Ron Eade, the food editor of for the Ottawa Citizen (a local newspaper), just posted the results of this weekend's croissant battle on Omnivore's Ottawa, with additional information on Bridgehead's croissant entry. Bridgehead's test kitchen is still working on the croissant recipe.

As promised from our previous post, here is the top 5:

1. Le Moulin de Provence($1.85/each)
2. French Baker($1.80/each)
3. Ottawa Bagel Shop($1.25/each)
4. Wild Oat($1.75/each)
5. • Harvest Loaf($1.50/each)
   • Bridgehead($1.95/each)

Bridgehead and Harvest Loaf's croissants tied for fifth.

Here are Jenn's notes from the tasting for the top 5 croissants.

1. Le Moulin de Provence: golden crisp crust that flakes easily, buttery taste but not overly greasy, has a slight sweetness
2. French Baker: golden crisp crust, heavily layered interior yet slightly dense, buttery taste, greasy
3. Ottawa Bagel Shop: golden crisp crust, not heavily layered interior, buttery taste, light overall
4. Wild Oat: golden crust does not flake well, dense layers and slightly doughy interior, rich and buttery
5. • Harvest Loaf: light coloured crust does not flake well, soft interior that is not heavily layered, light overall
   • Bridgehead: dark golden crisp crust that flakes easily, dense layers, somewhat flavourless with an almost sour aftertaste, greasy

Regarding the greasiness Ron mentions in his blog post, several of the croissants left significant grease stains on the paper plates. For many, the grease soaked through. What was surprising is that some of the plates were accidentally doubled up. The croissants that left the most significant grease stains were Bridgehead's, Wild Oat's, and French Baker's.

What was most shocking was that supermarket-style croissants have a bizarre resilience. When pressed down, they spring back up. Their interiors are spongy, more bread than croissant.

Finally, we purchased an extra contingency croissant from each bakery for the roundup. Of the extras we brought home, Bridgehead's contingency croissant stayed crisp throughout the day. We had a friend over later that afternoon. She thought it freshly baked.

What happens when you gather 3 food bloggers, one the food editor of a local newspaper (Ottawa Citizen), into a coffee house with croissants from 8 local bakeries?

Croissants Round Up
You get a croissant round up akin to the one Apartment613 blog put together February 2009.

Originally, we intended to get together to just compare Bridgehead's newly released in-house-made croissants with their former croissants, ones sourced from the French Baker. French Baker's are easily the croissants other bakeries measure theirs against. The compare evolved, growing to include croissants from 6 more bakeries, including a supermarket's, Loblaws.

According to the Herbst and Herbst Food Lover's Companion 4th Edition, the croissant was originally made from a rich bread dough. Invented by Austrian bakers, it wasn't until the beginning of the 20th century a creative French baker decided to make croisasnts with a dough similar to puff pastry. The dough was still yeast-based, but incorporated butter into it, forming alternating strata of butter and dough. There are several variations on the classic butter croissant, the almond croissant (stuffed with almond paste and topped with powdered sugar and slivered almonds) and the chocolate croissant (stuffed with several pipings of dark chocolate paste).

For us, a good butter croissant is freshly baked. It unravels easily and can be teased apart. Inside, you should be able to see layers, spiraling outwards. It is brushed with egg wash half way through baking, so it takes on a golden colour as it crisps up. When handled, the crust should shatter into pieces. It should taste buttery, but should not leave your fingers an oily mess.

The contenders, butter croissants purchased from the French Baker, Harvest Loaf, Ottawa Bagel Shop, Le Moulin de Provence (the ByWard market bakery famous for its "Obama Cookies"), Boko Bakery, Wild Oat and Loblaws. Bridgehead graciously donated their croissants for the tasting, including samplings of their butter, ham and gruyere, chocolate (called chocolatine) and experimental almond (called almondine) croissants. To date, the almondine has not been released to public, so we are grateful to Bridgehead for letting us try it.

What we did was weigh the butter croissants and recorded an average weight (g) for each. Then, Jenn (@foodieprints) of foodiePrints, Ron Eade (@roneade) of Omnivore Eats, and Jodi Lariviere (@simplyfresh) of Simply Fresh did a blind taste test, ranking the croissants on a scale of 10 based on colour, texture, and flavour.

Jodi, Ron, Jenn, and an Innocent Bystander

Numbered Blind Taste Test
I sat out as I chose to be the coffee, tea, and camera boy. I also kept track of the rankings.

Le Moulin de Provence's

French Baker's

Wild Oat's

Bridgehead's

Boko Bakery's

Loblaws'

Plate	Bakery	Cost/Croissant ($ before taxes)	Average Weight/Croissant (g)
1	French Baker	$1.80	96.0
2	Harvest Loaf	$1.50	68.5
3	Ottawa Bagel Shop	$1.35	50.0
4	Le Moulin de Provence	$1.85	72.0
5	Bridgehead	$1.95	69.0
6	Boko Bakery	$1.05	105.0
7	Wild Oat	$1.75	110.0
8	Loblaws	$0.67	56.5

It was tough going to say the least.

Some were surprisingly hollow inside

Others, layered but more spongy

Others, more bready, resilient to being pressed down

One left a hefty oil stain in a paper plate

Another, followed suit

Aftermath, the remains of the tasting...

Then, bakeries were revealed and scores tabulated.

First Half of Reveal

Second Half of Reveal

Results? Well you're going to have to wait for Ron Eade's blog post, which should be coming soon. Suffice it to say, supermarket and supermarket-like croissants did not fare well. I will post the top 5 ranking and Jenn's review notes afterward.

Particulars:
Le Moulin De Provence
55 Byward Market Square
(613)241-9152

Le Boulanger Francais The French Baker
119 Murray Street
(613)789-7941
or
801 Bank Street
(613) 236-7579

Bagelshop & Deli
1321 Wellington Street
(613) 722-8753

Wild Oats Bakery Cafe And Catering
817 Bank Street
(613) 232-6232

Bridgehead Coffee Houses
109 Bank Street (at Albert)
(613)230.8548

Harvest Loaf
1323 Wellington Street
(613) 722-7797

Boko Bakery
280 Elgin Street
(613) 230-2656

More after the jump...