To find out more...
Who's making the croissants?
It's very often like that, with each of these professions having quite different ways of working, but sometimes there's also one or more people who have a slightly transversal role: the touriers.
Let's see who they are.
Trades and atmosphere
The baker kneads a lot and works with "leavened" doughs, which contain yeast or sourdough.
He needs a slightly warm atmosphere, not cold, for his doughs to rise properly.
The pastry chef uses little or no kneading, no yeast or sourdough, and lots of butter, cream and eggs.
His doughs or creams require a cool, even chilly, atmosphere.
This difference gives rise to a well-known adage in the trade: "The baker closes the bakery door all the time, while the pastry chef opens it as soon as possible".
And the tourier?
In addition to these two professions, there's also the tourier, who takes care of all the doughs that need turning.
Giving a pastry a turn means folding it in on itself, even though it's made up of a layer of butter enclosed between 2 layers of pastry.
This is of course the case with puff pastry, but also and above all with croissant pastry or puff pastry (croissant dough).
So that's what the tourier's job is: they give the rounds, and they take care of all the products in this model, especially the viennoiserie.
So he's the one who makes croissants, pains au chocolat, raisin bread, etc.
In practice, it often happens that the tourier is also in charge of foncer, i.e. he or she rolls out the shortbread or sweet dough and lines the molds for the tarts and tartlets that the pâtisser will then line.
According to professional terminology, "the tourier prepares all types of dough for viennoiseries, tarts, savory and sweet puff pastries. He applies the techniques of melting, shaping and making the most common creams and fillings".
The rolling mill
It's a lot of work to give a dough its turns, and of course the tourier doesn't work with a rolling pin like we do at home, he uses a machine all the time to roll out his dough, making it go back and forth between 2 metal rollers with adjustable spacing.
But the rolling machine isn't everything, and you also need a certain amount of experience to appreciate the dough's behavior, its level of fermentation, its temperature, its toughness, etc.
Training
As you can see, tourier is a real profession, with complex aspects that require real know-how, and it's a skill sought after by bakeries.
Part of the training for bakers (a lot) and pastry chefs (a little) includes a tourage component, which means that both can be involved in tourage in addition to their traditional duties.
The profession, which for a long time was on the wane, unfortunately torpedoed by frozen Viennese pastries, is now coming back with a vengeance, thanks to specialized training and the growing needs of bakeries for quality products and a high level of kneading.
To sum up: Who makes croissants in a bakery? It's the tourier, the specialist in puff pastry and the use of the rolling mill.
Cut twice as fast
When you need to cut something long into small pieces, for example chopped chives or the stem of a spring onion, there's a simple gesture that doubles your cutting speed. Let's see how.May 21th 2026925
The other use for bowl scraper
Your kitchen or bakery utensils may include a horn (left) or a pastry cutter (right). These practical utensils are normally used to scoop the contents of a bowl or salad bowl - the horn - or to cut dough - the pastry cutter. But they also have another, very practical use - let's see what it is.May 9th 20261,248
The strange foam of potatoes in milk
As you may have already noticed, when you cook potatoes in milk, especially in small pieces (slices or cubes) for a gratin for example, a surprisingly abundant white foam forms on the surface. Where does it come from?April 26th 20261,484
A little leftover butter
Very often when you're making a cake, your recipe will tell you to melt some butter and mix it into the batter - a classic for cookies, cakes, moelleux and the like. And every time you do this, you'll have to butter the baking tin to prevent the dough from sticking during baking. Naturally,...April 16th 20261,3725
A tablet holder
Perhaps you too cook by consulting your recipe on a tablet or phone, and putting it down on your worktop? It's practical, but not the best solution. Here's a look at how you can make an inexpensive, almost universal stand.March 14th 20262,0835
Steam for baking bread
What does steam have to do with bread-making? This is not only a bakers' secret, it is something you might not think of at all: if you make bread and bake it like a cake, you will end up with bread, but pale and with a thick, hard crust – a long way from the golden-brown crusty loaf you had in...June 16th 2021150 K4.5
The ideal restaurant
Like all passionate cooks (I suppose), from time to time I dream of opening my own restaurant. I imagine loads of things: it will be like this or like that, we'll do this, I'll cook that, the room will have this or that – in short, I dream.October 15th 201217 K4.4
Salt and yeast
Let's take a look at an old baker's legend: You may have already read that somewhere in a recipe that uses baker's yeast(bread, pastries, leavened doughs in general) it is often specified "Don't put salt in contact with the yeast, you'll kill it (the yeast)"! Well, that's a belief, and there are...March 15th 201975 K4.3
Zester like a pro
Have you heard of the microplane? It's an extraordinary tool that allows you to grate very, very finely, and therefore zest with disconcerting ease. Here's some information about it.December 25th 20209,6224.9
The infinite variety of salads
Making a salad for a meal, a few ingredients of your choice and a sauce to bind it all together is still one of the best ways to cook something really good quickly and simply. And since there is often a "fresh" aspect with the vegetables in the ingredients, not only does it taste good, but it's...March 13th 202111 K4.6
Receive an e-mail as soon as this page is modified or receives a new comment.