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As a younger baby rising up in Melbourne, Kate Reid spent many late nights along with her father watching auto racing. Fascinated by the pace and adrenaline of the game, she knew from an early age that she was destined for a profession in aerodynamics. Nevertheless, she by no means imagined that dream would finally result in her pursuing the gradual, methodical craft of croissant-making.
After ending a long-sought diploma in aerospace engineering, a 23-year-old Kate landed her dream job in System 1 racing and moved to London. It was 2005, and System 1 was very a lot nonetheless a male-dominated sport. She discovered herself the one lady on a crew of 120 folks working to engineer the esteemed Williams Racing crew, which had already gained a number of Grand Prix titles. She was dwelling her childhood fantasy, but typically discovered herself sitting at a pc for as much as 16 hours a day. Ultimately, she developed signs of burnout, despair, and an consuming dysfunction. In an effort to fight the grind and stress of her high-pressure job, Kate discovered consolation in coming house every evening and baking. Working along with her arms to meticulously mould, form, and knead pastry turned her methodology of self-care.
Three years into her System 1 profession, Kate realized that the bodily toll of this adrenaline-fueled world was not for her. As her well being worsened, she made the powerful choice to go away London and her profession behind. She returned to Melbourne to be close to household and to heal herself, mentally and bodily.
In therapy for her consuming dysfunction, Kate started to understand a way of normalcy in her life. “I used to be an everyday espresso drinker at a tiny, however excellent, café named Ousia,” she mentioned. “I labored up the braveness to ask the proprietor if I may assist along with her every day baking. She taught me to like meals once more. Not simply the enjoyment within the consuming however the pleasure within the preparation, respect for elements, and their transformation into one thing a lot greater than the sum of their components.” Slowly, Kate constructed up her information of baking and began to develop a fascination for extra complicated pâtisserie. Over the following yr, her obsession with pastry consumed her life. By day, her arms have been lined in dough, and at evening, she buried herself in her favourite e book on the subject, Delicacies et Patisserie au Gaz, written in 1950 by Paul Roinat. Realizing that maybe one other future awaited her, she booked a one-way ticket to Paris to be taught the whole lot she may about pastry.
Inside weeks of her arrival, she discovered herself staging at Du Pain et des Idees, a boulangerie within the metropolis’s fashionable tenth arrondissement. Courting again to 1875, it’s a spot that each locals and vacationers have on their must-visit checklist not just for the famed pastries, however for its wealthy historical past and painted by hand glass ceiling.
For the following three months, Kate immersed herself in studying the artisanal craft of conventional French pastry. Excited to place her newfound culinary schooling to work, she returned to Melbourne and commenced reverse engineering what she had realized in Paris, obsessively making an attempt to recreate the best French croissant. “I repeatedly examined each recipe and every time, I’d change one variable,” she instructed me. “I noticed that I couldn’t merely take the croissant dough recipe and adapt the lamination course of for the house kitchen. I needed to fully change the dough itself. It isn’t the traditional French methodology and it isn’t for the faint-hearted. It requires time, preparation, and an unyielding dedication to observe the method.”
After I requested her concerning the second she fell in love with the croissant, she mentioned: “It was like nothing I’d ever tasted earlier than. After I got here again to Melbourne, I searched and looked for the right Parisian croissant, but it surely didn’t exist. I had a lightbulb second the place I assumed, ‘I do know the whole lot there’s to find out about croissants, so perhaps I can begin my very own enterprise.’”
In 2012, after months of recipe testing, she opened Melbourne’s Lune Croissanterie. Her dedication to method and elements—or maybe it’s her real love for the pastry—paid off. In 2016, The New York Times declared that her croissants “often is the most interesting you can see anyplace on this planet.”
Kate discovered that there’s far more to creating the right croissant than method—utilizing the correct elements is essential. “I solely use butter from a farm in Normandy,” she mentioned. “It is advisable to honor the method and purchase the perfect butter you’ll be able to. I take advantage of [the] French butter Beurre d’Isigny. At Lune, we make the croissant dough with Laucke Euro, a flour developed particularly for viennoiserie (Austrian breakfast pastries).”
Lune has now grown to 5 bakeries in Melbourne and Brisbane, and Sydney’s first location is slated to open quickly. Croissants are the foundational product, however Kate additionally creates morning buns, Danish, torsades (twists), and special-occasion cruffins.
I requested her how she eats her croissants, whether or not she delicately peels every layer or if she merely takes a giant, pillowy chew. “The expertise of consuming a correct butter croissant contemporary from the oven is elegant,” she mentioned. “In Paris, I found the kouign-amann. It was top-of-the-line issues I’ve ever eaten—candy, salty, caramelized to the purpose simply earlier than bitter, crunchy, and chewy, just about the whole lot you can ever need in a pastry.”
In February 2023, Kate launched the U.S. version of her debut cookbook, Lune: Eating Croissants All Day, Every Day, a visually beautiful, mouth-watering journey via pastry. The e book was a real baking labor of affection. “After I signed on to jot down this e book for house cooks, I assumed the recipe for the plain croissant can be easy—I imply I’d been making croissants for nearly 10 years at Lune. What ensued was weeks of frustration, limitless testing, moments of self doubt, and actually questioning whether or not I really had the capability to ship these recipes,” she mentioned. But she persevered in her quest to demystify the croissant and make it a extra approachable mission for house cooks.
Her Chocolate-Dipped Croissant ‘Biscotti’ is an homage to Italy’s custom of serving morning espresso paired with a confection. Kate’s model is double-baked like a conventional biscotti, however through the use of flaky, skinny croissant dough, she achieves a crunchier texture excellent for dipping in espresso. In the event you’re craving to attempt her recipe however don’t have the fortitude to aim a do-it-yourself croissant, know that the store-bought model will work simply positive.
Substances
For the croissant ‘biscotti’:
6 | day-old croissants, frozen |
1 | pound plus 2 ounces (500 grams) thickened cream |
10 ½ | ounces (300 grams) caster (superfine) sugar, plus further for sprinkling |
4 | teaspoons flaky sea salt |
6 | day-old croissants, frozen |
1 | pound plus 2 ounces (500 grams) thickened cream |
10 ½ | ounces (300 grams) caster (superfine) sugar, plus further for sprinkling |
4 | teaspoons flaky sea salt |
For the tempered chocolate:
2 | kilos plus 4 ounces (1 kilogram) darkish chocolate (70% cocoa solids) |
1/3 | ounce (10 grams) cocoa butter |
2 | kilos plus 4 ounces (1 kilogram) darkish chocolate (70% cocoa solids) |
1/3 | ounce (10 grams) cocoa butter |
Will you be making an attempt Kate Reid’s croissant ‘biscotti’? Tell us within the feedback!