The most frequently repeat legend attributed to the invention of the croissant to Viennese baker to commemorate the Austrian victory over the Turks in 1683.
A century later, following the marriage to the Austrian princess Marie Antoinette to the future French King Louis XVI, the croissant began to be made at the Court of Versailles.
The croissant appears to have been launched in Paris between 1837 and 1839 by the Viennese baker August Zang. American British writer, Henry James (1843-1916), recalling his childhood years in Paris under the Second Empire, speaks of the ‘so softly crusty crescent rolls’.
The croissant was known early to travelers as one of the pleasures of France.
The earliest French reference to the croissant seems to be in Payen’s book Des substances alimentaires published in 1853.
He cites, among the Pain dits de fantasie ou de luxe, not only English ‘muffins’ but ‘les croissants’.
Although the fashion for these pastries spread quickly, the first recognizable recipe for a croissant did not appear until the beginning of the twentieth century.
History of croissant
