Description
Laminate dough layering creates flaky pastries by repeatedly folding cold butter into dough and baking at high temperatures to generate steam and lift.
Technical
The process relies on maintaining butter at 32–35 °C to keep it pliable yet unmelted, while resting dough at 4 °C between folds to relax gluten. During baking, steam expands the butter crystals and the gluten network, while Maillard reactions brown the crust, producing a layered, airy structure.
Science
Primary Reaction
Steam expansion of butter crystals and gluten network, Maillard browning of crust
Sensory Profile
Origin & History
Civilization
Austrian and French
Era
17th–18th centuries
Region
Central Europe