Puff Pastry, Croissants & Other Laminated Doughs

Doughs like puff pastry that consist of alternating layers of dough and butter formed by repeated rolling and folding are known as ‘laminated’. You start with a slightly elastic, lean dough that has only a small amount of butter in it and use that to enclose a large, flat piece of butter that has been mixed with a little flour to make for easier handling. The dough is rolled to press the layers of dough and butter thinner, then folded to increase the number of layers. On paper, the process is pretty easy to explain; it’s not difficult to execute either, but it requires close attention to detail.