Fertile crescents
If you’re to believe what you read on social media these days, everyone is becoming a baker during isolation. Of course, I have done a lot of baking in my life, so my interest was piqued when I happened across a link to an English baker, Adam Pagor, who’d posted what he labelled as a definitive making-croissants-at-home story. I hadn’t heard of him and was intrigued.
I’ve been making croissants at home for a very long time; more than 40 years, if truth be told. I thought my early attempts were wonderful at the time, but I doubt I would think them wonderful now. Until I happened across Adam’s post, I had slavishly followed Julia Child’s recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2. It is delightful on occasions to revisit Julia making croissants via a YouTube clip, but she uses some methods that would make the current crop of croissant experts shudder.
In recent years my croissants have not been a patch on the modern version that has been exemplified by a number of bakeries with a cult-like following. I read and researched and still couldn’t even come close using Julia’s recipe. And then along came endless Covid-19 weeks at home and Adam’s story. Now I have croissants that are well on the way to replicating the modern versions and, while they in no way rival those of Lune Croissanterie in Melbourne, they are incredibly easy to make at home. Give it a try, making the dough the night before. In your downtime look at Jules on YouTube and Adam’s Instagram page, @season_adam. Adam can even make croissants with a baby strapped to his back. •