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Croissants
Gregg Wallace is in France at an enormous croissant factory where they produce 336,000 flaky pastries a day.
Gregg Wallace is in France at an enormous croissant factory where they produce 336,000 of the flaky pastries every day. He follows the production of croissants from the arrival of 21 tonnes of butter right through to dispatch. Along the way he learns how they use an 83-year-old strain of yeast to pack a flavourful punch and discovers the secret of pastry lamination. They layer very thin slices of butter between sheets of dough to create the famous flaky pastry.
Meanwhile, Cherry Healey is testing the best way to eat a croissant. With the help of a professor who specialises in the science of our senses, she discovers that there is an optimum way to consume them. Ideally, they will be served warm so that the butter inside oozes fat into the pastry, smothered in jam to give a sugar and fat hit, and eaten from a paper bag so that the crinkly sound accentuates the flaky texture of the pastry. She also heads to north Wales, visiting a farm and dairy where they produce a special type of ‘concentrated’ butter. The butter is a whopping 99.8% fat, perfect for producing croissants with a long shelf life.
Historian Ruth Goodman is in Paris investigating the croissant’s surprising Austrian origins. It is thought that it originated with a pastry called a kipferl, which Austrian bakers invented in the 17th century to commemorate a heroic victory over the armies of the Ottoman Empire. Its shape was a mocking reference to the crescent on their enemy’s flag. But it took a while to transform into the modern pastry - the earliest written recipe she manages to find for a modern French croissant comes as late as 1906. Ruth also discovers that bread played a vital role in the French Revolution.
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A massage parlour for croissants
Duration: 01:57
Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
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00:00
Taylor Swift
Shake It Off
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00:02
Taylor Swift
Shake It Off
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00:03
Daft Punk
Get Lucky (feat. Pharrell Williams)
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00:03
Charles Trenet
Boum
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00:04
Big Thief
Shark Smile
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00:12
Of Monsters and Men
Little Talks
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00:14
Laura Marling
Ghosts
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00:15
The Heavy
How You Like Me Now?
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00:16
Rizzle Kicks
Lost Generation
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00:18
Lorde
Bravado
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00:24
MGMT
Kids
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00:25
Example
One More Day (Stay With Me)
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00:25
Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin
Je T'aime Moi Non Plus
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00:26
Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg
Je t'aime...moi non plus
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00:27
Mika
Big Girl You're Beautiful
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00:36
The Killers
When You Were Young
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00:37
Rizzle Kicks
Mama Do The Hump
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00:38
Metronomy
Everything Goes My Way (feat. Roxanne Clifford)
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00:39
Fyfe
Relax
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00:45
Franz Ferdinand
40'
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00:46
Ellie Goulding
Burn
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00:47
Rihanna
Take A Bow
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00:59
Air
Kelly Watch The Stars
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Presenter | Gregg Wallace |
Presenter | Cherry Healey |
Presenter | Ruth Goodman |
Production Manager | Samara Friend |
Executive Producer | Amanda Lyon |
Executive Producer | Sanjay Singhal |
Series Producer | Michael Rees |
Editor | John Payazidis |
Editor | Tony Graynoth |
Production Company | Voltage TV |
Broadcasts
- Tue 13 Aug 2019 20:00
- Sun 18 Aug 2019 19:00
- Mon 26 Aug 2019 08:00
- Fri 23 Oct 2020 20:00
- Sun 11 Sep 2022 18:00
- Wed 13 Sep 2023 20:00
Learn more about the history of the factory and how it has evolved with an interactive from The Open University.
The fascinating stories behind the production of some of our favourite products.