Viennoiserie is the family of bakes that sits between bread and pastry: yeasted doughs enriched with butter, milk, sugar or eggs. The name means “things from Vienna”, after the Viennese bakers who brought their breakfast bakes to Paris in the nineteenth century.
Laminated doughs
For the flakiest viennoiserie, a cold slab of butter is folded into the dough, then rolled and folded again several times. In the oven, the water in the butter turns to steam and pushes the thin layers apart.
- Croissant: a triangle of laminated dough rolled into a crescent or a straight roll. Crisp and shattering outside, soft and open inside.
- Pain au chocolat: the same dough wrapped around one or two batons of dark chocolate.
- Danish: a laminated dough, often richer, shaped around a filling such as custard, fruit or cream cheese.
- Almond croissant: a croissant split, filled with almond cream and baked again, usually the next day.
Enriched doughs
Brioche, cinnamon buns and milk rolls are not laminated. The butter, eggs and milk go straight into the dough, which gives a soft, tender crumb instead of flaky layers.
How to enjoy them at home
Viennoiserie is best on the day it is baked. To refresh a croissant the next day, warm it in the oven at about 180 °C (350 °F) for 4 to 5 minutes. Avoid the microwave: it makes the layers soft and chewy.
All of our viennoiserie contains wheat (gluten), milk and usually eggs, and some contain nuts. Ask us for the allergen list before you choose.