THE CROISSANT EXPERIMENT: CHASING DINARD IN JERSEY.

What is it that makes a great croissant different from a merely good one?

I've spent years trying to work it out, usually while wandering around Dinard with a paper bag of croissants under my arm. In fact, I think the answer might be staring me in the face. Every time I buy them, within minutes, the paper bag starts to turn translucent. The butter is literally soaking through.

You don't see that very often at home.

I've always suspected there was more to it than nostalgia. Yes, everything tastes better on holiday, but French croissants really do seem different. Richer, flakier and more fragrant. The sort of pastry that leaves buttery fingerprints on your coffee cup and makes absolutely no apology for it.

The obvious place to start is the butter.

While talking to my friend Constance of Ganache fame, we decided to see whether we could get somewhere close to that authentic French taste and texture. We started with the ingredients. The butter was Lescure Beurre Pâtissier, with an 84% fat content and a reputation that's revered in pastry kitchens. The flour came from Moulins Bourgeois, a Type 45 flour made from wheat grown within 200 kilometres of the mill.

Then we started experimenting or perhaps, more accurately, I started encouraging Constance to use more butter than she was entirely comfortable with.

The challenge was simple: how much butter could the flour take before we'd gone too far?

Batch by batch, we pushed it a little further. Constance was understandably cautious, I was not. Eventually we found the point where the dough laminated beautifully, creating those delicate layers that fragment when you bite into them while still delivering that delicious buttery finish that coats your mouth and lingers.

It was also a reminder of why a truly great croissant isn't cheap.

Croissants are viewed as an everyday staple. They're almost expected to be inexpensive. Yet making them properly requires premium ingredients, skilled hands, endless patience, and the willingness to be working while most sensible people are asleep. There's a reason artisan bakers are up through the night.

In the end, we decided not to compromise. Instead, we've introduced a premium croissant alongside our standard offering and we'll leave the final judgement to our customers.

As for me, I'm already convinced, there are few better ways to start the day than a really buttery croissant and a black Americano. The sort of croissant that leaves a stain on the paper bag and flakes all over your shirt. Is it as good as sitting in a pâtisserie in Dinard?

Perhaps not.

But it's a lot cheaper than the ferry.

Photo credit: Ganache Jersey