Laminated Dough

VOCAB

Lamination – alternating the dough and fat; these layers are created bu a series for “turns and folds”

The Laminator- rolls out the dough in an even layer.

Pate – French for dough

Blind Baked- Baking the shell of the pie or tart dough without any filling.

Docking- Pricking small holes in an unbaked dough or crust to allow steam to escape and to prevent the dough from rising when baked. Without docking the dough it will fill with air and you will end up with a bit bubble in the middle.

Parisian Croissants

“ Plain Croissant”

“Chocolate Croissant”

Yield: 60 Rolls
Method: Rolled- in dough
Fermentation: About an hour, chill overnight
Proofing: 45 min

2 lb 4 oz Bread Flour
1 oz Salt
1 oz Sugar
21 fl oz Milk
1 oz Active Dry yeast
1 lb. 8 oz unsalted butter, softened
Egg wash – as needed

1. Stir the flour, salt and sugar together, in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook.
2. Warm the milk to approximately 90. Stir in the yeast.
3. Add the milk and yeast mixture to the dry ingredients. Stir until combined, then knead and medium speed 10 min
4. Place the dough in a large floured bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, about an hour.
5. Prepare the butter while the dough is rising. Place the butter in an even layer between two large pieces of plastic wrap and roll into a flat rectangle, approximately 8 inches by 11 and chill.
6. After the dough has rise, punch it down. Roll out the dough into a large rectangle, about ½ inch thick and large enough to enclose the rectangle of butter. Place the unwrapped butter in the center of the dough and fold the dough around the butter, enclosing it completely.

“sheet of butter laying over the sheet of dough”

“starting to fold the dough over the butter”

7. Roll out the block of dough into a long rectangle, approximately 1 inch thick. Fold the dough in thirds, a single book fold. This completes the first turn. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for about 20-30 min.

8. Repeat the rolling and folding process two more times, chilling the dough between each turn. When finished, wrap the dough well and chill it overnight before shaping and baking.

9. To shape the dough into croissant rolls, cut off one-quarter of the block as a time wrapping the rest and returning it to the refrigerator. Roll each quarter of dough into large rectangle, approximately ¼ inch thick.

10. Cut the dough into uniform triangles. Starting with the large end, roll each triangle into a crescent and place on paper lined sheet pans.

“dough cut into triangles (for plain and almond filled) and squares (for chocolate filled) croissants”

11. Brush lightly with egg wash. Proof until doubled, but do not allow the dough to become so warm the butter melts.

12. Bake at 375 F until golden brown, about 12-15 min.

“baked croissants”

NOTES: While using the Laminator it is important to remember to flour the surface a little bit so that the dough doesn’t stick and to adjust the height after every pass. You can of course use a rolling pin instead of a laminator.

How to roll your dough

1. Single Fold
2. Double book fold
3. Fold one edge, then over in half (it should look like a book)
4. Pinch it closed

5. Turn like you are reading it as a book, fold each edge to the center, then in half again – do this twice, putting in freezer for 10-15 min between each time.

It is extremely important to keep your fat as cold as possible.

That’s why we stick it in the freezer between rolls) When folding the dough make sure there is no fat sticking out.

“The Laminator”

We made plain, chocolate and almond filled croissants. With the chocolate ones we cut them into a square shape, and placed the chocolate at one end and then do a triple fold.

“Chocolate Croissant- pre roll”

Quick Puff Pastry

“baked puff pastry”

Yield: 1 lb 3 oz

6.25 oz unbleached all purpose flour
1.25 oz cake flour
8 oz unsalted butter
¼ tsp salt
4 fl oz water, ice cold.

1. To mix the dough, place the AP flour in a mixing bowl and sift the cake flour over it. Thoroughly sift the two flours together.

2. Slice 1 oz of the butter into thin piece and add tot eh bowl. Rub in the butter by hand, tossing and squeezing in the butter until no visible pieces remain.

3. Cut the remaining butter into ½ inch cubes. Add the butter cubes to the flour mixture. Toss with a rubber spatula just to separate and distribute the butter. Do not rub the butter into the flour.

4. Dissolve the salt in the water. Make a well in the flour and butter mixture and add the water. Toss gently with the spatula until the dough is evenly moistened. Add drops of water, if necessary, to complete the moistening. Press and squeeze the dough in a bowl to form a rough cylinder.

5. To turn the dough, first lightly flour the work surface and the dough. Using the palm of your hand, press down on the dough three or four times to shape the dough into a rough rectangle.

6. Press and pound the dough with a rolling pin to form an even rectangle about ½ inch thick. Roll the dough back and forth along its length once or twice until it is an even rectangle about ¼ inch thick. At this stage, pieces of butter are likely to stick to the work surface. If the dough does stick, loosen it with a long spatula or scraper. Clean the surface to minimize further sticking.

7. Fold both ends of the dough in toward the center, and then fold them in toward the center again to make four layers, the double book fold. Position the package of dough so that the “spine” is on the left.

8. Lightly flour the work surface and the dough and repeat the pressing as before. Roll the dough along its length as before, and then roll several times along its width to form a rectangle, approximately 6 X 18 inches. Fold the dough into the double book fold as before. Repeat the process once more so that the dough will have three double turns.

9. Wrap the dough well in plastic and chill at least 1 hour before using.

10. The dough can be refrigerated about 3 days or frozen up to 1 month. Defrost frozen dough in the refrigerator overnight before using it.

NOTES: The steam from the butter (fat) will cause this dough to rise.

Using the puff pastry dough we also made:

Fruit and Cream Filled Napoleons

“Napoleons”

1 lb 14 oz Puff Pastry (can use scraps)
1.5 fl oz Grand Marnier or rum (optional)
2 lb Pastry Cream
Sugar – as needed
Powdered sugar – as needed

1. Roll the puff pastry dough to 1/12 inch into a rectangle thick measuring 13 inches x 24 inches. Dock the dough and let it rest 30 min at room temp.

2. Bake at 375 F for 12 to 14 minutes, and then place a sheet of parchment paper over the dough. Cover the parchment paper with an icing screen or perforated sheet pan.

3. Return the dough to the oven and bake until it is light golden brown; about 15-20 min. Remove the parchment paper. Replace the icing screen and reduce the temp to 350 F. Bake until the dough is evenly baked through and golden brown about 30 min. The total baking time will be nearly an hour.

4. Let the pastry cool. Trim the edges and then cut it lengthwise into three equal strips. Set aside the flattest strip to use for the top of the finished dessert.

5. Fold the Grand Marnier (if using) into the pastry cream. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip, pipe four rows of pastry cream lengthwise on one strip of baked puff pastry. Cover with another strip of puff pastry and top with the remaining pastry cream. Place the reserved strip of puff pastry on last.

6. Using a sharp serrated knife gently cut the assembled pastry into 1 ½ inch wide portions. Sprinkle half with powdered sugar.

Tarte Tatan (French Apple Pie)

“Tarte Tatan flipped over after coming out of the oven”

2 Apples
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp vanilla extract

I used an 8 inch cake pan

1. Pour caramelized sugar in the bottom of a cake pan

2. Arrange apple slices on top– possibly two layers of apples

3. Add slices of butter and vanilla to the apples

4. Place a piece of puff pastry dough on top.

The sugar will sweeten the apples. Flip immediately after it is removed from the oven.

“carmelized sugar at the bottom of the cake pan”

“apples with chucks of butter placed on top of the caramelized sugar”

“puff pastry on top of the apples”

“Tarte Tatan baked, before it has been flipped”

“Tarte Tatan served with ice cream!”

This is super easy to make especially if you have left over puff pastry. You could also use pears.

PIES

“The days pies”

Custard Pies- pour filling into unbaked pie shell and bake dough and filling at the same time.

Flaky/Mealy Dough (Pate Brisée) - used primarily for custard or fruit pies.

Sweet Tart Dough (Pate Sucrée) – sweet, non flaky dough, it had more eggs and sugar then other dough’s, has a cookie like texture.

Shortbread tart dough (Pate Saffée) – higher % of fat, has a texture of a butter cookie.

PIE FILLINGS

1. Custard- (i.e. pecan, pumpkin)

2. Fruit- (i.e. apple, cherry, blueberry)

3. Cream- (i.e. banana) usually poured into an already baked shell.

Sweet Tart Dough

Yield: 7 lb 8 oz; approximately 10 shells, 9 in each

1 lb 8 oz unsalted butter, softened
1 lb 5 oz powdered sugar
26 Egg yolks
2 full eggs
3 lb 8 oz AP Flour

1. Cream the butter and powdered sugar in the bowl of a large mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

2. Combine the egg yolks and whole eggs. Slowly add the eggs to the creamed butter. Mix until smooth and free of lumps, scraping down the bowl as needed.

3. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour to the butter and egg mixture. Mix only until incorporated, do not over mix. The dough should be firm, smooth and not sticky.

4. Dust a half sheet pan with flour. Pack the dough into the pan evenly. Wrap well in plastic wrap and chill until firm.

5. Work with a small portion of the chilled dough when shaping tart shells or other products

With the Sweet Tart Dough we made A Plum Tart and an Almond Ceram Topped with Fresh Fruit Tart. For these we simply cut the sweet tart dough to the proper size for our tart pan, blind baked it, then filled it with the proper filling.

PLUM TART

“Plum Tart – just out of oven”

Sweet tart dough filled with almond cream topped with plum slices. Baked at 350.

“Plum tart – pre baked”

Almond Cream Filled with Fresh Fruit Topping

“Almond Tart –topped with fresh fruit”

Sweet Tart dough, filled with almond cream, baked. Bake at 350 F for 35-45 min. After cooling spread a layer of raspberry preserves on top of almond cream, and top with fresh berries.

“Almond tart – pre preserves and fresh fruit”

Basic Pie Dough

“Pie dough shell”

Yield 2 lb. 10 oz, 3 shells

1 lb unsalted butter, chilled
1 lb 5 oz Pastry Flour
4 fl oz buttermilk or water
2 tsp salt
.5 oz sugar
1 tbsp vanilla (optional)

1. Cut the butter into medium dice 3/8 inch square. Sift the flour onto a work surface or into a large bowl

2. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until the desired consistency is reached.

3. Combine the buttermilk, salt, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl with a whisk. Gradually add the buttermilk to the flour mixture. Mix gently until the dough holds together. O not over mix or add too much liquid.

4. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill thoroughly before using.

NOTES: When rolling out the dough you should still see fat particles. The dough should be about 1/8 of an inch thick. Don’t make it any thicker then ¼ of an inch.

The dough will shrink a little bit while baking, so make sure you have at least 1/8” lip over the side of your pan. If you decorate the edges make sure to use an egg wash on the top to act as glue when placing them around the edges.

Pecan Pie

“Pre baked Pecan Pie”

3 eggs
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup dark corn syrup
3 Tbsp melted butter
1 ½ tsp vanilla
1 cup pecans (chopped or whole)

1. Mix all ingredients together in pot over med heat, once sugar has melted pour into unbaked pie crust.

2. Bake at 350 F. Its done when it doesn’t wiggle in the middle anymore

Pumpkin with Streusel Topping

Yield: 2 pies, 9 in

Method: Custard Filling

4 Eggs
2 lb Pumpkin Puree
12 oz sugar
1 tsp Salt
½ tsp Nutmeg, ground
½ tsp Cloves, ground
2 tsp Cinnamon, ground
1 tsp Ginger, ground
24 fl oz Evaporated milk
Unbaked pie shells

1. Combine the eggs and pumpkin. Blend in the sugar

2. Add the salt and spices, and then the evaporated milk. Whisk until completely blended and smooth.

3. Allow the filling to rest 15-20 min before filling the pie shells. This allows the starch in the pumpkin to begin absorbing liquid, making it less likely to separate after baking.

4. Pour the filling into the unbaked pie shells. Place in the over on a preheated sheet pan at 400 F. Bake 15 minutes. Lower the oven temp to 350 and bake until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean, about 40-50 min.

Blueberry Pie Filling

“Blueberry Pie”

Yield: 8 lb

Method: Coked Juice Filling

10 lb Canned blueberries, unsweetened.
1 lb 12 oz sugar
4 ½ oz cornstarch
8 fl oz water
½ tsp cinnamon, ground
1 fl oz Lemon juice
1 Tbsp Lemon zest

1. Drain the juice from the canned blueberries, reserving both the fruit and the juice.

2. Measure the juice and if necessary, add enough water to provide 1 quart of liquid. Bring to boil, add the sugar and stir until dissolved.

3. Dissolve the cornstarch in 8 fl oz of water.

4. Add the cornstarch to the boiling juice and return to a boil. Cook until the mixture thickens and clears. Remove from heat.

5. Add the cinnamon, lemon juice, lemon zest and reserved blueberries. Stir gently to coat the fruit with the glaze.

6. Allow the filling to cool to room temperature, then use it to fill prebaked pie shells or other pastry items.

NOTES: instead of caned blueberries we used frozen. Since frozen blueberries do not come with “juice” , just cook the blueberries down until the melt and use that juice.

COOKIES

“The days finished products”

Most cookies are mixed using the creaming method. For chewier cookies don’t cream the fat as much. Doubling the sheet pan on the bottom will help prevent the bottoms of the cookies from burning. To help them from spreading in the oven stick them in the freezer for 15-20 min prior to baking. This will solidify the fat.

Chocolate Chip

“Baked Chocolate Chip Cookie”

Yield: 50 Cookies – about 2 oz each

Method: Drop Cookies.

1 lb unsalted butter, softened
8 oz sugar
12 oz Brown Sugar
3 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 tsp Salt
1 lb 4 oz Pastry Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
8 oz pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional)
2 lb Chocolate Chips

1. Cream the butter and the sugars in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat until light, about 5 min at med speed.

2. Add the eggs to the creamed mixture one at time. Add the vanilla.

3. Stir the salt, flour and baking soda together and add the creamed mixture.

4. Stir in the pecans or walnuts and chocolate chips

5. Portion the dough onto paper lined sheet pan and bake at 350 F until the cookies are golden brown and cooked through, approximately 10-12 min.

“Chocolate Chip cookies evenly portioned”

Fudge Brownies

“Finished Fudge Brownie”

Yield: 4 dozen brownies 2 in each

Method: Sheet Cookie

18 oz unsalted butter, room temp.
1o eggs
2 lb. 8 oz Sugar
1 tsp salt
1 fl oz vanilla extract
.5 fl oz coffee extract (optional)
1 lb AP Flour
8 oz Pecan pieces (optional)
Powdered sugar – as needed (optional)

1. Melt the butter and chocolate over a double boiler. Heat water first, then turn heat off and place bowl on top of hot water.

“Chocolate melting in double boiler”

2. While the chocolate is melting, beat, the eggs and granulated sugar in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 10 min. Add the salt and extracts. Scrape down the bowl, then add the melted chocolate, blending until well combined. Add the flour and mix until combined. Fold in the nuts

3. Spread the batter evenly onto a paper lined half sheet pan. The pan will be very full! Bake at 325 F until the center is set. About 40 minutes.

4. Cool completely before cutting. Dust the brownies with powdered sugar, if desired.

NOTES: These brownies were very dense and very rich.

Carrot Cake “Cookies”

“Carrot cake cookie sandwich”

Yield: 48 Cookies, about 2 ½ oz each

Method: Drop Cookies

1 lb 4 oz Pastry Flour
2 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp baking Powder
1 tbsp cinnamon, ground
2 tsp ginger, ground
1 lb unsalted butter, softened
1lb sugar
14 oz Brown Sugar
4 eggs
.5 fl oz vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
13 oz quick cooking oats
1 lb. 6 oz carrots, finely grated.
12 oz Raisins, conditioned
Cream cheese icing – as needed

1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger. Set aside

2. IN the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 5- 7 min.

3. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl frequently and mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract, salt and oats

4. Stir in the flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Fold in the carrots and raisins.

5. Portion the dough onto paper lined sheet pans

6. Bake at 375 F until light golden brown around the edges, about 12-14 min. Cool cookies a few minutes in their pans. Then transfer them to cooling racks to cool completely before filling.

7. Pipe a rounded mound of cream cheese icing on the flat side of half of the cookies. Top with remaining cookies.

NOTES: We couldn’t find any quick oats so we omitted them. They still turned out very tasty but ran together while cooking. The oats would have soak up some of the liquid helping them to lift up instead of spread out.

Spritz Cookies

“Baked Spritz Cookies”

Yield: 4 dozen cookies – ½ oz each

Method: Pressed Cookies

8 oz unsalted butter, softened
4 oz sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
10 oz cake flour, sifted

1. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the salt, vanilla extract and egg; beat well.

2. Add the flour, beating until just blended. The dough should be firm but neither sticky nor stiff.

3. Press or pipe the dough onto an ungreased sheet pan, using a cookie press or a piping bag, fitted with a large star tip.

4. Bake at 350 F until lightly browned around the edges. About 10 min. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

NOTES: I did something a little different with these cookies. I added some shopped candied ginger then rolled the dough into a tube shape about a foot and half long Then coat the outside in sugar mixed with lemon zest. Before slicing and baking, put in freezer for about 30 min. After they are chilled, slice in rounds approximately ½ inch thick. Then bake like normal.

“Dough rolled into a long tube shape then rolled in lemon zested sugar”

The rest of the class put the dough in a piping bag and then piped out different shapes you can do anything you want with these cookies. Some were in a round shape with a dollop of jam in the middle. You bake the jam with the cookie.