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CROISSANT |
The fanciful legend which attributes the creation of the croissant to Christian bakers celebrating a 17th-century victory over the Turks is widely recounted but almost certainly untrue, since there is no trace of the pastry until a century later. Although its form was probably not influenced by the Islamic crescent, the word croissant most definitely is French for “crescent.” Pastries formed from the same dough into different shapes should not be called “croissants.” If a customer in your bakery asks for a pain au chocolat (PAN oh-show-co-LA), reach for that rectangular pastry usually mislabeled in the U.S. a “chocolate croissant.”