You may know the age old adage, the more butter the better it tastes. This is certainly true for the croissant. Crispy on the outside and a healthy layering taste of butter on the inside makes the perfect accompaniment to coffee.
I have to admit, I never really truly tasted a proper croissant until I went to Paris. Growing up, we just had supermarket ones which are not even a 1/10th as good as the real deal. Since then, I have become somewhat of a self proclaimed croissant connoisseur eager to try wherever I am.
So what better way to appreciate this fine crescent pastry than to try out a croissant baking class in Paris and learn from some professionals. I chose Patisserie a la Class. It was a small class of about 6 people which was great to be able to get some help. A whole block of butter went into the making of our 8 croissants and pain au chocolat.
There was a lot of rolling and incorporating the butter into the dough which then needed to rest overnight. Luckily, they had pre-prepared for us (maybe from yesterdays class) an already chilled dough mixture ready for us to roll out and roll on into our viennoiseries.
We rolled out the dough and then cut triangles for the croissants and squares for the pain au chocolat. The croissants were so alluring already in their unbaked form- look how symmetrical it is!
With a brush of egg mix over the top, they were ready to go into the oven to be baked. The smell of them cooking as we waiting was heavenly. The smell of baking good and freshly baked bread just makes me drool!
They were of course, delicious! It was such a fun and I learnt so much about the art of croissant making. I had infact tried to recreate this back in Sydney but I don’t think we had quite the same flour and yeast. Perhaps it was too hot but the butter was melting out of the dough so something was not quite right!
Whether you like them plain, with jam or modernised with matcha powder or loaded with chocolate, there is no denying that there is a fine art to making these! Any other croissant fans out there? Have you successfully made them during this lockdown? Let me know!
Other Adventures in France:
– Day Trip Around Provence From Avignon
– Day Trip Around the French Riviera from Nice
– Pictures from Nice
– Pictures from Toulouse
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