Viennoiseries (English: "things in the style of Vienna") are French baked goods made from a yeast-leavened dough in a manner similar to bread, or from puff pastry, but with added ingredients (particularly eggs, butter, milk, cream and sugar), which give them a richer, sweeter character that approaches that of pastry. The dough is often laminated. Viennoiseries are typically eaten at breakfast or as snacks.

Types

Examples include croissants; Vienna bread and its French equivalent, pain viennois, often shaped into baguettes; brioche; pain au chocolat; pain au lait; pain aux raisins; chouquettes; Danish pastries; xuixo; bugnes; and chausson aux pommes.

History

The popularity of Viennese-style baked goods in France began with the Boulangerie Viennoise, which was opened by Austrian August Zang in 1839. The first usage of the expression pâtisseries viennoises appeared in 1877 in a book by the French author Alphonse Daudet, Le Nabab. However, the use of puff pastry came later and is a method that is French, not Viennese.

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