Shoutout to the bakery owner who told me my butter was too cold

I was making croissants last weekend and a guy who runs a shop near Portland said my butter was straight from the fridge and that's why my layers kept ripping. He said you gotta let it sit at room temp for at least 20 minutes before laminating. I always thought cold butter was the rule for flaky pastry... now I'm wondering if I've been doing it wrong this whole time. Has anyone else tried this and seen better results?

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rowan26229d ago

Wait, cold butter is definitely the right call for most pastry stuff, but not for laminating croissants. The trick is it needs to be cold but pliable, straight from the fridge is too hard and brittle so it shatters instead of stretching with the dough. Room temp for 20 minutes is good, but if your kitchen is hot even that can make it too soft. I've had way better luck taking the butter out for like 15 minutes, then giving it a few light whacks with a rolling pin to soften it just a bit before folding. Your layers will stop ripping and actually puff up right.