Cooking at Home: Baking at Home

A freshly baked, traditionally made croissant with 82 layers of pastry and 81 layers of butter between them is one of life's utmost pleasures. I've enjoyed croissants all over the world, including Paris, France, and, in my opinion, this quintessential flaky crescent is the absolute best way to start any day (with an espresso, of course).

I've made croissants from scratch exactly twice. Following five pages of instructions from Julia Child in Baking with Julia (it felt like FIFTEEN pages – there are more than 1,000 words!), the method takes three days, a ruler and a lot of patience. Though the process was deeply satisfying and while I took deep pride in my results, my biggest takeaway from the whole shebang was, "I do not have time for this."

So a few years back, I started asking the store bakers if I could buy croissants BEFORE they baked them. I happily hauled home frozen croissants for at least a year before my husband finally said something like, "You know, you probably aren't the only person who would like to bake these at home." It was one of his more brilliant ideas, and I promptly took 100% of the credit for it at work the next week.

Herein I am setting the record straight. You can thank my husband, Jerry, not me, for the initial suggestion of our new Bake at Home program. We offer not only frozen croissants but cinnamon rolls, scones, pies, muffins and more for you to bake at home, too. Most are done in minutes (not days), and the instructions fit easily on the back of the package. Now that I have time for.

Warmly,
Rachael

Find Kowalski's frozen bakery treats in the Bake at Home Case. Selection and availability of products and ingredients vary by market.