Breakfast
Medialuna
A croissant (uk: , us: , french: [kʁwasɑ̃] (listen)) is a buttery, flaky, french viennoiserie pastry inspired by the shape of the austrian kipferl but using the french yeast-leavened laminated dough. 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 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 antiquity but using brioche dough. kipferls have long been a staple of austrian, and french bakeries and pâtisseries. the modern croissant was developed in the early 20th century when french bakers replaced the brioche dough of the kipferl with a yeast-leavened laminated dough. in the late 1970s, the development of factory-made, 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, and as of 2008, 30–40% of the croissants sold in french bakeries and patisseries were baked from frozen dough.croissants are a common part of a continental breakfast in many european countries.
