The Dough
Turning: Creating the Layers
- For Danishes, turnovers, pain au chocolat, beef wellingtons, etc: 27 layers or 3 turns
- For croissants: 81 layers or 4 turns
- For kouign-amanns: 243 layers or 5 turns *Note when laminating for kouign-amanns you are creating layers of dough, butter, and sugar
- For puff pastry: 700-2000+ layers or 6-7 turns *Note the final count should vary on preference and application. For example, with a weighted pastry like mille feuilles, you’ll want more layers. Whereas, you’ll want fewer layers for a classic puff pastry.
Culinary Crafts favorite recipe for pastry
Dough
-
-
- 1 1/3 tsp Active dry yeast
-
- 1/2 c warm water (98-102 degrees)
-
- 2 oz brown sugar
-
- 3 TBSP sour cream
-
- 3 oz eggs ( 1 large egg and 1 yolk)
-
- 1 oz butter (melted)
-
- 11 oz all-purpose flour
-
- 1/2 tsp salt
For lamination
-
- 4 oz butter
You can sprinkle the butter with a small bit of flour so it doesn't stick to the counter or your pin if needed. You may need to fold your butter and pound out multiple times. Fold the butter into roughly a 4”x 5” rectangle (should be ~¼” thick), place in between two pieces of parchment and set in the fridge.
Remember, the butter should be cold but still pliable. Getting the butter to ~60 F (or about 15 minutes in the fridge) is a good target. Timing the butter and dough to be ready to leave the fridge at the same time is a good strategy. Roll your dough into roughly a 15” x 6” rectangle (3x wider and 2” longer than your butter rectangle).
Place your chilled butter right in the center of the dough.
Then fold the long ends of the dough over to cover the butter (like folding a letter).
Because of the tri-fold, your rectangle of butter and dough should be roughly 5” x 6” again. Now roll out the small rectangle until it’s back to 15” x 6” again.
Rotate the dough 90 degrees,
and tri-fold again (in a new direction this time). The 90 degree rotation will bring the open ends to the center and help keep the butter inside your dough. Fold and roll repeatedly - making a 90 degree rotation with each turn - as appropriate for the desired number of layers.
Patience is key to successfully making great pastry dough. When you roll out the dough and butter, your focus on rolling carefully with gentle, even pressure, using a rolling pin. Do not try to muscle the butter in or press too hard. It should take 8-10 minutes for each fold. Focus on rolling the dough out in one direction towards the open ends. Rolling the dough along the 6” length. Back and forth, consistent and gentle until butter is incorporated. Throughout this process, you want to keep your dough about 60 degrees —not quite refrigerator temperature, but colder than room temperature. Depending on the temperature of your working space you may be able to do 2 turns in between chilling.
At this point you have laminated dough. You’ve done the hardest part. Congratulations! Now simply shape and bake as appropriate for your application.
Check in next week to see one of our favorite holiday recipes using your laminated dough!
-