That time in Austin a baker yelled at me for using cold butter in croissants

I was at this little shop called Flour Child in Austin last spring, working on a batch of croissants. This older baker, named Marie, saw me pulling butter straight from the fridge and just lost it. She told me I was ruining the lamination and handed me a stick of room temp butter, made me start over. Now I always let my butter sit out for at least 2 hours before I even think about folding it in. Has anyone else had a baker yell at them for some basic mistake?

2 comments

2 Comments

lane.eric22d ago

Three of my friends are actual pastry chefs and they all keep their butter in the fridge until the second they use it. They say the whole room temp thing gets overblown by people who watched one Youtube video. Cold butter gives you those clean, separate layers if you work fast enough. Your baker was probably just having a bad day and took it out on you.

the_joel22d ago

Read somewhere that French bakers will actually test butter temperature with their lips before folding. Not kidding. So your baker yelling at you was practically polite by comparison. Cold butter shatters through dough instead of spreading into those thin layers. Room temp is the way to go unless you want croissant rocks.