Happy National Croissant Day!! We all love a croissant, whether it be savoury filled, sweet filled or even just the buttery croissant on it's own, they're all delicious. 

An interesting fact I came across when researching about these flakey delights is that many people think Croissants originated in France when in fact they originated in Austria! 

Achieving those perfect layers can be tricky so I've listed a few tips that may help you achieve that :) 

Tips: 

1. Ice cold water helps with keeping the dough cool but you could also freeze your flour to chill it more.
2. Make sure your fat is pliable and not solid, try keeping the fat the same consistency as the dough.
3. When laminating your dough, don't apply immediate pressure as this could lead to the layers tearing.
4. Make sure your proving temperatures are low, high temperatures can melt the fat which would ruin all that hard work! 

If you have any tips you've picked up along the way, be sure to share on the ABST page with your pictures for inspiration. It's amazing to see all the different variations and innovations, two toned pastry was the in trend last year, I wonder what it could be this year? 

​Enjoy!

When you’re sat watching Harry Redknapp munching on some bugs in ‘I’m a celebrity get me out of here’ you may not realise that bugs are going to play a big part in the future of food. 

Cyril Barthelme, a baker based in Edinburgh uses cricket flour as a replacement for soft white wheat flour in his cakes. Inevitably the public were weary about trying the cricket cakes but majority of the feedback actually supported the use of the alternative as it had no significant change on the flavour!  

Now, we understand the cricket flour works well in cakes but what about bread?

Well a Finnish bakery actually uses a mixture of cricket and scorpion flour with wheat flour to make bread. They claim it makes no difference in flavour but just a increase in the protein content. In fact, they say it's far more sustainable as the farming requires less land, water and feed. Although, many consumers have said the thought of eating these bugs makes them feel they're completing their very own bush tucker trial! 

I've found researching this topic most interesting and I hope you have too, below I have listed some pros and cons I've come across of using this alternative:  

Positives
-Sustainable 
-Nutritious 
-Easy to farm
-Gluten free 

Negatives
-Aesthetically unpleasing
-Expensive to source  
-Only 6 European counties allow insects to be marketed for food consumption

Thanks for reading!
​
Keep baking, 
Holly Weeks 

Every year we come across new innovative ideas for Christmas baked goods, a lot of you have been sharing your creations and we thought it would be good to share those pictures! For each picture shared there will be details on how they were made.

First up we have these Santa themed cupcakes!

• Vanilla cupcakes
• Vanilla frosting coloured red
• Dark chocolate for the belt
• White chocolate for the buttons

What a great way to catch the consumers eye, great work. 

Up next is the Christmas Wreath display bread.

• Dead Dough
• Spruce Green colouring paste for the plait and leaves
• Egg Yellow colouring paste for the stars and bow
• Christmas Red colouring paste for the roses

This is a lovely show piece and again, the colours are really eye catching! 

Finally, here are some Reindeer Doughnuts! 

• Doughnuts
• Dark Chocolate for coating 
• Glace Cherries for the noses 
• Dark chocolate to pipe the antlers 
• White chocolate to pipe the eyes and mouths 

These products are fantastic and we hope you agree! Thanks for sharing your baked goods photos :)