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My butter block cracked during lamination and I almost cried - do you start over or keep going?
I was making croissants last Tuesday and my butter block split right down the middle during the first turn. It was a whole 8 ounces of European butter I spent time pounding into a perfect square. I tried to patch it with a little flour but it just got worse and the dough started tearing. My friend says you should always start fresh with new butter and dough, but my old mentor used to say just keep rolling and the layers will sort themselves out. I ended up trashing the whole batch which was like $12 in ingredients down the drain. Has anyone else dealt with a cracked butter block and actually saved the dough?
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paulw531mo ago
Honestly I think your old mentor was onto something. I had this happen maybe three batches ago and I just kept folding, the butter kind of smeared back into place through the layers even if it looked like a mess. I mean, it's not like you're going to get those perfect honeycomb holes but the croissants still came out flaky and buttery, just a little uneven. I'd say next time just keep rolling, you're already out the butter and dough so what's the worst that could happen? You end up with slightly ugly but still tasty pastries instead of wasting everything in the trash.
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jamieb801mo ago
Your whole "what's the worst that could happen" point is exactly right. Once you've already got the dough made and the butter smashed in there, the only thing you're really risking is a little more flour and elbow grease. I actually did save a batch once where the butter was basically shattered into chunks, and yeah the layers were a bit rough but the end result was still way better than any supermarket croissant. Plus, if you think about it, even the ugly ones get slathered with jam and nobody's judging your lamination at that point.
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