along subtle class lines. Two different versions of the puff-pastry croissant emerged: one, more expensive and made with pure butter croissant au beurre , and another, often made with margarine or other cheaper fats, called the croissant ordinaire ordinary croissant.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Paris. Few foods are as culturally iconic as this flaky breakfast food, so quintessentially French that many English speakers defer to its native pronunciation krwa-sohn.

Yet as recently as the 19th century, the French viewed the croissant as a foreign novelty, sold only in special Viennese bakeries in the pricier parts of Paris. And how it came to France in the first place remains obscured by layer upon layer of legend.

Experts do agree that the croissant was inspired by the Austrian kipfel, a crescent-shaped baked good featuring a generous amount of butter or lard and sometimes sugar and almonds. According to popular lore, the kipfel originated in as a comestible celebration of Austrian victory over the Ottomans at the siege of Vienna. The story follows that a baker, up early to make bread, saved the city when he heard the Turks tunneling underneath the city and sounded an alarm.

Conveniently, another legend holds that the cappuccino was invented almost simultaneously, inspired by the strong Turkish coffee gained in the spoils of war. In its inaugural issue, Smithsonian Journeys quarterly takes you to Paris for an intriguing look at the history and culture of the City of Lights. Stroll the streets and learn the surprising ways that past meets present through food, architecture, the arts, local customs and more.

But the kipfel existed long before the Ottoman siege of Vienna. It was to remind everyone of their victory. They called their creation kipferl which means crescent in the Austrian German language. These pastries would migrate to France and eventually become the croissant the French word for crescent.

Their army had come to Vienna planning to stay and had brought lots of provisions with them. It was all left behind when they fled, and the soldiers who had saved the city got the spoils left behind. Some of them took camels, others took carpets, but one soldier took bags full of strange beans. This soldier had travelled in Turkey and knew exactly what he was getting.

Unfortunately, no one wanted to taste his strange brew. To make it more appealing, he decided to pair it with a pastry. He asked a local baker for a little bread that would go well with the coffee and would make people want to try the new drink. The coffee and kipferl combination was a hit, and this was the beginning of the now popular French breakfast of croissant and coffee. The lonely young girl missed her homeland and asked the court bakers to make her the kipferl that she remembered from home.

She introduced it to the court along with other little pastries from her homeland. Collectively, they became known as viennoiserie. By the nineteenth century, the kipferl had taken up residency in France, but it was a far cry from the flaky pastry we know today. It was still the Austrian version: made of a heavy dough, similar to that of a brioche, but small and in the shape of a crescent.

Around , two Austrians opened a Viennese bakery in Paris. At that time the crescent-shaped pastry was still called kipferl, and by mid-century it had become a popular bread in France. As it became more common, the name was changed from kipferl the Austrian German word for crescent to croissant the French word for crescent.

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the croissant took on its now familiar, flaky form and was on its way to becoming a symbol of France. Then in the middle of the nineteenth century, margarine was invented.