Got told my croissants were too 'squishy' - changed my lamination process completely

So a pastry chef I know tried my croissants last month and said they were too squishy, not enough flake. I was using cold butter but not cold enough I guess? Now I chill my butter block for 20 mins extra and do 4 folds instead of 3. First batch after that came out way better, but I'm wondering if I went too far the other way - they're almost too brittle now. Anyone else get feedback that forced you to tweak your method, and did you overcorrect at first?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_jennifer1mo ago

Oh yeah the "overcorrecting" thing is SO real. When someone told me my biscuits were too dense I went HAM on the buttermilk and ended up with these puddles of grease instead of layers. You really gotta find that sweet spot. For your croissants, the brittle thing sounds like maybe your butter is now TOO cold when you do the folds. Like if the butter shatters instead of stretching, you get those sharp flakes that break off instead of that nice honeycomb inside. I'd try letting your dough rest a little longer between folds to let everything come up in temp just slightly. Also 4 folds might be giving you too many layers for the amount of butter you're using. Maybe drop back to 3 folds but keep the extra chilled butter block. Small tweaks man, it's all small tweaks until you crash into the other wall.

julia_fisher281mo ago

Oof yeah that biscuit story hits close to home. My buddy Dave tried to fix his dry cornbread once by dumping in a whole extra cup of buttermilk. Turned into a weird cornmeal slurry that baked up like a hockey puck with soggy edges. He brought it to the cookout anyway and everyone just politely nibbled the crispy parts.