Young pastry chefs in France went head-to-head in a competition to find the country's best young croissant maker.

Organizers hope the competition will help retain the value of pastry craftsmanship in the country.

The national competition is currently in its fourth year and challenges young chefs to create croissants in a traditional way. The competitors must take the heat or get out of the kitchen as taste, texture and appearance are put to the test. Yann Tabourel is a member of the jury and the top chef who has won the right to wear the French-flag-collared chef shirt. He believes that the competition is a way of preventing the culinary craft from landing on a factory conveyor belt.

Yann Tabourel, master French pastry craftsman, said, "I think this type of competition is important to preserve traditional methods in terms of French pastry. It's important that artisans continue to create their own baked goods, and it's 'very' important to avoid baking from sliding towards industrialized methods, which could unfortunately harm bakeries."

One key ingredient of croissant making is the Isigny butter, a butter renowned for its taste and softness. This softness however requires the dough to be chilled at 22 degrees below freezing before it can be molded into the iconic croissant shape.

Alain Marie, president of Bakers' Teaching Association, said, "Craftsmanship should be valued, and this competition is a way of reminding young apprentices to enjoy the craft. By creating a product, they will please both themselves and their clients. I think that's more important than becoming France's best pastry chef."

Pastry chefs are increasingly endangered by the growing consumption of factory produced pastries. The traditional process, which takes more than five hours to complete is meticulous and challenges even the best pastry chef. In the end however, the croissants baked by an eighteen year old girl from the West of France were the ones that rose to the challenge.