December 5, 2022 - 12:51pm
Butter Cracking
I've been making croissants for the last 2 months and just this last time I had an issue with my butter cracking before lamination. I took it out of the fridge to reach the pliable stage before lamination, so it was to the pliable stage but then it started cracking and breaking apart.
I don't understand what happened because it was an amish butter and the butterfat percentage was 85%. I did previously freeze it before I brought it back to the pliable stage, which I am thinking could have affected it but I looked up articles about freezing the butter and it didn't say anything about the butter changing textures after bringing it back to room temp.
Do y'all have any ideas what might've happened?
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butter I brought out of the freezer. Was unwrapping it, still frozen in the middle, and it stuck a bit to the wrapper. I just let it stand longer wrapping it back up and loose under a towel to let the temperature equalize. I did roll it over onto a paper towel in case any water collected in the wrapper would drip out. If too soft, return to the refrigerator to firm up a bit. Keep an eye on it.
Ahh okay, so did you notice it was wet or condensation on the butter when bringing it back to room temp?
Sarah,
Just made 3 dozen kouign amann with generic American butter that had been frozen and thawed. The pastries turned out great. I even made the dough 2 days ago and refrigerated the laminated dough until this morning. Came out of the fridge and rolled out with no issues. I question whether freezing is your problem. Have you used this butter before?
Desole,
Phil
Phil,
Thank you for the response.
Ah that's interesting. I have used this butter before and it turned out pretty good last time. I agree and logically doubt that freezing and thawing would have made a difference. But after I had thawed it the butter seemed to have had condensation or like the water was coming out of the butter when I tried to press the cracked pieces back together.
I also leave out my dough for like 30 mins before rolling out so I don't crack my butter in the lamination process but it still seems to happen. This is Plugra butter btw.
thanks,
Sarah
Also do you make your dough the same consistency as your butter?