Warning: wasted $80 on that fancy French butter for croissants

Bought a 2lb block of imported beurre de baratte for my laminated dough and it turned out to be way too soft for proper lamination, basically melted into a greasy mess after the third fold. Anyone else had expensive butter fail on them for puff pastry?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_simon23d ago

bro you literally wrote "the key is temperature control" like we dont all know that. congrats on your 58F butter shrine and chilled marble slab but some of us are just trying to make croissants in a regular kitchen without turning it into a science lab. i get it, your butter was perfect, but my 80 dollar butter block turned into a greasy puddle after fold 3 and no amount of "keeping it at a cool 58F" is gonna fix that when your kitchen is 75F because youre not making pastries in a walk in cooler. glad your fancy french butter worked out for you but not everyone has a marble slab and a dedicated 65F room lmao

emerym3623d ago

Actually, I have to respectfully disagree with you here. I've been using the 2lb blocks of Bordier butter from Brittany for my croissant dough for about two years now and I've had the opposite experience. The key is temperature control, not the butter itself. I keep my butter block at a cool 58F before I start pounding it into my beurrage, and I make sure my dough is equally cold. If your butter was too soft, you might have let it sit out too long before starting, or your kitchen could be too warm. I laminate in a 65F room with a marble slab that I chill for 20 minutes first. The higher fat content in those imported butters actually gives you better steam release and flakiness once you get the temp right.

piper77923d ago

Chuck your butter in the freezer for 15 minutes before you start folding, helps a ton in a warm kitchen.