What Is a Viennoiserie? A Guide to Laminated Pastry
Published February 12, 2026
Viennoiserie is one of the most distinctive categories in the French bakery tradition. The word literally translates as "things in the style of Vienna" — a reference to the 19th-century Viennese bakers who introduced these pastries to Paris.
What Counts as Viennoiserie
Viennoiserie is made from an enriched, often laminated dough — butter and milk are folded into the dough, giving the finished product a flakier, richer character than plain bread. Croissants, pains au chocolat, brioche, kouign-amann, chaussons aux pommes, and Danish pastries are all viennoiserie.
Why It Matters
A great croissant is one of the most technically difficult things a bakery can produce. The lamination — folding butter into dough through multiple turns — must be done at the right temperature, and the final proof is notoriously fussy. Dedicated viennoiserie specialists have become destinations for travellers who care about laminated pastry as its own craft.
Where to Go
Melbourne's Lune Croissanterie, Copenhagen's Juno the Bakery, London's Pophams, and most serious Paris boulangeries are good places to start a viennoiserie deep-dive.
