It is one of the most replicated pastry preparations in the world, and that its
elaboration process is very laborious
, in some cases, up to three days.
And what should a good croissant be like, that puff pastry piece of
Austrian
and not French origin?
A bright golden color on the outside;
alveolate (holes) and spongy and delicate crumb inside and a very rich flavor -but not overwhelming- of butter.
Sunday, January 30, is its international day and, to celebrate it, we propose a route to discover
some of the great croissants that are made in the capital.
With butter from French Brittany, at La Barra Dulce.
THE SWEET BAR
It is barely three years old and the bakery-cafeteria of
Ana Blanco and Samuel Serrano
-Ana and Samu for the residents of Lavapiés- is a must stop on any gourmand route.
Its palm trees of flavors, its torrijas, its natural popsicles (in summer) with local products enjoy prestige in the capital.
Just like its
addictive croissants that alone justify the visit
.
"We make them with butter from French Brittany, obtained from the milk of cows that graze in winter and that produce a fattier milk due to the green of the pastures. It only has 2% more than conventional butters, but
it is perceived on the palate in taste and texture
.
The rest of the ingredients are organic flour from León, organic Galician milk, sugar and a pinch of salt", explain Ana and Samu.
Its
creation
is not exactly short: "48 hours. We let the dough rest cold and give it three turns in the laminator."
Sometimes they are filled with cheese, matcha tea or chocolate.
And, a note about the good work of this Sweet Bar: Samu worked with Oriol Balaguer and, in 2019, he was chosen Best Pastry Chef of the Forum by the Association of Cooks and Pastry Chefs of the Community of Madrid.
Price: 1.70 euros.
Address:
Mesón de Paredes, 22.
Artisan croissant, in One Hundred and Thirty.
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY°
This year, the specialty coffee roaster with workshop run by
Alberto and Guido Miragoli
turns five years old.
Five years ago the traveling brothers - they have toured European and American workshops - opened this space that today also has a point of sale in the Mercado de la Paz.
If your bread is a prize (best bread in Madrid 2020), your croissant is not far behind.
Here everything is handmade,
eco
and sustainable, and is made with care and time.
Thus,
to make this delicate piece they spend three days
.
"The first we prepare the dough: French flour, water, fresh milk, sugar, Gallic butter, yeast, salt and a little malt. Mix everything well, let it ferment and refrigerate. The second day, we puff pastry, divide and shape and, the third, after fermenting the already divided pieces, we put them in the oven", describes Alberto Miragoli.
The result is a crispy, golden bite on the outside, with a
fluffy, honeycombed crumb and rich, buttery flavor
.
Price: 1.70 euros.
Addresses:
Fernando el Católico, 17 and Ayala, 28 B.
Oriol Balaguer's croissant is a classic at La Duquesita.
THE LITTLE DUCHESS
The pretty windows of this century-old sweet shop in the Las Salesas neighborhood house, among its delicate confectionery, a
first class, elegant and fine croissant
.
Behind him is the master of sweet cuisine, Oriol Balaguer, who in 2014 signed the best artisan butter croissant in Spain, thanks to its flavour, honeycomb, puff pastry, color and finish, a piece that today is
one of the emblematic creations of this international confectioner.
It all begins in the workshop, "working the puff pastry and letting it rest in the cold. Next, the butter is added and, after letting the dough rest,
the process of the folds begins
, which are cut and they take shape", they explain from the
laboratory
of this historic patisserie.
The last steps are to let them ferment and bake it.
Price: 1.80 euros.
Address:
Fernando VI, 2.
Croissants with an alveolate interior, at Estela Puff Pastry.
Puff pastry wake
If Estela Gutiérrez knows anything, it is that crunchy dough that is laboriously made, since she has been linked to it since her childhood, seeing how her father, Pedro,
made puff pastry in the family bakery in Cabezón de la Sal
(Cantabria).
For half a year, this renowned confectioner has had her own shop in the Las Letras neighborhood, where polkas, palm trees, puff pastries, butter mille-feuille... And croissants, which she prepares
following the traditional recipe that "my father used forever
To make them, we use a puff pastry with a two-day fermentation process and
top-quality butter, national whenever we can"
, explains Estela, second place in the Madrid Fusión 2021 Revelation Pastry Award.
In this place where puff pastry is king, the croissants are formed "one by one by hand. Everything takes a lot of time and dedication" to achieve "a crunchy texture, which is honeycombed inside and has
an intense butter flavor
. Our croissant reminds us of French," he concludes.
Price: 2 euros.
Address:
Plaza de Jesus, 5.
The chocolate 'rugelachs', in Golda.
GOLDA
In this cafeteria that the Fayer Group has opened in the Justicia neighbourhood, not far from the parent company (Fayer Madrid), the croissant is called
rugelach
, a sweet that became popular in
Eastern Europe
and which, according to some sources
, could share the same origin .
come
from the first "We make them just like the
croissant
, but
with chocolate inside
, around 30%. We also have
versions with nuts, such as pistachios and walnuts
," explains chef Mariano Muñoz.
And he continues: "Our pastry chef,
Miranda Moyano, prepares a leavened dough, which is laminated with butter and chocolate
and, after coming out of the oven, we paint with a slightly spicy syrup".
And the success is such that the
rugelachs
-or Golda
croissant-
are
the kings of this
"healthy and tasty" place, as they call it.
Price: 2 euros.
Address:
Orellana, 19.
Honeycombed inside, in Madreamiga.
MOTHER FRIEND
Crispy on the outside and tender and light on the inside, with a great buttery flavor.
This is the bun that they make every day in the workshop of Begoña San Pedro.
A bite that brings back
childhood memories
for the baker .
"I like to make it with butter of French origin, I love the typical flavor and aroma of the croissants that I ate when I was little and went to Irun, right on the French border, to visit my uncles. Every morning they brought them from France", relive the moment.
After many tests and butters, she managed to replicate those flavors and make a croissant
with natural ingredients, honey from flowers, fresh milk from Ávila, cultured sourdough
...
They make them with and without filling
, and the best sellers are the classic and the gianduja.
On Sunday, January 30 -you know, International Croissant Day- they will pay
a particular tribute: all the pieces that that day will have the classic crab shape
that was traditionally made in Spain and not the French-style straight ones that have been imposed in many national confectioneries.
Price: from 1.65 euros.
Address:
Teruel, 26.
Airy interior, at Maison Kayser.
MAISON KAYSER
The well-known French house, a benchmark for French bakery and pastry
present in 23 countries
, signs a crispy puff pastry bun with a spongy, honeycombed interior,
the result of its fermentation process.
It is made entirely by hand in their workshops and following the
original recipe of Eric Kayser,
creator of the brand and ambassador of the French bakery.
The process takes three days
.
"We make a first dough with flour, water, butter, yeast and sugar. On the second day, we add butter and work the dough with
a laminator to create the puff pastry
and on the third day, it is fermented for three hours and then baked," they point out from the bakery.
Price: 1.90 euros.
Addresses:
Velazquez, 126.
The butter classic, at Moulin Chocolat.
MOULIN CHOCOLATE
In this French-inspired house that
Ricardo Vélez
opened in 2006 -together with his sister Puy- next to the Retiro, the golden and crunchy croissants could not be missing;
in fact, the pastry chef makes them every day.
"A good croissant, for it to be as perfect as possible,
must have a good fresh butter, be crispy on the outside and when it is broken it is well flaky
and gives off lactic aromas", says the pastry chef.
And, as the great chocolatier that he is, Vélez makes a delicious
version filled and covered in chocolate
that reminds us of those horns from our school breaks (beware, book a day in advance, because they fly).
Price: €1.60;
3 euros for chocolate.
Addresses:
Alcalá, 77.
With chocolate and also classics, at PanDomè.
PANDOMÈ
Bread, pizza and artisan pastries give substance to the concept that the
Neapolitan Domenico Rosso
has in the Tirso de Molina Market and also in his workshop, in the Embajadores roundabout.
"Every day we make croissants, they cannot be missing because it is
one of the products that we sell the most"
, admits Rosso.
Its characteristics: "Quality raw material,
French butter from Normandy and a lot of care"
, says the Italian.
In addition to the classic, they make the bicolor, with chocolate and cocoa stripes;
pistachio or nutella fillings and, in spring, a
sweet delicacy: mango and mascarpone cream
.
Prices: from 1.60 euros to 2.90 euros.
Addresses:
Doña Urraca, 15 and Martín de Vargas, 6.
They are cut into triangles to give them the shape, in Panem.
PANEM
Perhaps today it is the most desired bakery in the capital and even the
luckiest
.
Because if something seems to have this Retiro workshop
run by five brothers from Toledo, it is a good star
and awards.
The first (the best bread in Madrid 2019) arrived a year after opening;
the last one, a month ago (the best roscón de Reyes in Madrid 2022).
And, in between,
the best artisan butter croissant in Spain 2021
.
The
boom
was such that they went from selling "400 a day to 1,500. Now we are taking out
about 800 units and at 4:00 p.m. they are finished
," explains Antonio García, the first-born.
And how do they do them?, they will ask. "
It takes us 48 hours. First,
we
knead and shape three kilos of dough that we leave cold for 24 hours.
double, one simple... Like this until forming 12 layers of butter.
Let it rest in the cold for a few hours, stretch and cut into triangles to form the croissants. Once this is done, they are left in the cold until the next day. Then, they ferment for three hours, We paint them with a mixture of yolk and milk and bake them for 15 minutes," he details.
This laborious process has one objective: "
We are looking for a crunchy bun, with a marked flavor of good butter
, a melting and honeycombed interior."
And according to the acknowledgment of critics and the public, it seems that they achieve it.
Price: 1.60 euros.
Address
: Fernán González, 42.
From gianduja, in Pan.Delirio.
BREAD.DELIRIO
In 2017, the
Cocheteux, father and son
, turned a family hobby -bread- into a reality after opening a bakery in the Salamanca district that has not stopped growing in just over four years (two workshops with an office; a cafeteria in Gourmet Experience of El Corte Inglés and a large workshop with shop and school in Tetuán).
Their breads are
benchmarks in the capital and so are their artisan croissants
(2 euros), which take three days to make.
Your formula?
Artisanal Asturian butter in the dough and extra-dry French butter
to achieve optimal puff pastry
, wheat flour without additives, sourdough, fresh yeast, water and salt.
They follow the same process with the gianduja (2.75 euros), which they fill with Cacao Barry's gianduja praline (cocoa, hazelnut and milk).
Addresses:
Professor Waksman, 8;
Juan Bravo, 21 and Naranjo, 7.
Conforms to The Trust Project criteria
Know more
Madrid
GastronomyFive 'gastro' openings to keep on your radar this weekend
GastronomyNine delivery top for not cooking in January and (if you want) neither the rest of the year
Gastro routeTen essential restaurants in Madrid that deserve (at least) a visit this year
See links of interest
Last News
covid
Ukraine
What
Check Christmas Lottery
Work calendar 2022
The reading
Barca - Asvel Villeurbanne