Is a croissant really “naturally” French? Why are some croissants straight while others are curved into a crescent? In the 19th century, did Parisians eat croissants the way we do today – golden, buttery, and lightly sweet – or were they more like a luxurious bread roll to go with coffee? And finally: how did the humble Austrian kipferl turn into an icon of French breakfasts, then conquer bakeries, cafés, and petrol stations around the world – from Paris to Tokyo to fast-food chains in the United States?

This article takes a close look at the croissant – from its medieval roots in Austria, through August Zang’s Viennese bakery in Paris, the first French recipe published in 1915, and the moment the croissant was officially recognised as a “national product”, all the way to modern croissant noir, Japanese matcha variations, and the frozen-dough technology that helped make croissants a global staple. We’ll explain the difference between a croissant au beurre and a croissant ordinaire, what the word viennoiserie means, and why the French treat the croissant, pain au chocolat, and chausson aux pommes as a breakfast “big three”. At the end you’ll also find a detailed, step-by-step recipe for homemade croissants – one that lets you recreate a structure close to what you’d get from an artisan bakery (spoiler alert: it isn’t easy, but it’s delicious).

 

Croissant – from Austrian kipferl to a French classic

Although the croissant is now strongly associated with France, its story begins much closer to Vienna than Paris. The French croissant’s ancestor is the Austrian kipferl – a simple crescent-shaped yeasted bake known in Austria and southern Germany as far back as the Middle Ages. The oldest written references to kipferl date to the 13th century, and many signs suggest the tradition may be even older.

The croissant in the modern sense appears later – when Austrian officer August Zang opened his Boulangerie Viennoise in Paris in 1839. Parisians fell in love with “Viennese bakes”, and French bakers began to imitate them – giving rise to the whole category of viennoiserie, baked goods inspired by Vienna. The name croissant (from the crescent shape) starts appearing in Parisian newspapers and cookbooks in the second half of the 19th century.

A key moment comes in 1915, when Sylvain Claudius Goy publishes the first known French recipe for a croissant made from yeasted dough laminated with butter. It’s this technique – folding dough with thin layers of butter – that creates the flaky, delicate structure we know today. From this point on, the croissant becomes truly French.

 

 

A luxury bake in the 19th century

Today, croissants feel everyday – we buy them in bakeries, cafés, and even petrol stations. In the 19th century, it was the opposite. For decades, the croissant was considered a luxury item – baked mainly in the best Parisian bakeries, served in elegant cafés and salons, and accessible mostly to wealthier city residents.

It’s also worth remembering that early French croissants weren’t as sweet or as buttery as we imagine today. They were closer to delicate breakfast bread – a roll-like pastry eaten with butter, jam, or simply alongside coffee. It wasn’t until the 20th century, with easier access to butter and sugar, that the version we know became widespread: a golden, buttery croissant sitting somewhere between bread and dessert.

 

Croissant au beurre and croissant ordinaire – two faces of the French croissant

The modern butter croissant owes a lot to technology. The development of modern butter-making and the drop in butter production costs in the early 20th century meant bakers could finally use it more generously. This is how the croissant au beurre was born – made with butter only, with a richer flavour and a more delicate structure.

Earlier – and still today in cheaper bakeries – margarine or mixed fats are commonly used. That difference is exactly why a simple “shape rule” became common in France:

• croissant au beurre – baked with butter only, usually straight rather than curved into a crescent,
• croissant ordinaire – made with margarine or a fat blend, shaped into the classic crescent.
  
  

Thanks to this, customers – at least in traditional boulangeries – can immediately tell which version they’re choosing: the more luxurious butter croissant or the everyday “ordinary” one.

 

 

Croissant and its place in the viennoiserie family

A croissant isn’t cake in the strict sense, but it isn’t a simple bread roll either. It belongs to viennoiserie – “Viennese-style” baked goods that combine bread-baking technique with pastry-style richness. In the same family you’ll find pain au chocolat, Danish pastries, French chausson aux pommes, and different styles of brioche.

All of these rely on yeasted dough, but with added butter, sugar, eggs, and milk – which makes them structurally closer to bread, yet closer to dessert in taste and purpose. The croissant holds a special place in this group: it’s one of the few pastries that works both as a simple breakfast with coffee and as a base for more elaborate sweet or savoury creations.

 

Law, numbers, and habits – the croissant as a national product

In France, the croissant matters enough to have not only legends, but also regulations. As early as 1920 it was formally recognised in regulations as part of viennoiserie française – a distinctly French product appearing in rules that covered bakeries and pastry shops. Later, further standards emerged:

• the label fait maison indicates the bake is made on-site from raw ingredients, not from a frozen mix,
• a croissant au beurre must truly be made with butter only – with no added fats.
  
  

In 2010, French authorities and baking-industry organisations ran campaigns defending the quality of butter croissants – including under the slogan “défense du croissant pur beurre” – pushing back against the market being flooded with products made from ready-to-bake frozen dough.

Statistics suggest this isn’t just symbolic attachment. It’s estimated that the average person in France eats around 270–280 croissants per year, with sales peaking on Sundays, during holidays, and in the festive season. In preference studies on breakfast pastries, the classic butter croissant often comes first, ahead of pain au chocolat and chausson aux pommes – and the French treat these three as a breakfast “big three”.

 

 

Global variations – from xuixo to croissant noir

Although croissants are most closely tied to French breakfasts, they’ve already spawned countless local interpretations. In Spain and Catalonia, the donut-like xuixo filled with custard can be seen as a fried cousin of the croissant. In Italy, cornetti reign; in South America you’ll find Argentine medialunas and Chilean cruasán relleno, often served sweet with dulce de leche. In the United States, croissants became the base for fast-food breakfast sandwiches such as the Burger King Croissan’wich, as well as croissant sandwiches in coffee chains.

The 1980s brought another major turning point: the American company Sara Lee developed and patented frozen, pre-laminated croissant dough technology. From then on, bakeries and restaurants worldwide could serve “fresh” croissants without laminating dough from scratch – they could simply thaw it, let it proof, and bake. This is the technology that helped turn croissants into a truly global product.

Modern interpretations go even further. So-called croissant noir – black croissants coloured with cocoa, black sesame, squid ink, or activated charcoal – have become popular. Japan and parts of Southeast Asia experiment with them particularly enthusiastically, where croissants are among the best-selling pastries in chains like 7-Eleven and Lawson. Japanese bakeries also offer variations with matcha, sesame, or sakura flavour.

It’s worth remembering that what we now see as the “classic” croissant – golden, many-layered, and intensely buttery – is only a little over a hundred years old. It became widespread in the first decades of the 20th century, when laminating techniques and access to butter became more common. It’s a relatively young pastry with a long story – from medieval kipferl to a French breakfast icon found in cafés around the world.

Croissants – a step-by-step recipe for 12 pastries

Ingredients for the preferment

• 100 ml whole milk
• 1 g instant yeast
• 85 g wheat flour (type 650)
  
  

Ingredients for the dough

• 220 ml whole milk
• 400 g wheat flour (type 650)
• 50 g caster sugar
• 6 g instant yeast
• 4 g finely ground sea salt
• 5 g melted butter
• seeds from 1 vanilla pod
  
  

For laminating

• 270 g butter, at room temperature
  
  

For the egg wash

• 1 egg
• 15 ml double cream (36%)

 

How to make the croissants

Day 1 (evening – make the preferment)

• Pour 100 ml whole milk into a bowl.
• Add 1 g instant yeast and mix until dissolved.
• Add 85 g wheat flour (type 650) and mix with a spoon until you get a thick paste.
• Cover and leave overnight at room temperature (at least 8 hours).

 

Day 2 (9:00 am – mix the main dough)

• Transfer the entire preferment to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.
• Add, in order:
• 220 ml whole milk
• 400 g wheat flour (type 650)
• 50 g caster sugar
• 6 g instant yeast
• 4 g finely ground sea salt
• 5 g melted butter
• seeds from 1 vanilla pod
• Knead for 10 minutes on medium speed until the dough is smooth, elastic, and pulls away from the bowl.
• Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and leave for 2 hours to rise.

 

Day 2 (after 2 hours – around 11:00 am)

• Lightly flour your work surface.
• Turn out the risen dough and roll it into a square.
• Wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

 

Day 2 (around 11:30 am)

• Cut 270 g butter into thick slices.
• Arrange on baking paper in a square shape.
• Cover with another sheet and roll into a square with 18.5 cm sides.
• Refrigerate to firm up again.

 

Day 2 (around 12:00 pm)

• Remove the chilled dough from the fridge.
• Roll into a square about 30 cm on each side.
• Place the chilled butter square in the centre (remove the paper).
• Fold the four corners of dough over the butter, sealing it tightly like an envelope.

 

Day 2 (around 1:00 pm – first fold)

• Gently roll the dough package into a 20 × 60 cm rectangle.
• Fold into thirds (like folding an A4 letter).
• Wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

 

Day 2 (around 1:30 pm – second fold)

• Repeat the rolling and the same three-fold method.
• Refrigerate for 1 hour.
  
  

Day 2 (around 2:00 pm – third fold)

• Repeat the lamination a third time.
• Refrigerate for 1 hour.

 

Day 2 (around 3:30 pm)

• Remove the dough and roll it into a rectangle with a short side of 23 cm and a thickness of about 0.5 cm.
• Trim the uneven edges.
• Mark cut lines so each triangle is 10 cm wide at the base.
• Cut triangles and place them on a board.
• Cover and freeze for 15 minutes (this makes shaping easier).

 

Day 2 (around 3:45 pm)

• Remove the triangles.
• Cut a 2 cm slit in the base of each one.
• Hold the tip and gently stretch it.
• Start rolling from the base towards the tip.
• Tuck the ends slightly inward to create the classic shape.
• Place on a lightly floured board and cover.

 

Day 2 (around 4:00–6:00 pm)

Leave the croissants at room temperature for 2–2.5 hours until clearly puffed – the layers should start to show. Important: the kitchen must not be too warm (or the butter may melt and leak).

Day 3 (around 9:00 am)

• Preheat the oven to 200°C.
• Mix 1 egg with 15 ml double cream (36%) – this is your egg wash.
• Arrange 6 croissants per tray.
• Brush with egg wash.
• Place a dish of boiling water on the lower rack (important for crispness).
• Bake for 20 minutes, then rotate the tray and bake for another 6–7 minutes.
• Repeat with the second batch.

Enjoy!