Comment: Croissant changes must not lose authenticity of great French pastry

A friend once ran a blog on finding the best crème brûlée and, admirable though that is as an exemplar of human enterprise, I have opted for the more controversial task of finding the best croissant in France.

I am not alone. In March, Le Monde published its selection of France’s 15 best croissants. 

Two months later, in May, the Greater Paris bakers’ union weighed in with its list of boulangeries selling the best Charentes-Poitou PDO butter croissants of the year.

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Redesigning an original

In my neck of the Parisian woods, we have been graced with two startling developments within 100 metres of each other. The first is a boulangerie called Milligramme that is so infuriatingly successful that even on a Sunday morning, I find myself fifth in the queue with 10 minutes to go before the door opens. 

It was started by two women, and among their splendid range of breads lurks the humble croissant. 

As the creation of bread-makers, it is a robust design, no-nonsense, of a good size, and would seem to be another original dough creation by these remarkable women. 

Around the corner, a young Japanese-American woman has opened a patisserie called Ginko where she creates pastries that seem quite at home in France, but with a delicate Japanese twist that render them works of art.

This includes her croissants, which I would describe as the extremely elegant and which raises the pastry to new heights.

Meanwhile, la France profonde carries on, maintaining – in the best cases – the highest quality year in, year out, and although their queues are less hysterical than those in Paris, their customers are, if anything, more loyal and steadfast. 

Hand-crafted product

That may partly be down to the comparative rarity of really good boulangeries. In France, between 70% and 80% of the croissants sold in bakeries are industrial products, according to the Federation of Bakery companies. 

As a result, we are witnessing the loss of the individual skills that first made the croissant and baguette world-class.

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The one word that counts is taste. These examples all have it in spades. The Parisian boulangerie is closer to the one on the banks of the Creuse. 

In both cases, betrayals like the ‘Cronut’ combination (resembling a doughnut but made from croissant-like dough), would bring the guillotine out of storage tout de suite. In both cases there is authenticity.

On the hills of Paris, a new bakery that not only keeps up tradition but renews it with a variety of great breads and the wisdom to keep the croissant as it should be, seems to be the winning combination.

These versions may be considered too precious by some, but it is not only a tribute, but a glorious celebration of the new and innovative taste of cosmopolitan France.