Croissant is:
1. A rich, crescent-shaped roll of leavened dough or puff pastry.
2. French; flaky crescent-shaped rolls traditionally served hot for breakfast, made from a yeast dough with a high butter content. A 50-g croissant contains 10 g of fat of which 30% is saturated; supplies 180 kcal (750 kJ)
3. [kwah-SAHN; KWAH-sawn; kruh-SAHNT] The origin of this flaky, buttery-rich yeast roll dates back to 1686, when Austria was at war with Turkey. In the dead of night a group of bakers, hearing Turks tunneling under their kitchens, spread the alarm that subsequently led to the Turkish defeat. In turn, the vigilant bakers were awarded the privilege of creating a commemorative pastry in the shape of the crescent on the Turkish flag.
Croissant is the French word for “crescent”. Originally, the croissant was made from a rich bread dough. It wasn’t until the early 1900s that a creative French baker had the inspiration to make it with a dough similar to puff pastry . . . And so a classic was born. Croissants can be made with buttered layers of yeast dough or puff pastry. They’re sometimes stuffed (such as with a stick of chocolate or cheese) before being rolled into a crescent shape and baked. Croissants are generally thought of as breakfast pastries but can also be used for sandwiches and meal accompaniments.
Origin
Stories of how the bread was created are modern culinary legends. It is supposed that the shape represents the Islamic crescent as found on the Ottoman flag.
While some claim that it was invented in France to celebrate the defeat of a Moorish invasion at the decisive Battle of Tours by the Franks in 732, it is more likely that it, like the bagel, was invented in 1683 to celebrate the victory of Jan III Sobieski and his Polish army over the Turkish forces in the Battle of Vienna. According to this theory bakers working at night heard the undermining tunneling operation of the Turks and gave the alarm: this version is supported by the fact that in French croissants are referred to as Viennoiserie. Other theories include tales linking croissants with the kifli and the siege of Buda in 1686, and those detailing Marie Antoinette’s hankering after a Viennese specialty. According to Alan Davidson, editor of the Oxford Companion to Food, no printed recipe for the present-day croissant appears in any French recipe book before the early 20th century; the earliest French reference to a croissant he found was among the “fantasy or luxury breads” in Payen’s Des substances alimentaires, 1853.
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Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/croissant?cat=health
Photo: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Croissant.jpg
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