What is Viennoiserie?

Viennoiserie
A baked product made in a similar manner to bread, but with ingredients giving them a sweeter, heavier quality closer to pastry.

Not many people are aware of term viennoiserie. Viennoiserie covers a range of pastries and baked goods including the delicious and irresistible pain au chocolat, cinnamon pain au raisin, small brioches (briochettes) and pastries with an apple/apricot filling. Invented the mid- 1800s, the art of viennoiserie is now widely well known across the world. This is mainly due to the undoubtedly popular and buttery, layered, rich and golden croissant – which we all love.

Now it’s been argued that the croissant isn’t actually French. Many emphasise the croissant’s ancestry to originate from Austria. The story goes that after a failed attack by the Turks during the Siege of Vienna in 1683, Viennese bakers produced pastries to celebrate, shaping it to in the form of the crescent they saw on the flags of the Ottoman Turks. With the German name for crescent ‘kipfel’ becoming popular in Vienna soon after…

The story continues on that in 1770, the Austrian Princess Marie Antoinette travelled to France to marry King Louis XVI. In her honor, Parisian bakers made similar pastries to Kipfel, coining the French term, croissant. Croissants became as popular as kipfel in Austria, perfected by artisans through the craft and technique.

This technique for producing viennese specialties is positioned between the craft of the Boulanger (baker) and the work of a patissier (pastry maker). Made with a yeast-leavened dough, which has similar qualities to bread making, butter, eggs, milk, sugar and cream are added to the dough to sweeten and bring them towards pastry making.

Popular within the range of viennoiserie are many of today’s favourites:

· Croissants

· Pain au chocolat

· Pain aux raisins

· Brioche

· Baguette viennoise

· Chausson aux pommes

Typically eaten at breakfast, but now eaten at any time of day. High quality viennoiserie goods from an artisan bakery combine great taste with excellent texture and aesthetics.

Now viennoiserie goods are available in corporate and company meetings, conferences, trade shows right through to hospitality, hotels and members clubs.

Looking for an artisan bakery? We deliver freshly baked and handcrafted breads, pastries and viennoiserie goods within Hertfordshire, St Albans, Surrey, Berkshire, North London or Buckinghamshire.

Bring a touch of Viennese and Parisian culture to your next corporate event or meeting. Call our team at Dolce Forno Breads on 01727 762 456 or alternatively email contact@dolceforno-breads.co.uk to find out more about our viennoiserie and craft baked goods.