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Strange Croissant Dough

post #1 of 6
1/25/10 at 11:50am
Thread Starter 
I'm making croissants for the first time, and the dough looks very strange. In most of the pics I have seen of the process, the butter looks pretty incorporated into the dough. Mine has thin chunks of butter everywhere. Does this mean I need to roll it out and turn it more? Or is the butter to cold? Any ideas? thanks!
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post #2 of 6
1/25/10 at 9:22pm
A couple of questions.....

What stage in the process are you at? How many folds and turns have you made?
There are a couple of techniques for incorporating the butter; which one are you using?

Your butter is probably too cold but more detail will help identify the problem.
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post #3 of 6
1/25/10 at 9:27pm
If you've got enough turns, and the dough is flexible enough to form croissants, don't worry about the butter. Just go ahead and bake it. You'll be fine.

And yes, butter was a little bit too cold. It's surprising that in all the turning and rolling out that it never softened enough for the pieces to break up and squish into a smooth, even layer. But not to worry.

BDL
What were we talking about?
 
http://www.cookfoodgood.com
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post #4 of 6
1/25/10 at 9:35pm
Thread Starter 
I had completed 5 turns. I turned it once more, and decided to just try the dough out.

I had problems with them rising as well, I gave them almost 2 hours and didn't get much lift (House at 68 degrees, pans on the stove, which was set to 300 degrees).

When I took them out of the oven, there were small pools of butter around the croissants. The insides were cooked, but soaked with butter.

They taste good, but are greasy and not as light as they should be.

Well, it was my first time. Can't win them all. Any tips for next time?

I was using the recipe from Bakewise, by the way.
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post #5 of 6
1/26/10 at 11:22pm
I think the lumps of butter probably punctured the thin layers of dough so instead of trapping the steam from the melted butter and causing the croissant to rise, the butter "escaped" to your sheetpan.

It is important to have the butter and dough at the same consistency - not the same temperature. The butter should be at around 60* and the dough at 41* or so. Once it is folded in, the pastry will be fine in the fridge during the resting periods.

I would recommend using a good quality "European style" cultured butter for a superior flavor.
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post #6 of 6
1/27/10 at 8:07am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for your help!
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