French Croissant as a scented stamp
Once again, La Poste has issued a scented stamp. Last year for La baguette, and now for croissant au beurre. This issue is unlikely to be rare, as a total of 594.000 stamps have been printed in sheets of 15. Do you often buy croissants from the bakery for breakfast, or do you buy them for on the go or for breakfast at work? In France, approximately 1,6 billion croissants are baked and eaten every year. That means more than 4 million a day! A simple pastry with a large turnover for bakeries and supermarkets.
Croissant
Bread in the shape of a crescent moon was already known in classical antiquity. A pastry resembling the croissant is traditionally called Kipferl and originated in Austria; it is already mentioned in the 13th century. The croissant was introduced around 1839 by the Viennese businessman August Zang when he opened the Boulangerie Viennoise (Viennese bakery) on the Rue de Richelieu in Paris. Here he sold Viennese rolls and pastries, the so-called viennoiserie.
For example, he sold the kipferl, which is considered a precursor to the croissant. August Zang devised a variation on the kipferl, made from laminated dough (a type of puff pastry). Due to its shape, it was named the crescent moon by the Parisians and given the name croissant.
For the croissant, flour must be used, along with sugar, yeast, and milk. After kneading, the dough is rolled into a thin layer. A layer of butter is placed over this, and then the dough is folded in half, trapping the butter inside. Next, this dough is rolled, folded, and rolled again several times to create a structure of thin layers of dough separated by thin layers of butter. It is important to use elastic butter for this so that it does not crumble during rolling. After rolling, elongated triangles are cut from the dough, rolled up, and bent. They then need to rise for a few hours. After rising, the croissants are optionally brushed with beaten egg and placed in the oven. During baking, the fat melts, causing the layers of dough to separate.
A factory-made croissant yields a high profit, whereas a baker must set aside three days for an artisanal croissant. Consequently, eighty percent of croissants in many countries are now factory-made, and margarine is often used instead of butter. Croissants not made with 100% butter have a straight shape. The curved shape is reserved for croissants made with only butter and no margarine. Good croissants can be recognized upon slicing by the texture of the interior, which clearly shows a good, airy structure, and by the aroma of real butter. 
Variants
There are different varieties of the croissant:- Depending on the shape: round, curved, straight.
- The Laugencroissant, a croissant brushed with lye for extra crispness, and sometimes also sprinkled with coarse salt. This variant is popular in Germany and Switzerland.
- The ham and cheese croissant, in which a slice of cheese and ham are enclosed in the dough during the rolling of the croissant.
- The cheese croissant, in which a slice of cheese is enclosed in the dough while rolling the croissant.
- The chocolate croissant, in which pieces of chocolate are baked into the croissant.
- The St. Martin's croissant is eaten in Poland during St. Martin's Day. These are croissants that are richly decorated and filled with sweets.
- The almond croissant or frangipani, a sweet variant with baked-in almond paste.
- In 1981, the American company Sara Lee launched a frozen croissant. Subsequently, Burger King and other fast food chains included the puff pastry roll in their breakfast menus. The Americanization of the croissant had begun.
- The Cronut (a portmanteau of croissant and donut) is a pastry that was invented in 2013 and registered as a trademark by French pastry chef Dominique Ansel. It resembles a donut and is made from croissant-like dough, filled with flavored cream, and fried in grapeseed oil.
The time at which your response becomes visible may vary by language and take up to 24 hours.