Lune Croissanterie Share the Right Way To Eat Croissants

This article is part of our VICE Weekends summer series, presented by Weis

What started out as a nondescript Melbourne hole in the wall croissanterie in 2012 has grown into an elaborate, purpose-built bakery in Fitzroy that pumps out thousands of pastries each week. Siblings Cam and Kate Reid are behind Lune Croissanterie's success, and you'll find the hands-on duo patiently laminating, shaping, proofing and baking away inside a climate-controlled cube at their Rose Street headquarters each week.

It wasn't always like that though. Kate previously worked in aerodynamics for a Formula One company, until she decided to pursue her pastry passion, take on an unpaid internship with a famed French pastry chef, and open Lune with Cam (who'd never even baked a cake). We spoke to Kate about pastry innovation, combining engineering and baking, and where they're planning on opening next year.

VICE: the NY Times recently described your croissants as "the finest you will find anywhere in the world, and alone worth a trip across the dateline." How did it feel to read that?
Kate Reid: It was a pretty surreal moment to read that sentence, published in one of the world's biggest news publications.

Has it sunk in?
It sunk in pretty quickly, because in the days that followed the lines out the door got totally crazy!

People always talk about a 'food journey'. What inspired you to leave a career in aerodynamics to pursue the traditional pastries of France?
I discovered pretty early on in my F1 career that working in front of a computer for up to 16 hours a day just wasn't the life for me. I have also always had a penchant for baking, and many trips to France really heightened my passion for pastry. There was something so beautiful and rustic about croissants, yet it became clear to me (and my engineering brain) that they weren't so easy to make. I've always loved a challenge, and a small idea started to form in my mind that maybe combining my love of engineering and baking could be achieved by learning how to make viennoiseries!

You apprenticed at famed Paris boulangerie Du Pain et Des Idées. What drew you to that bakery in particular?
In 2010 I stumbled upon a photo in a coffee table book, taken at Du Pain et Des Idées. I booked a holiday to Paris that same day. While I was in Paris I sought out Du Pain and it was one of the most perfect bakeries I had ever seen. I was so taken by the boulangerie that I contacted the owner about the possibilities of a short apprenticeship at the bakery. By March 2011 I was back in Paris, learning the beautiful art of viennoiseries at Du Pain et Des Idées! It set the standard for me.

What are the key requirements to making a really, really great croissant?
There are several key things. The first is using the best quality ingredients available–they form the foundation of your product. Secondly, respecting those ingredients and understanding their optimum environment, for example yeast and butter require very specific temperatures and humidities to perform at their best. Finally, attention to detail in every single part of the process.

What about the process itself, how long does it take?
It's a three day process. We make the dough on the first day, laminate, or create the layers of dough and butter on the second day, including final shaping of the pastries. They proof–sit at a specific temperature and humidity in order to activate the yeast–overnight, then we egg wash and bake them on the third day.

Can you tell us more about the science behind your set-up at Lune? You have a temperature-controlled glass cube where you prepare your pastries, right?
The constant temperature keeps the butter solid and the yeast in the dough from activating. It allows us to maintain perfect integrity of the layers, and produce beautiful, silky pastry.

What's it like operating as a brother sister duo?
It's great. We have different skill sets that complement each other; Cam has a strong business focus, and I love the creativity and technicality of the pastry production. I have to say though, for a guy that hadn't even baked a cake when he started at Lune, he's a bloody good pastry chef.

How physically demanding is it making thousands of pastries each week?
It's exhausting, but worth it. We both wear our iPhones in our back pockets and often notch up over 10km a day just walking around Lune.

The cruffin is a very successful original invention of yours. What have been some high and low points in experimentation at Lune?
We're always pushing the boundaries with new ways to use croissant pastry, new flavours and shapes for different textural experiences. I reckon we have a success rate of about 85 percent. However, some pastries just don't want to work, no matter how many times we test them. A high point was the recent Le Pipe; a tubular pastry that was proof and baked suspended in the oven, so it baked evenly all round and had a symmetrical cross section, kind of like a cannoli. We lined the inside of Le Pipe with tempered dark chocolate then filled it with a yuzu and lime mousse. A low point was a honeycomb cruffin; no matter how we trialled it, the flavour of the honeycomb always overpowered the croissant pastry, which we always want to be the ultimate hero of the product.

What's the right way to eat a croissant?
Fresh, within two hours of being baked and without condiments, because a good croissant should not need jam or additional butter to make it delicious. And please, no knife and fork! Biting or tearing are the most pleasurable options.

What are your plans for the rest of the year?
Christmas is only two weeks away so we're gearing up for even more demand. Next year we have our sights set on doing some pop-ups, starting in Sydney.

Finally, what do you hope people get from a Lune Croissanterie experience?
The opportunity to see behind the scenes of the croissant making process and most importantly, a memorably delicious pastry.

This article is presented by Weis