Lune by Kate Reid
Lune opened its doors in 2012, serving croissants touted as the best in the world. Lucky for us, founder Kate Reid has just released her first cookbook, an ultimate guide to baking the world’s best-loved pastries at home.
Photography: Pete Dillon
Lune is not a shop, nor is it a factory. It is a celebration of the creation, complexity and ultimate enjoyment of a croissant. Photo: Pete Dillon
Pain Au Chocolat from Lune. Photo: Pete Dillon
Since opening its doors in 2012, Lune’s croissants have regularly been touted as the best in the world. A very big call, but if you’ve had the chance to try one, we’re sure you’ll agree!
In her new book, Lune, founder Kate Reid has created game-changing recipes (including the aforementioned traditional croissant) for the home baker, so that you can attempt to create the Lune magic in your very own home.
‘I didn't start out my professional life as a pastry chef, and certainly not a writer, so having this opportunity to reminisce over the many wonderful pastries that have graced the menu since Lune's founding has allowed me a deliciously indulgent trip down memory lane,’ says Kate Reid of the journey.
Starting with the basic pastry recipe that’s as simple as it’s effective, the new book is the ultimate guide to baking the world’s best-loved pastry, so that you can tackle making an array of recipes, from pain au chocolat, strawberry miso danish, ham and gruyére croissant to pumpkin pie cruffin.
Below we share a recipe from the book: Twice-baked almond croissant.
‘Not all croissants are created equal, and that starts with your selection of ingredients,’ says Kate Reid. Photo: Pete Dillon
Lamington cruffin from Lune. Photo: Pete Dillon
“I didn’t start out my professional life as a pastry chef, and certainly not a writer, so having this opportunity to reminisce over the many wonderful pastries that have graced the menu since Lune’s founding in 2012 has allowed me a deliciously indulgent trip down memory lane.”
Strawberry miso danish from Lune. Photo: Pete Dillon
Twice-baked almond croissant from Lune, recipe shared below. Photo: Pete Dillon
Twice-baked Almond Croissant
Almond croissants came into being as an austerity measure for French bakers. If there were any croissants left over at the end of the day, they would be reserved, and the following day, transformed into croissants aux amandes; a day-old traditional croissant, soaked in sugar syrup, filled with an almond frangipane, topped with almonds, then baked again.
At Lune, the concept of the almond croissant has inspired literally hundreds of different twice-baked croissants (a term, and a revolution, which I believe started with Lune). Before Lune, I had never experienced or witnessed a twice-baked croissant that wasn’t an almond croissant. The idea came to me one day, just after Cam had joined Lune and we were transitioning the little business from a wholesale bakery to a hole-in-the-wall customer-facing shop. I posed the question to Cam, ‘Why is it that day-old croissants are only ever filled with almond frangipane?’ Given the myriad of different nut meals, to me it seemed obvious that there was an opportunity to create an entirely new range of flavours, all from a humble day-old plain croissant. And for a business essentially founded on one pastry, it had the added bonus of drastically increasing the product line-up.
At Lune, like everything else we do, almond croissants are not exactly made the traditional way. Classically, an almond croissant will be flat, and I hate to say it, often rather sad looking. The old-school way to make almond croissants is to bake them between two trays, such that they are squashed during their second bake.
This seemed like madness to me – why would you want to lose the definition of all those beautiful layers, and in the process, the crunch and flake of that buttery pastry. So, I developed a recipe and technique for the almond croissant that maintained the integrity of the structure of the croissant, while still incorporating the moist, delicious, cake-like frangipane through the centre.
The signature of a Lune almond croissant? The beautiful spine of flaked almonds that stand proud and perfect atop the croissant.
And so, the notion of the ‘twice-baked croissant’ evolved.
Yields 6
6 day-old croissants
Almond Frangipane
sugar syrup
flaked almonds
icing (powdered) sugar
ALMOND FRANGIPANE
200 g butter, at room temperature
200 g caster (superfine) sugar
grated zest of 1 orange
2 eggs
200 g natural almond meal
Beat the butter, sugar and orange zest in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a flat beater until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, continuing to beat and waiting until each one is incorporated fully before adding the next. Scrape down the bowl after incorporating the first egg.
With the mixer on low speed, mix in the almond meal. Once again, scrape the bowl down well, giving it a final mix by hand (with a spatula) to ensure all the ingredients are well incorporated.
Transfer the frangipane into a piping bag fitted with a size 11 star nozzle.
SUGAR SYRUP
500 g water
220 g caster (superfine) sugar
2 tablespoons kirsch
Place the water and sugar in a small saucepan and stir over a medium heat until all the sugar is dissolved, then bring the syrup to the boil. Once boiling, remove from the heat and add the kirsch.
ASSEMBLY & BAKING
Preheat your oven to 180°C fan and line a large baking tray with baking paper.
Using a large serrated knife (a bread knife will work best), cut the croissants in half. Brush the cut side of both halves of each croissant generously with the sugar syrup. Pipe a healthy wiggle of frangipane on the bottom half of each croissant then replace the top halves, cupping your hand and gently securing each top. Finish off each croissant by piping a seam of frangipane across the top, then garnish with flaked almonds, pinching as many almonds as you can together and pressing them into the frangipane, along the entire length of the seam. (How we get the flaked almonds to stand up so perfectly is one of the most frequently-asked questions at Lune. There is no magic answer. It is labour intensive, time consuming and difficult. Our chefs prepare literally hundreds of almond croissants at Lune every day, such is their popularity, hence practice makes perfect!)
Place the prepared croissants on the lined baking tray and bake for 18–20 minutes, until the frangipane inside is set. Check this by carefully lifting the lid of one of the croissants with a fork and checking the doneness of the frangipane. If it still looks like cake batter, it is not yet ready. Bake for a few more minutes and check again.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.
Once cooled, dust the almond croissants with icing (powdered) sugar and serve.
