Butter Pats and Battleships

Reader Devin wants to know why you mix a little bit of flour into the butter pat when you’re making laminated dough. What purpose does it serve? For the answer to that, Devin, we’re going to journey back to World War II and the allied war effort.

The year was 1942. The British were fighting the good fight against the Axis powers, but still losing too many ships in the English Channel and too many American supply convoys in the Atlantic. What was needed was air cover. The problem was that the fighters and torpedo planes of the day couldn’t fly very far on the fuel they carried, which meant they could only go so far out to sea before they were forced to turn back and head for home. That left the merchant marines at the mercy of U-boat wolf packs for most of their journey across the Atlantic. The obvious solution: aircraft carriers. They’d be able to sit out in the ocean and refuel planes as they crossed the pond from east to west and back again. The fly in the ointment was that aircraft carriers were (are) made of steel, and steel was in very short supply just then.

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How important is “premium” butter in laminated dough?

That question from reader Lee, and I’m glad he asked. I’m not normally one to get all choosy with ingredients. As I’ve said many times before — often to my detriment in terms of reader feedback — “good” is almost as always as good as “great” for most home baking needs. However butter is where I start to get a bit fussy. I like cultured “Euro-style” butters, especially when it comes to laminated doughs. On the one hand they perform better as they tend to have a little less moisture and are also generally firmer, with a broader melt point. That means they stay plastic longer when you’re folding your dough. On the other hand I think they have also have a better taste. The acidic tang is not only different, it reduces the “fatty” mouthfeel

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Why is “dry” butter an advantage in laminated dough?

Nice question reader Dorrie! Perhaps you are a professional baker or pastry student, yes? Because “dry” butters aren’t products that the rest of us can easily get. As the name implies dry butters have a lower water content than most other butters, around 3-5% versus 12-17% for conventional store-bought butter. Why might they be an advantage in making laminated dough? Because while some water is essential if a laminated dough is going to rise (see the below post on the mechanics of puff pastry) too much water can actually undermine rising by moistening the dough sheets such that they get sticky and limp. In that case the steam in the dough can’t push them apart and/or keep them aloft. Is dry butter essential for

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Er…what is “laminated” dough?

I’ll admit it doesn’t sound all that appetizing just to say it, reader Jo. Lamination is a word most people associate with driver’s licenses, though the word actually means “alternating layers”. Puff pastry is made of 729 alternating layers of butter and dough. Some people like theirs with 2187. And while that might sound like a lot, the difference between 729 layers and 2187 is but one more “turn” — or letter folding — of the dough.

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Where does puff pastry come from?

I’d love to know the answer to that myself, reader Finn. The French claim to have invented puff pastry, but then don’t they stake a claim to everything with that much butterfat? The Italians also claim to have invented — or at least perfected — puff pastry, and indeed there are mentions of laminated dough that date back to Renniassance-era Venice and Florence. But then Spaniards and the Turks also maintain they were the first to perfect laminated dough, and at about the same time. So who’s right?

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Actually…

…now that I think about it, some gelatin may be exactly the thing I need to give me the stand-up cube shape for my vanilla slices. Thanks, Belinda! Did you intend to be a genius when you wrote me this morning?

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Starch vs. Gelatin

Reader Belinda wants to know why pastry cream and most other custards are thickened with starch while another similar cream, Bavarian cream, is thickened with gelatin. I didn’t see that one coming this morning, Belinda! That’s a great question. Let’s see if I can answer it. You make pastry cream by creating a thin custard, then adding starch and heating it to the boil — done! With Bavarian cream you again prepare a thin custard, melt gelatin into it while it’s still warm, allow it to cool somewhat, then fold in whipped cream.

Of the two, Bavarian cream tends to be both lighter and firmer. It’s frequently molded, which means it needs a strong gel under the hood. My feeling is that it would take an awful lot of flour to create a starch gel of an equivalent strength, and that would affect the Bavarian cream’s flavor as well its texture.

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Are starch-thickened mixtures gels?

Good question, reader Nils, the answer to that is yes, though it’s a different sort of gelling process relative to a protein gel. In a protein gel the molecules that make up the network are bonded to each other chemically. The individual molecules bond end-to-end and side-to-side with one another inside a watery medium. The result is restricted flow and thickening. Starch gelling is a bit different. As starch molecules separate from the flour granules from which they came they get tangled up with each other. That tangle also restricts the flow of the water molecules around them and creates thickening. The key difference is that the starch molecules aren’t bonded to one another, or if they are only very weakly, and will wash away if the heating process goes on too long. In that case the flour granules in the mixture dissolve completely and the whole network collapses. Great question!

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A General Theory of Deliciousness

Reader Penelope wants to know if I have any ideas about why herbs, spices, and flavorings — like vanilla — exist at all. Do they serve a purpose in nature? And if so, what is it?

Penelope they certainly do serve a purpose in nature: they are delicious. My personal belief is that God put them there so that we average schlubs might enjoy a decent pot de crème every so often, however I recognize that my theory lacks scientific rigor.

As it happens there is another theory, one which also lacks a certain amount of scientific rigor: the scientific explanation. The central idea here is that chemical compounds contained in a plant which are not essential to the plant’s survival (i.e. which aren’t related to the plant’s growth, metabolism or reproduction) are defensive in nature. Which is to say they are designed to protect the plant from predation by microbes, insects and larger animals, and also protect them from, say, too much exposure to the sun.

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Is there a flavor difference between types of vanilla beans?

Good question, reader Naomi. There definitely is, though unless you’ve got a truly stellar ingredient shop nearby, you pretty much have to take what you can get, bean-wise. Most larger grocery stores have stopped selling vanilla beans because so few people buy them. The small boutique shops here in Louisville generally stock only one type and that’s typically Bourbon — also known as “Madagascar” — vanilla from Nielsen-Massey. They’re the most common retail brand.

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