Croissant is a New French – A Sneak Peek in the Oven
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Even though I’m a croissant fan, I just have learnt that this pasty wasn’t originated from France; but its history is quite dubious and complicated for both of its time line and setting. I would then resume its origin that the croissant was ‘inspired’ by a yeast bread roll called ‘Kipferl’ in Austrian German (or Kifli in Hungarian.) This kind of roll may presented in plain or with nuts or other ingredients such as jam or sour cream.
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| Example of Kipferl or Kifli (Photo from Wikipedia) |
The story of this crescent shape roll is uncertain because one tale claimed that it was invented in Buda, Hungary, to prove the victory over the Umayyad forces in the Battle of Tours in 732; whilst another tale asserted that the invented Kipferl was served as a symbol of a triumph of Christian forces over the Ottomans in the Battle of Vienna in 1683. Although the different periods and settings were declared, the shape of the baked roll is obviously from a crescent moon that symbolizes Islam. And that’s the reason why some Muslim societies banned eating croissants. (News Link)
Despite being invented at the latest in the 17th century, Kipferl was just widely known in France in the 19th when August Zang, an Austrian artillery officer, opened his Viennese bakery in Paris in 1838-1839. This responded the curiosity I had for a long time about the origin of ‘viennoiserie’ in French: it's a new term invented in the 20th century to call Viennese style bakery using often the ‘laminating’ technique (or ‘feuilleté’ in French). I think I will write specifically about these feuilletés or viennoiseries one day.
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| Example of viennoiserie using laminating technique revealing layers of baked dough |
So let’s get back to the story of Kipferl. It didn’t take long, after August Zang had opened his bakery in Paris, to get positive feedbacks from the Parisians about this crescent pastry. It was so successful that many French bakers copied it. (It isn’t only Thai people who copy stuff though. 😆) Finally, the Croissant which means ‘crescent’ respecting its shape was born. The ingredients and method though have been highly adapted from the origin Kipferl.
Although, stucking in Thailand for a long while this time
because of the Covid-19, I still get used to having a continental breakfast. A craving for croissant I
had wasn’t less than for good bread, I was searching for bakeries that serve some
qualitied croissants as ones in France. I have to confess that I was quite
upset finding my favourite bakery in Thailand, despite in big cities, until I
had known ‘Ma Maison’. Literally meaning ‘My Home’ in French, the café is
located in the center of Prachuap Kirikhan Province (ประจวบคีรีขันธ์),
not so far from my place. Once learning that the owner of the café is French, my
French boyfriend (Maweang) and I went there with high interest about their performance.
We wanted to see if they could provide ‘something’ that was as good as a proper
‘boulangerie’ (bakery) in France.
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| Ma Maison Café on Sara Cheap Road |
It was as good as we expected! Both texture and taste of their croissants were indifferent from good ones we had in France. I have to admit as well that I’m not so serious about the coffee, but since I moved to France, it was hard for me to find a café in Thailand who serves coffee that meet my expectation. So Ma Maison is another place that I will think of when my body needs some caffeine. In brief, to me, this café serves a full package of ‘Frenchness’ as a whole.
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| Chubby croissant served under fair price |
I came here often enough that I got used to the owners. This time I then asked Yannis, one of the owners, to have a sneak peek in the croissant kitchen, which is also his office. I entered the room timidly once hearing a reply behind the door. The room was full of harmonious tone of music and buttery smell, Yannis was preparing dough for his croissants. I was observing while started interviewing him.
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| Yannis in a process of dough preparation |
With a diploma in ‘Bac Pro Cuisine’ or vocational baccalaureate in cooking, plus with experiences in the same field, once Yannis arrived in Thailand in 2006, he started working in a high position in the restaurant of a well-known hotel. He kept working in the position as high as the former one for many famous hotels, both in Thailand and Laos until he has learnt all aspects of catering and cooking. Yannis told me that he had had enough of working in big hotels for 14 years. The fact of being in Huai Yang Sub-District (ต.ห้วยยาง) a few years ago made him fell in love with Prachuap Kirikhan and deciced to settle down here.
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| Folding the dough |
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| Cutting the dough needs to be very precise to get croissants with equal sizes |
He told me his story while rolling his croissant (while I was enjoying its smell 😆). I just noticed that aside from the way he delicately cuts, folded and rolled the croissants; Yannis bent the two tips of each croissant before putting them in the oven. He explained me (the question I had in mind for a long while) that curving croissants is a technique often used by bakers who made croissants themselves, because the machine can roll only straight croissant (for now).
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| Dough rolling |
Although Ma Maison Café of Yannis and his wife, Aom, just opened in last September (2020), but they already had a bunch of customers. Besides their baking method respecting the traditional French croissant recipe, they as well have a high respect for the ingredient selection. It happens that some ingredients such as flour, butter, fresh yeast and chocolate can’t be found locally or don’t meet the standard of French boulangerie. Tough it costs more to import these standardized ingredients from France, Yannis prefers to use them in order to provide croissants as good quality as ones in France to his customers.
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| Freshly baked croissants |
Apart from croissants, ‘Ma Maison’ serves as well ‘Pain au Chocolat’ or ‘Chocolatine’ or you may know it as ‘chocolate croissant’, ‘Pain aux Raisin’ aka Raisin Roll that uses the same kind of dough used for the croissants, and quality bread like the famous baguette. Anyway, because of the Covid-19 we’re facing, the café confronted a problem to import flour to make the standardized bread; they then halt the baguette production for the moment. Moreover, this French café provides different kind of French and European desserts and snacks depending on the producer’s humor 😂, for example, quiche, tiramisu, lemon tart, fruit cakes, and brownies.
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| Pain au chocolat |
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| Baguette with coffee, a classic French breakfast |
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| Example of desserts served at Ma Maison |
And I have to reveal here that since the widespread popularity that the French croissant has, it was claimed as one of ‘fantasy or luxury breads’ in ‘Des substances alimentaires’ (1853) by Anselme Payen, the well-known French chemist. Today, croissants become a common bakery that everyone can afford, and are produced in a ‘mass production’. In 2017, a pastry trainer from Paris claimed that there at least 60% of boulangeries in France served frozen croissant and other frozen viennoiseries! (News Links) That’s the reason why I was so happy to find ‘Ma Maison’ that is not so far from ‘my home’. 😁
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| Lovely corner of the cafe, there are my drawings behind 😛 |
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