Vie de France Croissant Patent

Before 1988, you could buy partially baked rolls 🥖 , but not croissants 🥐 . Ever wondered why?

Partially baking bread is easy – it’s spongey and the small air bubbles don’t collapse after initial baking. However, croissants, with their thin layers of laminated dough separated by butter, are flaky and form relatively large holes during proofing and baking. Unless fully-baked, croissants flop when cooled and frozen.

To maintain the puff, Vie de France Bakery added a clever little step:

Step 1: Prepare unbaked croissant – nothing new here.
Step 2: Heat until core temperature is 93-99C and the croissant has puffed to the desired size – nothing new here either.
New Step 3 🐣 : Freeze outer surface to below -4C within 2 minutes by spraying the outer surface with liquid nitrogen.

I accept that it’s not quite rocket science 🙄 , but sometimes quicker is better and even patentable. In this case, it solved a real problem that stood in the way of a convenient freshly home-baked croissant.

(Patent: US4986992)

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