What reasons might make day-old pastry the preferred choice in these recipes?

Question

Almond croissants ("croissants aux amandes") are a French pastry sold in every bakery.

Several websites (FR) describe (FR) recipes using croissants that were baked the day before.

Is there something specific to puff pastries that might result in a better taste when using it the day after it has been cooked? Or is it just to salvage leftover food?

Thank you, I'll remove the whole comment thread as obsolete then — rumtscho, Jan 16 '17 at 17:37

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 16 '17 at 16:53

7

It may be a matter of texture, rather than taste.

The recipes you link involve putting a wet paste on top of a previously baked croissant.

Most baked goods change in texture after sitting out for a few days, mostly because they get drier. If you want to turn bread into crumbs or croutons, for example, you slice it and let it dry out before processing it.

By letting the croissants sit for a day or two, their surface will become harder, and they won't get soggy when the almond paste is applied.

answered Jan 16 '17 at 16:53

John Feltz

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It can also be a way for a bakery to use unsold items, so it doesn't go to waste. – Joe Jan 16 '17 at 17:18
@Joe partial answers are answers in their own right! If you have more reasons, you can add them in an answer. And you'll also get upvotes for them. – rumtscho Jan 16 '17 at 17:38

score 4 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:33

You will often have recipes that are developed specifically to use up items as they get older and have lost some of their qualities as compared to when they're fresh.

Old bread can be turned into Pan Perdu ("Lost Bread", aka "French Toast"), croutons, or bread crumbs. Although any of these dishes can be made from fresh bread, they often work better with older, dryer bread.

It's very likely that this recipe was devised as a way for the bakery to use unsold croissants. Although they could be used in a bread pudding, that wouldn't be something that a bakery could sell as a sort of grab-and-go type thing.

It's quite possible that bakeries now intentionally make more croissants than they expect to sell in a day, if they can get a sufficient premium for the almond croissants to make up for it.

For home cooks to end up with a similar result, they'd also want to use day-old croissants to get the proper texture. If you tried to spread the paste on a fresh croissant, you'd end up squishing it as they're quite soft. Although day-old croissant aren't as firm as toast would be, it'd be easier to spread something on. And as John Feltz mentioned, you'd also have more problems if the croissant soaked up significant moisture from the paste (making the croissant even more squishy).

What reasons might make day-old pastry the preferred choice in these recipes?

2 Answers2