Reader Melody wants to know why flour is added to the butter block at the beginning of the dough laminating process. Melody, I’m very glad you asked that. It all has to do with keeping the butter at the right temperature during the rolling and folding. If it’s too firm it’ll break and chip during rolling, rather than spread. If it’s too warm it’ll soak into the dough layers. A little flour extends the ideal temperature window. For more on how flour does that, check out this post right here.

Laminated pastry makers get hung up on numbers: 243, 729, 2187…the big multiples of three that you get when you fold a three-layer dough-butter-dough packet many times (2187 is the result of six letter-style tri-folds or “turns”). All those layers are what give laminated doughs their texture. Generally speaking the more layers you have in the dough the lighter, flakier and crunchier the finished product will be. Puff pastry has the most layers: 729 (5 turns) or 2187 (6 turns), croissant dough usually has the least: 81 (3 turns) or 108 (2 tri-fold turns plus one 4-ply “book” turn).

Kringle dough generally doesn’t appear in most laminated dough taxonomies since it’s the product of a mere two letter-style turns, which gives it only 27 layers. When the dough is baked up you scarcely know it’s laminated at all. The texture of the crumb is somewhere between a croissant and an enriched yeast dough (like brioche). This is what makes it unique, and also rather sneaky. You might call it semi-laminated.

Ah yes, I owe some kringle, I believe. So let’s get after it…finally.

My friend Christy just started a blog called Pretty Easy Living . She’s got a terrific design eye, so if you’re into low cost decorating, you’ll want to keep checking back with her. Speaking on behalf of all us other nerds, it’s nice to have you in the blogosphere, Christy!

Here’s a nifty idea: for all those who are sick of trying to pry WAY over-baked blobs of blackened pie and casserole filling off the their oven floor, a flexible catch-all liner. It’s a coated fabric sort of thing (technical term), 23″ x 16.25″ inches, though it can be trimmed to match the size of your oven’s interior if need be. The nonstick surface resisted pretty much every bubbly, crumbly thing I threw at it over the holidays, surviving with only a few small dents. Any time I didn’t feel like washing off splatters of au gratin potato, I just threw it in the dishwasher. Problem solved.

The rush of Christmas time is always followed by the even bigger rush of the birthday season (Mrs. Pastry and both girls have their birthdays shortly after). Which means I’m swamped. I’ll do my best to get a post or two up over the next couple of days, but for now it’s cake and candles […]

Motorized kitchen appliances with whirring blades can be dangerous when used in ways contradictory to manufacturers’ crystal clear instructions. Read, friends. Arm yourselves with knowledge.