For the past few months, and maybe longer, I've been eating a croissant every morning with my daily cup of tea. I started doing so because I realized one day that even though I've been living in France for more than 20 years now, I was probably eating no more than half a dozen croissants a year. By the way, croissant is the French word for crescent. It's also the present participle of the verb croître, to grow, and means "growing."
I put skimmed milk and sugar in my tea in the morning, but I eat my croissants plain. I admit to buying them, more often than not, at the supermarket. They are baked in the store every morning, so they are fresh. And they are made with butter, not margarine. Butter, flour, a pinch of salt, and a little bit of sugar; those are the ingredients. The croissants I get from the supermarket weigh about 52 grams each. That's less than two ounces.
You-know-who... that would be Tasha the Sheltie... loves croissants as much as I do. I share mine with her. I'm not sure I knew that, at least according to legend, Marie-Antoinette brought the croissant, along with the recipe, to France from Austria in about 1770. Living here, it's a shame not to enjoy one every day. For a special treat, when I'm out and about early enough, I buy a few croissants in one of the half-dozen or so bakeries in the Saint-Aignan area that bake and sell them, just to see how good they really are compared to my everyday croissants.
This is a lovely treat for us at Sunday breakfast; all butter croissants from ‘Waitrose’ which are as tasty as from a bakery 14 miles away. We have groceries delivered to the farm weekly from there. It’s a 50 mile return trip journey to our farm otherwise, and they charge only £4 for delivery, which is more than made up for by weekly loyalty offers. Lots of field home grown root veg.too. Pats. 🚜
ReplyDeletePart of the joy of France, is the food.
ReplyDeleteA simple pleasure of ta vie en France.
ReplyDeleteWe treat ourselves to a croissant each most weekends and usually buy frozen ones from Picard. You cook them straight from frozen for 18 minutes and they’re very good. They're ready by the time the coffee is made and the orange juice poured! I've also successfully done them in our small air fryer, if I need just one for myself!
ReplyDeleteThe best bakery croissants are a fifteen minute drive away……..although that boulangerie also supplies the baguette machine and vending machine in the local village……but you have to get there early before they're all sold out!
Have you ever made homemade croissants?
Wish I could have a good croissant every day. Maybe I should try one from the local grocery store.
ReplyDeleteBettyAnn
Wow. I assure you that, supermarket or bakery, they are much different, and much better, than anything I can get here.
ReplyDeleteAs it turns out, yesterday I made myself a ham sandwich with honey mustard and lettuce because I had purchased a croissant package at my local grocery which has a bakery where they bake them on-site! I also indulged myself this week in a pain-chocolat from a different grocery with an on-site bakery ...etc. BTW, this is not routine and hardly even frequently. I must agree with Judith, however, that although it has been a while since I was able to eat croissants (any variety!) in France; I probably could tell them apart from the US ones in a taste test! We only have one life to lead, Ken, and it makes sense to include croissants !
ReplyDeleteHow interesting about the croissant maybe coming from Austria. It makes sense, if you've ever had rich, flaky Viennese baked goods. You can get good croissants here, but you will pay much more for them than you would in beautiful Par-ee.
ReplyDeleteKen, you have reminded me about the joy of eating a freshly baked croissant in Paris on my first and only time there in 2010. If I lived in France, I would definitely eat an croissant every day. Planning another trip to Paris specifically and Europe in general this year we hope. Let croissants be a guiltless pleasure for you for life!
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