Rolling puff pastry

[Rana]

Hello everyone,

Ok I have been trying to make croissant dough (puff pastry) just like the ones I see in videos and books. I CANNOT seem to be able to roll the dough thin enough. It remains really thick. If I apply more pressure in order to press down it tears right away. And YES and temperature of the butter and the dough is cold (not freezingly cold).

My question is do you think the reason is the dough itself? I use the standard dough I always make: flour, milk, water, yeast, salt and sugar.

[David Hensley]

You have several options to explore here...

I'd recommend letting it warm up a bit, as your yeast wakes up and provides you some lift, it'll soften the dough, and you should be able to roll it much more easily.

Another option, is to beat your dough. Starting at the center, gently, but firmly use you rolling pin to flatten the dough with a series of well placed smacks, always maintaining an even thickness.

Hope it helps.

[Lisa Shock]

Are you allowing at least 30 minutes between folds? The gluten in the dough gets tough as it is worked and needs time to relax so that it can be fully rolled each time. Try lengthening your time between folds and see what happens.

[Dave Hatfield]

Here is a link to a pictorial recipe for making croissants du buerre.

http://lacuisinedannie.20minutes.fr/recette-croissants-facon-boulangerie-355.html.

Google will do a pretty good job of translating this for you.

I don't know if this recipe differs much from the USA ones, but it has the virtue of being authentic.

Hope it helps.

[Rana]

Thanks everybody each answer will be taken into consideration when I make it next time. The beating sounds a good idea to me.

[Alleguede]

Add slightly more water and butter in the dough.

For puff dough I recommend the concept of inverse puff dough