Croissantnoisseur: Origins

For about the past two years, I have enjoyed a fairly regular Saturday morning routine. It would begin with a trip to the Farmer's Market in my hometown of Halifax, where I would wander the stalls in search of an indulgent Saturday morning pastry breakfast. Through this, I began to develop a healthy (well, perhaps unhealthy) appreciation for croissant, and I would jokingly tell my friends and husband that I was becoming a Croissantnoisseur.

Last year, I had to travel frequently throughout Canada, and this only made matters worse. Whenever I was in a new city, I sought out croissant recommendations in an effort to find the perfect croissant. Perfection is certainly subjective, but I think it combines a balance of just the right size, density, and flakiness. I have my favourites, but perhaps more on that later. I mentioned to more than a few friends, and my husband, that if I ever had a blog it would be about croissant. I figured it was a lofty comment, without much intention to really put words into action.

My life has been recently relocated from Halifax to the Canadian prairies, and although I find the croissant selection much thinner in my current city, I still love exploring the small bakeries and shops in the heart of the Canadian breadbasket. I figured the smaller selection here really would make the idea of a blog about croissant much less realistic, but when I came home today from work I had a fresh injection of inspiration from my husband.

So, without further ado, here is the first entry from the Croissantnoisseur. Tonight's entry features croissant from Christie's Bakery in Saskatoon. As a Valentine's treat, my husband picked them up to make ham and cheese stuffed croissant with an onion dijon sauce. He baked them wrapped in tinfoil for sixteen minutes, and the finished product was a rich, flaky and tangy treat. I've been impressed with the plain Christie's croissant before, and my survey of the Saskatoon websites thus far suggest they are among the best in the city.

The nice thing about this dinner too is that it was quick and easy, and even if the croissant aren't the best in town or are turning stale, baking them in tinfoil is going to make warm and crispy.

Happy Valentine's!

Stay tuned for future posts as we embark on our first attempts at making homemade croissant.


**I might add that I have no culinary/pastry training whatsoever - so if you're looking for truly expert commentary then you need to keep googling.  I also apologize for the amateur photography - this is a learning process :)