In what broad period was the modern croissant developed?

In what broad period was the modern croissant developed? The early 20th century.

The modern croissant was developed in the early 20th century, when French bakers transformed the older Austrian kipferl into a crescent-shaped pastry made with yeast-leavened laminated dough. Laminating means repeatedly rolling and folding dough with butter, producing many thin layers that become crisp and flaky in the oven.

The croissant’s deeper history reaches back earlier. Crescent-shaped kipferl pastries were known in Austria by at least the 13th century, and Austrian baking influenced French viennoiserie in the 19th century. August Zang’s Viennese bakery in Paris, founded around 1838 or 1839, helped popularize Viennese-style baked goods in France. However, the fully modern croissant—with its characteristic laminated yeast dough—belongs primarily to the early 1900s.

The earliest known recipe corresponding closely to the modern croissant appeared in Paris in 1905, while a related recipe was published in 1906. This is why stories placing the modern croissant in the late 18th or mid-19th century are misleading: they may refer to ancestors, early French references, or culinary influences rather than the finished form recognized today.