Viennoiserie is a type of pastry made in bakeries. The preparation technique and baking process are similar to the one of bread or puff pastry with some added ingredients such as eggs, butter, milk, cream and sugar making it fatter and sugary. Viennoiseries are mid way through bread and patisseries, the latter being more complex and containing more fat and sugar.

Viennoiseries are often consumed at breakfast hence their name in English “Breakfast pastries” but are also common for snacks, morning and afternoon tea.

This type of pastry was actually invented in Vienna but perfected in Paris. More info regarding the misconceptions about the origin of French associated food here.

In France, almost 190,000 tonnes of viennoiseries were consumed in 2014, an average of one pastry per week per person.

We have been through most viennoiseries, briefly explaining what they are and where to find them in Perth and Fremantle. You can also learn how to make them by taking a course at the Sweet Artist Academy.

1. Croissant

Croissant is the most popular French breakfast pastry in the world. It represents 40% of the viennoiseries sold in France.

Croissants originate from Austria. It was introduced in France in 1837 by a baker from Vienna but only became popular in the 1920s after the French made the croissant with pâte feuilletée (puff pastry) instead of the brioche-like dough used in the original recipe.

Croissant is made of a specific puff pastry which includes yeast and a significant amount of butter.

While most croissants in France are more affordable than in Perth, a vast majority is actually produced industrially and sold in various bakeries where they are only cooked on premises.

In the Perth French bakeries listed below, croissants are made in the artisanal way resulting in a more crispy and softer product with a perfect buttery flavour.

2. Almond croissant
"Croissant aux amandes"

Croissants cannot be kept for too long as they rapidly lose their crunchiness and turn into a soft dough that defeats the original purpose. Bakers had to find a way to recycle the leftovers. This resulted into two croissants derivatives that are arguably even better.

The first recycling method is to stuff the croissant with a soft almond marzipan (almond cream), top it with almond flakes and icing sugar, and rebake it until the ends become crispy again. The result tends to be very rich (to say the least)... It may not be the most appealing breakfast pastry but is an absolute delight!

3. Ham & Cheese croissant

"Croissant au jambon fromage"

The second recycling method consists of stuffing the croissant with ham and cheese resulting in a savory croissant perfect for a “light” lunch.

4. Chocolate Croissant
“Pain au chocolat” or “chocolatine”

The pain au chocolat also called chocolatine in France and chocolate croissant in Perth is the second most popular viennoiserie with 35% of the viennoiseries sold in France.

The chocolate croissant pastry dough is identical to the one used for croissant.

Its rectangular shape typically contains 2 black chocolate bars.

Originally, it was made of a piece of bread or baguette with a chocolate bar that was given to kids in France for their afternoon tea (goûter). As the French integrated the viennoiseries into their culinary culture, the “pain au chocolat” became gradually made of puff pastry.

In some French regions, “pain au chocolat” is also called “chocolatine”, both being now identical. Originally, “chocolatine” was the name given to the “schokoladencroissant” introduced in France by the austrian baker in 1837. It was a type of brioche filled with chocolate which evolved to a puff pastry similarly to the croissant.

5. Almond Chocolate Croissant
“Pain au chocolat aux amandes”

Similarly to the almond croissant, the chocolate croissant can be recycled by adding a soft almond marzipan (almond cream) and rebake it until it recovers its crunchiness. While the almond chocolate croissant is probably less common, it is our preferred viennoiserie by far! Unfortunatelly, we haven't been able to find any bakery making it in Perth, possibly because they sell all their Chocolate Croissant on the day?!

Croissant & French Breakfast Pastries - Viennoiseries
where to find them in Perth and Fremantle

6. Brioche

Brioche is similar to bread with a richer and more tender crumb. The higher content of butter and egg makes it light, fine and somewhat puffy. The eggs and butter are the only liquid content in the dough, i.e. there is no milk or added water.

Brioche contains very little sugar.

There are numerous types of brioche but we focused on the most widely known and traditional version, the “Brioche à tête” also called brioche parisienne (Brioche with a “Head” or from Paris). This type of individual brioche is made by placing a small ball of dough on top of a larger one. It is often cooked with Pearl Sugar, chocolate chips or candied fruits.

7. Snail Roll
"Pain aux raisins" or "escargot"

The “pain aux raisins” (snail roll) can either be made with croissant or brioche dough even though the croissant version is by far more common. It is a spiral shaped pastry consisting of swirls of sweet croissant dough looking like a snail (hence its alternative name “escargot” (snail)) with pastry cream (crème pâtissière), laden with raisins (dried grape) and glazed with a glossy apricot finish.

8. French Apple Turnover

"Chausson aux Pommes"

A Chausson aux Pommes (French Apple Turnover) is made with puff pastry and stuffed with applesauce. The applesauce is made of apples cooked in butter, cinnamon and brown sugar. The dough puffs up during cooking while the applesauce sparkles resulting in a delightful breakfast pastry. It is best served warm.

While the origins of the Chausson aux Pommes are uncertain, the history links the pastry to the town of Saint-Calais in the north of France. In 1580, Saint-Calais was suffering from plague which decimated a majority of the population. The woman in charge of the town shared flour and apples to the population who made something similar to apple turnovers. Since 1630, the town remembers by celebrating it in the form of a medieval festival at the beginning of September.

9. Palmier

A palmier (palm tree), also called elephant ear, is a viennoiserie made from the same dough than croissant without any yeast. The puff pastry consists of layers of dough and butter coated with sugar which caramelises while cooking. The result is very crispy and flaky with a pronounced taste of sugar and butter. A popular variant is to dip half of the palmier in chocolate.

The palmier likely originates from France sometime during the 20th century. It may have been inspired by middle east cookies cooking methods such as baklava.

The palmier viennoiserie suffers from the cookie made of the same shape that can be found in most biscuit boxes as it does not taste anywhere near as good as the viennoiserie found in bakeries...

10. Sacristan

The sacristan (“sacristain” in French) is a viennoiserie from Provence made by twisting puff pastry and topping it with almonds and sugar. It is believed to originate from a monastery where the sacristan is the person in charge of preparing the mess. The pastry name may be in reference to the corkscrew used by the sacristan for preparing the mess wine or to the twisted stick used by sacristans…

This article has been written with the best of our knowledge and the contributions from the bakeries.

If you know about a place where to find French viennoiseries in Perth please don’t hesitate to contact us.

The following shops have not responded to our requests and have therefore been omitted from this article.

We will include them as soon as we receive the information from them.

last updated 12-Feb-2017

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