Editing Croissant (section)

{{Short description|Crescent-shaped viennoiserie pastry}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2015}}
{{Infobox food
| name = Croissant
| image = File:Croissant-Petr Kratochvil.jpg
| image_size = 270px
| caption = <!-- no caption needed; these are croissants -->
| alternate_name = 
| country = [[France]]
| course = [[Breakfast]]
| type = ''[[Viennoiserie]]''
| region = 
| served = 
| main_ingredient = [[Baker's yeast|Yeast]]-leavened [[dough]], [[butter]]
| variations = ''[[Pain aux raisins]]'', ''[[pain au chocolat]]'', ''pain aux fraises''
| calories = 
| other = 
}}

A '''croissant''' ({{IPAc-en|k|r|ə|ˈ|s|ɑː|n|t|,_|ˈ|k|(|r|)|w|æ|s|ɒ̃}},<ref>Merriam-Webster Unabridged; Oxford dictionary of pronunciation for current English</ref> {{IPA|fr|kʁwasɑ̃|lang|fr-croissant.ogg}}) is a [[French cuisine|French]] [[pastry]] in a crescent shape made from a laminated yeast dough similar to [[puff pastry]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davidson |first=Alan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bIIeBQAAQBAJ&dq=culinary+mythology+viennoiserie&pg=PA46 |title=The Oxford Companion to Food |date=2014-08-21 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-104072-6 |page=232 and 237 |language=en}}</ref>

It is a buttery, flaky, ''[[viennoiserie]]'' pastry inspired by the shape of the [[Austrian cuisine|Austrian]] ''[[Kifli|kipferl]]'', but using the French yeast-leavened laminated dough.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Jim |last=Chevallier |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/903249778 |title=August Zang and the french croissant : how viennoiserie came to France |date=2009 |publisher=Chez Jim Books |isbn=978-1-4486-6784-0 |oclc=903249778}}</ref> Croissants are named for their historical [[crescent]] shape. The dough is layered with [[butter]], rolled and folded several times in succession, then rolled into a thin sheet, in a technique called [[laminated dough|laminating]]. The process results in a layered, flaky texture, similar to a [[puff pastry]].

Crescent-shaped breads have been made since the [[Renaissance]], and crescent-shaped cakes possibly since [[Late antiquity|antiquity]].<ref>{{cite book | title = "Qu'est-ce que la Bible? d'après la nouvelle philosophie allemande", translated by August Hermann Ewerbeck | year = 1850| page = 327 | quote = Hebrew women, in the time of Jeremiah, made in honor of the pagan goddess [[Astarte]] (queen of heaven, queen of the moon) cakes, probably in the form of a crescent.}}</ref> The modern croissant was developed in the early 20th century, when [[France|French]] bakers replaced the brioche dough of the ''kipferl'' with a yeast-leavened laminated dough.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Fiegl |first1=Amanda |title=Is the Croissant Really French? |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/croissant-really-french-180955130/ |access-date=2022-04-26 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |archive-date=25 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625150036/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/croissant-really-french-180955130/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the late 1970s, the development of factory-made, [[frozen food|frozen]], preformed but unbaked dough made them into a [[fast food]] that could be freshly baked by [[unskilled labor]]. The croissant bakery, notably the ''La Croissanterie'' chain, was a French response to American-style fast food,<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924419,00.html "Living: Croissant Vite"]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825233444/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C924419%2C00.html |date=25 August 2013 }}. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. 8 September 1980</ref> and as of 2008, 30–40% of the croissants sold in French bakeries and patisseries were baked from [[frozen dough]].<ref>Bertrand Rothé, [http://www.bakchich.info/Il-est-bon-mon-croissant-surgele,02904.html "Il est bon mon croissant (surgelé)"] {{webarchive |url=https://archive.today/20120719055314/http://www.bakchich.info/Il-est-bon-mon-croissant-surgele,02904.html |date=19 July 2012 }}, ''Bakchich Info'', 11 March 2008</ref>

Croissants are a common part of a [[continental breakfast]] in many European countries.