Review: We Learn How to Make Croissants at Le Cordon Bleu School
I had never in all my life had a croissant that large, flaky and delicious, or baked anything I was THAT proud of.
Croissant Class at Le Cordon Bleu
If you want to learn how to make croissants, Le Cordon Bleu school in Paris is the ultimate. We love Paris, especially Parisian food.
There’s no denying that Le Cordon Bleu is one of the best culinary schools in the world and there is no better place to learn how to make croissants, real Parisian croissants, than here.
“Le Cordon Bleu, as a culinary arts school, was founded in Paris in 1895 by the journalist and publisher of La Cuisinière Cordon Bleu magazine, Marthe Distel. On October 15, 1895 the first cooking demonstration ever to be held on an electric stove was staged at Le Cordon Bleu in an effort to promote the magazine and launch the Paris cooking school. From this point on, the international reputation of Le Cordon Bleu spread rapidly. Great chefs came to the school to teach students further contributing to the world-renowned reputation of the school. As a result, students from a variety of countries were enrolling in classes as well as notable figures including Julia Child in 1950.” (source: www.cordonbleu.edu)
One of our favorite things to do, besides take cooking classes of course, is travel. And we love traveling to Paris. There’s just something about Parisian food that makes us extremely happy. Keith was celebrating a milestone birthday and what better thing to do than travel to Paris to learn how to make croissants in one of the best culinary schools in the world.
I’ll write future articles about all the amazing places we visited (ahem, ate at). Let’s dig into Le Cordon Bleu school. Here’s our review:
Sourcing the class: As we were planning our travel to Paris for Keith’s birthday, I knew I wanted to take him to a baking class, so I started searching for baking classes and cooking classes and, for some reason, I didn’t even think of Le Cordon Bleu school. It did not come up in my searches at all. There were several at Galeries Lafayette Gourmet as well as other places and then the thought struck me to check the Le Cordon Bleu school website where I feel like I fell into a gastronomic heaven.
If you plan to take any cooking or baking classes at Le Cordon Bleu school, unless you plan to get your diploma, or you’re a professional looking to continue your education, start at either the Gourmet & Short Courses section or the Online Learning Non-Accredited section.
Since we were going to be there in person (Pre-COVID in the Summer of 2019), I checked out every class under the Gourmet & Short Courses section. The categories at the time were:
- Bakery, Danish, Pastries & Artisan Breads
- Cuisine
- Las Petit Cordon Bleus
- Pastry & Confectionery
- Tours & Activities
- Wine & Spirits
After much research, and, I’m not going to lie, probably a gained pound or two because the pictures made me hungry, I decided to book us the 5.5 hour Freshly Baked Pastries Workshop. Just as I was about to click submit on the purchase, I decided to spoil the surprise and let Keith know what I was planning. Needless to say, I did good. He was thrilled.
Tip1: Book at least 3 months in advance. These baking classes are popular and do book up fast.
This was Keith’s first time in Paris and my second, having traveled there when I was 14 with my parents. At the time, I didn’t appreciate the food, and so this time, I did my homework, knowing we were going to the gourmet center of the world.
Tip2: If you have an iPad or iPhone, check out the app called Paris. You can bookmark places of interest and add your own notes. You can even categorize your bookmarks. I used red for “bad review”, and different colors for macaron patisseries, highly reviewed restaurants, passages and other landmarks I wanted to see. It even helped us find the Gosselin Bakery!
TIp3: Check out Alice in Paris on YouTube. She lives in Paris and creates adorable video shorts on her quest for amazing Parisian food. I had most of her recommendations bookmarked.
Finding the location: We took the Metro from our hotel. The campus is located right next to the Seine, very close to the Parisian Statue of Liberty and is quite nondescript. We went early and ate a delicious breakfast at Le Cafe, which is the onsite restaurant. The breads and pastries were made by Le Cordon Bleu chefs and many of the vegetables are sourced from the Institute’s roof garden.
Kitchen: Our classroom gleamed stainless! Our translator directed us to take a station around the large stainless table which was the centerpiece of the room. Lining the inside wall were several, what looked to be glass refrigerators, but were actually ovens! I had never seen professional baking ovens. WOW!
Instructor: We were introduced to our chef instructor, Chef Olivier Boudot. Although our translator brought his words to life in English, we tried to listen to Chef tell us the techniques in French in order to practice our language skills. He had a great sense of humor.
His bio on CordonBleu.edu/Paris describes his accolades:
“He has received numerous awards during his career: in 2005, he was runner-up in the artistic piece category and awarded a gold medal at the Arpajon gastronomic competition in 2006, in the bread and freshly baked pastries category. In 2009, he was crowned Champion of France in the bread category at the French Boulangerie Cup, leading him to being selected for the French team at the European Boulangerie Cup, for which the team came first in 2010. In 2012, he won 16 medals at the Swiss Bakery Trophy and first prize in the bread category. He has taken part in the selection stages of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France competition 4 times.
Chef Boudot joined Le Cordon Bleu Paris institute team of Chef Instructors in 2013.”
OH MY GOSH WOW! He was our teacher?! We were awestruck.
The process of folding the dough to make thin layers is called lamination. When you fold the butter and the dough together correctly (I compare it to folding an envelope around the hunk of butter), you get the classic “honeycomb” interior which are traditional to croissant and what give them their flakiness. And oooh, there was a lot of flakiness.
Keith and I both agreed we would use one of the booklets to make notes in while the other we would keep pristine so we had a clean keepsake from the class. The lamination technique was something I knew I would forget, so my notes ended up to be drawings more than actual recipe notes.
When it came time to make the pan au chocolate, I’m not going to lie, I broke a piece off the chocolate for a taste. I love dark chocolate. These layers, to me, were even more impressive.
Food: Well the pictures speak for themselves. We made 6 huge Croissant, 6 Pan Au Chocolat and then made 2 hazelnut breads with the remaining dough – one with currants, one without. I was so excited when the dough was rising and I could see all the layers. I had never in all my life had a croissant that large, flaky and delicious or baked anything I was THAT proud of.
And the best part, this was Keith’s birthday gift! At the end of the class, Chef surprised Keith by leading a round of Happy Birthday and bestowing him with a gift bag full of Le Cordon Blue brand mustards (mutard). When booking the class, I had let them know we were celebrating Keith’s big birthday, but had no idea they’d give him a gift. It was sweet.
We didn’t eat any of the food in class. We brought it all back to the room. As we walked in to the hotel, Keith offered the front desk managers some of our croissants (we had 12 between us so we could spare a few!), making a few friends. We dropped them in the room, then headed right back out and took the Metro to Galeries Lafayette Gourmet to pick up some cheese and meat. (Trust us, if you like food, you need to go here!)
Once we brought our yummies back to the room, it was time for the bed picnic. This is something we do when traveling; we pick up some takeout and bring it back to our hotel room at the end of a long day of touring, spread out a towel on the bed and just relax while snacking. It’s one of my favorite traditions.
Start by cutting open the flaky croissants which were crispy on the outside from the brushed butter and so soft and moist on the inside, then spreading the softest brie into the yellow honeycomb, gently folding the thinnest, almost transparent prosciutto on top, then capping it with the crusty, swirly croissant top. Keith added mutard to his, but mine was just fine the way it was. The outside was crispy, but not mouth-shreddingly so. The inside was soft and moist, and didn’t gum up when chewing. It was heaven.
The pan au chocolat was the perfect finish. The chocolate had cooled, but that was ok, it had so much flavor and the sweetness and chocolate aroma had permeated the dough a bit, making for an amazing mouthful of soft, tangy dough counteracted by the earthy richness of the chocolate. Just delicious.
Included: Jackpot! We got to bring all our baked good with us: 6 huge croissant, 6 pan au chocolat, 1 hazelnut cake and 1 hazelnut cake with currants. That was for each of us which means 12 croissant and 12 pan au chocolat! The front desk managers at our hotel were our new best friends when we got back. Oh, and the swag! We each received a Le Cordon Bleu apron, hat, tea towel, recipe folder filled with our recipe cards, and a pencil. We each carried it back in our LCB insulated bag. Super happy with all the takeaways.
Overall experience: 
What an incredible day!
Be ready for a long day. As I mentioned earlier, I wore comfy shoes, dressed in layers and put my hair up. Keith was also in comfortable shoes, and wore long pants and a t-shirt.
Not only were we physically inside a professional kitchen classroom in one of the best culinary schools in the world, but our travel to Paris was made complete by learning how to make croissants at Le Cordon Bleu school. And damn, they were good! As far as baking classes go, this was the best experience we have ever had.
Have you taken a class at Le Cordon Bleu or at a cooking school you particularly loved? Drop us a line, we’d love to hear from you.
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