August Zang

August Zang
August Zang
Born	2 August 1807; Vienna, Austria
Died	4 March 1888 (aged 80)
Occupation	Baker, entrepreneur, soldier
Known for	Influence in French baking

August Zang (German: [tsaŋ]; 2 August 1807 – 4 March 1888) was a nineteenth-century Austrian entrepreneur who founded the Viennese daily Die Presse. He also had a major influence on French baking methods.

Soldier and baker

Zang's Boulangerie Viennoise in 1909 (when Philibert Jacquet owned it). The bakery proper is at left, the tea salon at right.

Son of Christophe Boniface Zang, a Vienna surgeon, August Zang became an artillery officer before going to Paris (probably in 1837) to found a bakery, Boulangerie Viennoise, which opened in 1838 or 1839.[1] The bakery was quickly imitated and its Austrian kipfel became the French croissant. Baking historians (who often qualify Zang as "Baron", "Count" or "Royal Chamberlain", though he did not hold these titles) sometimes claim he introduced the baguette, but this is not supported by any period source. He did however introduce the Viennese steam oven, which became standard in France.

Journalist and publisher

The 3 July 1848 front page of the first issue of the original Die Presse

In 1848, when censorship was lifted in Austria, he returned to Vienna and founded Die Presse, a daily newspaper which still exists today (though after several interruptions). The paper was modeled on Émile de Girardin's La Presse and introduced many of the same popularizing journalistic techniques, including a low price (supported by volume and advertising), serials and short, easily understood paragraphs. In 1864, a dispute led two key journalists to leave Die Presse and found Die Neue Freie Presse. The original Die Presse was soon known as The Old Press and in 1867 Zang sold it.

Later years

In his remaining years he owned a bank and a mine in Styria, the site of which is still known today as Zangtal ("Zang Valley"). When he died, he was most known as a wealthy press magnate; his obituary in Die Presse said only that he had spent some years in Paris, omitting all mention of his role in baking. His ornate tomb in Vienna is still a tourist attraction.

Notes

The 1839 date, and most of what follows regarding Zang's role in baking, is documented in Jim Chevallier, "August Zang and the French Croissant: How Viennoiserie Came to France", p. 3–30; for the 1838 date, see Giles MacDonogh "Reflections on the Third Meditation of La Physiologie du goût and Slow Food" Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine (p. 8); an Austrian PowerPoint – Ess-Stile – gives the date of 1840 (slide 46). The bakery itself later claimed to have been founded in this year, but earlier references are documented.

References

Wurzbach, C. (1891). Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich, enthaltend die Lebensskizzen der denkwürdigen Perosnen, welche seit 1750 in den österreichischen Kronländern geboren wurden oder darin gelebt und gewirkt haben, (162-165)
Article in "Die Presse" on its founding
Another article in "Die Presse" on its founding
Central Cemetery Zentralfriedhof-image of Zang's tomb
Voitsberg page mentioning Zang's castle and Zangtal
August Zang and the French Croissant

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[1] The 1839 date, and most of what follows regarding Zang's role in baking, is documented in Jim Chevallier, "August Zang and the French Croissant: How Viennoiserie Came to France", p. 3–30; for the 1838 date, see Giles MacDonogh "Reflections on the Third Meditation of La Physiologie du goût and Slow Food" Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine (p. 8); an Austrian PowerPoint – Ess-Stile – gives the date of 1840 (slide 46). The bakery itself later claimed to have been founded in this year, but earlier references are documented.