Basic Dough

Making the basic dough correctly (the flour and water mixture also commonly referred to as détrempe) is extremely important. If you add too much flour or work the dough too long, it does not matter how carefully you roll in the butter; the paste will be glutenous and rubbery, hard to work with, and will shrink when baked. When the dough shrinks to this extent, not only are the texture and appearance affected, but the baked dough can taste salty as well because the same amount of salt is now concentrated within a smaller portion of product.