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Stood in a bakery for 10 minutes watching how they fold croissant dough
I popped into this little spot in Brooklyn called L'Appart this morning, just grabbing coffee. But then I got stuck watching the baker fold the dough over and over, like 4 or 5 times. It hit me that they aren't just making layers, they're trapping little pockets of air and butter that explode when baked. Do other pastries work the same way, or is croissant dough just extra picky?
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morgan.rose27d ago
...and THAT'S why the butter has to stay cold the whole time, right? I mean if the butter melts into the dough instead of staying in those flat little sheets, you don't get the puff. So are laminated doughs like puff pastry and danishes basically the same idea just with different fat to flour ratios or what? I've always wondered if the folding technique is what makes them separate categories or if it's more about the yeast situation in the dough itself.
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yeah and the way they fold it is almost meditative to watch, I swear I lost track of time once at a bakery in Paris just staring at a dude doing his folds like it was the most important thing in the world
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lilya7627d ago
The butter really does need to stay cold, but the yeast part is actually a bigger deal than most people think. Puff pastry has no yeast at all, so all the lift comes purely from steam pushing those butter layers apart. Danish dough has yeast in it, which changes the texture and how you handle it during the folds. So they are different categories partly because of the yeast, not just the fat ratio. The folding technique is similar, but the dough itself behaves totally different once you add that living element.
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