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Laminated dough is pastry dough that has undergone the technique of lamination, in which chefs fold butter into the layers of dough. As a result, the final product has a flaky texture. The flakiness of different laminated doughs varies. For instance, puff pastry made without yeast has a crispier flake than croissant dough made with yeast. The specific cuisine determines how complicated a recipe for the laminated dough is. One recipe for laminated dough can specify a minimum of six hours of chilling time in between folds, but another might ask for a much shorter rest period.
Puff pastry and croissants are the two most popular baked goods made from laminated dough. The simplest type of laminated dough is puff pastry, which is made by incorporating only butter into a basic flour, water, and salt dough. In order to make the pastries richer, more risen, and more resembling bread, croissants go one step further and incorporate yeast and milk into the dough. Other pastries prepared using laminated dough include Sticky Buns, Danishes, Palmier Cookies, and Kouign-Amann.
Why laminated dough?
If done correctly, a piece of dough that has been laminated will have hundreds of layers of dough and butter alternated. The water in the dough and the butter turns into steam when they are exposed to the heat of the oven. Before it disappears, the steam inflates each layer of dough, separating it into flaky, delicate layers. A croissant sliced in half will reveal flawless illustrations of each layer.
Steps to remember:
1. Flour your work surface just enough to make it easy for the dough to come off.
2. During the folding stage of the procedure, brush off any extra flour that may have accumulated on top of the dough since the addition of more flour, especially between the layers, will cause the dough to become dry.
3. The dough’s gluten can relax during this stage of the lamination process.
4. Additionally, it enables the butter to cool and firm up once again, which is necessary for producing the flaky layers.
5. The butter melts into the dough while the pastry cooks, leaving air pockets that give it a light feel. Butter at room temperature will bleed out in the oven or during the final proofing, leaving dry pastries with fewer air pockets.
6. Between each fold, chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least three hours. Some recipes call for six.
7. The letter fold and the book fold are the two-fold kinds that can be used in dough lamination. The latter produces more layers of dough, which increases flakiness.
8. Fold the triangle into a book shape by pulling two of the triangle’s points into the middle of the dough. A letter fold, on the other hand, entails folding the dough's other end over the first fold after folding the first end into the centre of a rectangle.
9. The chew and tenderness of the finished product are a result of the early kneading of the dough. The dough will tear during the lamination process if there is insufficient kneading, which results in poor structure.
10. The dough that has been overworked becomes rubbery, tough, and difficult to roll out. Knead your dough by hand or use the dough hook on a stand mixer’s low speed.
