Discerning customers can taste the difference, the bakery’s
croissant-maker-in-chief Eddy Le Tourrier insisted. “Our croissants are not
rubbery, nor are they full of air. They are consistent and at the same time
light, unctuous and crispy when they come out of the oven,” he told France
Info radio.
Other makers of true French croissants complain they cannot compete with the
lower prices of industrially made fare, which are sold at around 20 centimes
apiece in bakery catalogues.
“I make my patisseries myself but I’m losing money,” warned Sophie, a baker in
a chic quarter of the 1st arrondissement. “It’s not on. While they haven’t
resolved the problem of the cost of home-made croissants, lots of bakers
will call on the industry,” she said.
The national federation said it was looking into ways of making it clearer
which bakeries sold truly home-made products.
In the mean time, the bakers’ federation of the Loir-et-Cher department has
decided to take unilateral action. Starting next Monday it will launch a new
“home-made viennoiseries” label local bakers can stick on their shop
windows.
Though considered quintessentially French, croissants were first made by the
bakers of Vienna to celebrate a victory against the Turkish armies that had
been besieging the city. They are said to have been brought to France by
Marie-Antoinette as a 14-year old bride hankering for comfort food from her
native Austria, hence the French term viennoiserie.
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