Rogal świętomarciński

Appearance & taste

The croissant is crescent-shaped, brushed with sugar glaze and sprinkled with chopped nuts. It weighs 200 to 250 g, has an oval cross-section and fits into a square with sides of around 14 cm; at its thickest point it is about 7 cm high and about 10 cm wide. The crust is dark golden to light brown, the dough cream-coloured, the filling dark to light beige.

The baked dough gives elastically when touched and is flaky; when cut it is porous with visible layers. Towards the centre the rolled layers of dough alternate with the moist poppy seed filling. The croissant tastes sweet and has a slight almond-like aroma.

Production

The dough consists of wheat flour with over 27 % elastic gluten, margarine, milk, eggs, sugar, yeast, salt and lemon flavouring. It is made as a yeast dough, chilled after rising and then laminated into Danish dough: following the “three times three” recipe, two thirds of the rolled-out dough are covered with margarine and the dough is folded in three layers, then rolled out again, folded in three twice more and finally once in four. This creates the fine flaky structure during baking.

The filling consists mainly of white poppy seed, plus sugar, sponge crumbs, egg mixture, margarine, raisins, nuts, fruit in syrup or candied (sweet cherry, pear, orange peel) and almond flavouring. The white poppy seed, according to the specification a rarely used raw material, distinguishes the croissant from other fine pastries. Dough, Danish dough, poppy seed mixture, filling and shaping, baking and decorating take place in the area. The croissants may also be sold unpackaged.

Origin & history

The area comprises the city of Poznań, the county of Poznań and 25 other counties of the Greater Poland voivodeship, including Gniezno, Kalisz, Konin, Leszno and Piła. Celebrations of St Martin’s Day are documented since the 16th century and are connected with the end of field work; Poznań’s main street bears the saint’s name. For at least 150 years the bakers of Poznań have baked the croissants for 11 November; later the custom spread to the nearby counties.

According to a legend, the croissant goes back to the confectioner Józef Melzer, who in November 1891, after a sermon by his parish priest, had croissants baked for the poor of the city. The crescent shape is traced back to the Turkish banners that King Jan III Sobieski captured at Vienna in 1683, or, according to another legend, to a horseshoe lost by St Martin’s horse. The oldest surviving mention is a newspaper advertisement of 10 November 1852 for filled croissants; the name “Rogal świętomarciński” is documented in an advertisement of 11 November 1860.

After the Second World War private confectioners and bakeries continued the tradition. Because the ingredients for almond paste were hard to obtain at the time, they replaced it with a white poppy seed mixture. In the early 1960s the people of Poznań ate 10 to 20 tonnes of croissants for St Martin’s Day, and in 1969 as much as 42.5 tonnes. At the time of the application the producers sold an average of 250 tonnes for St Martin’s Day and around 500 tonnes over the year.