Lamination Keeps Butter and Dough From Mixing

Photo by Culnature on Pixabay

Croissants and puff pastry get their flaky layers from lamination: folding a slab of butter between sheets of dough repeatedly, which creates dozens to hundreds of alternating layers that never merge into each other. In the oven, water in both the dough and butter turns to steam and pushes the layers apart, while the butter itself fries the surrounding dough layers into crisp sheets. Keeping the butter cold and firm throughout the folding process is what keeps those layers distinct instead of smearing into a single greasy mass.