Croissant is a buttery pasty made from yeast-leavened dough. It is made in a process called laminating; this involves rolling and refolding the dough multiple times while layering it with butter. After folding several times, the dough is then flattened into a thin sheet. After baking, it results in a puffy, flaky textured, layered pastry.
The name croissant is derived from its shape; in French, croissant translates to “crescent” to explain its shape as the same as that of a half moon.
Because of the crispy texture of a croissant, it usually leaves crumbs everywhere after you eat it. You can also get butter on your fingers. When you’re trying not to make a mess, you might be wondering how to eat croissant the right way.
HOW TO MAKE CROISSANTS
Ingredients:
- Some cups of milk (heat up the milk till it’s warm)
- brown sugar
- Tablespoons of dry yeast
- All purpose flour
- Kosher salt
- Butter
- Pastry brush, a ruler and some kitchen towels. You also need an electric mixer.
The process:
To make the dough, mix the milk, brown sugar and yeast together in a bowl in a mixer and allow to leave it until it becomes foamy (if it is not foamy, then it wasn’t done properly, discard and start again). Add salt and some cups of flour to the mixture and mix till the dough is smooth and soft. Move the dough to a flat work surface and begin to knead it. Add flour when needed until you get a soft, sticky dough. Form a rectangle with the dough, wrap it in a plastic bag and allow to chill for about an hour.
The next step is to prepare the butter. Butter should be cold but can still be pressed into any shape. Using a rolling pin, pound the butter until it becomes a little soft. Place the butter in a kitchen towel in the shape of a block, ensure it is covered with only a kitchen towel and pound it until it has a rectangular shape. Allow to chill for some time.
The next steps involve rolling and folding the dough multiple times with the butter and adding flour when needed. It can be tedious work but in the end, it’s worth it. There’s also time to rest when your dough is chilling. When you get the desired folding, chill and allow to rise before baking. You have to fold the dough for a total of times before it is ready for baking.
DIFFERENT WAYS TO EAT A CROISSANT
Thinking of how to eat croissants? There are different ways to eat a croissant and still enjoy the original pastry taste.
- Croissant French toast: You can replace bread with croissants and enjoy a good morning meal. You can add other sweet sides to make it even better; nappy syrup, whipped cream or fruits like apples, bananas or strawberries can be good additions to your croissant toast meal.
- You can use leftover croissants to make a pudding. Pudding can serve as the perfect breakfast meal.
- Croissants can also be eaten as sandwich. You can fill it with eggs, basil leaves, tomatoes or any other way you enjoy your sandwich. Old croissants can be used as dessert instead of throwing them out. You can make a delicious chocolate dessert from a day-old croissant.
- Croissants also make a good combination with salads. You can eat croissants with an apple-tuna salad; or, you can also enjoy a buttery croissant with a crab salad and spice it up with sauce.
- You can also enjoy a croissant panini as lunch or dinner. Also, you can fill your croissant with cheese and proteins of your choice and grill until the cheese oozes out of the sides.
- Croissants can be enjoyed with ham and cheese.
WHAT’S THE PROPER WAY TO EAT A CROISSANT?
Enjoying plain croissants
You can enjoy a plain croissant by heating it up until it gets extra soft and buttery without having too much crust. You can also wrap the bottom of the croissant with a napkin to protect your fingers from the buttery feeling and also to prevent the crumbs from falling out.
What’s the proper way to eat a croissant if you don’t have a napkin? If you don’t have a napkin, you can tear the croissants into sections inside a plate. Eating them this way would keep the crumbs inside the plates and not all over your clothes or the floor. Plain croissants can also be cut into smaller pieces with a knife and eaten with a fork. This is the best way to eat croissants when trying to avoid making a mess. Another way to avoid making a mess when eating a croissant is to eat the top part of the centre first before eating the other parts. You can do this on a plate to catch the crumbs.
Eating croissants with fillings and spreads
Whipped cream, butter, maple syrups, fruits, coffee, or cheese are good combinations you can enjoy croissants with. Dipping croissants in coffee can make the pastry soft enough to not have crumbs.
HOW TO MAKE A CROISSANT SANDWICH
- Heat up a pan and add oil or butter.
- Whisk two eggs and season with salt and pepper as you desire. You can also add other things you enjoy in scrambled eggs.
- Using a spatula, scramble the eggs in the heated pan for some minutes before removing it from the stove.
- Cut a freshly baked croissant into two equal halves and place it on a baking tray.
- Add ham on one part of the cut croissant. Put the scrambled eggs on top of the ham and add a slice of cheese to top it off.
- Put the tray in the oven and bake until the cheese melts over the croissant and the croissant looks toasted.
- Place the other half of the croissant over the one with the cheese and eggs and enjoy your sandwich. You can replace ham with whatever you prefer.
CONCLUSION
A croissant is a French pastry with a nice buttery texture. It is a perfect breakfast option that can be combined with different things to have the perfect meal. Because of how messy it can get, people always try to find how to eat croissants the perfect way and not worry about being tidy. You can enjoy croissants with coffee, spreads or fruits. You can also replace bread with croissants and enjoy it as a sandwich. If you have left over croissants that are no longer fresh, you can also use them to make puddings or desserts.
