Folding dough yields flakes for days. We’ll show you how.
Welcome to Bon Appétit Bake Club , a community of curious bakers. Each month senior Test Kitchen editors Jesse Szewczyk and Shilpa Uskokovic share a must-make recipe and dive deep on why it works. Come bake and learn with us—and don't forget to join the Bake Club group chat over on Substack.
Biscuits come in many forms but my favorite kind will forever be flaky, the kind you can peel apart layer by layer, like pages in a paperback book. Such is the approach in our February Bake Club recipe. From afar, this may seem tough to achieve, the sort of magic trick only a pastry chef could accomplish. But that’s not true. You can do it, whoever you are, and you can do it this week, today, even right now. It’s called folding because that’s what we’ll be doing—folding the dough, like a letter to a lover. This technique is used in other baked goods like croissants or puff pastry or pie crust. The end goal is always the same—to create parallel layers of butter and ensnare them between the dough. Once the dough hits the oven, the butter starts to melt and the water it contains turns to steam, puffing out the surrounding dough like a microscopic balloon. For croissants and puff pastry, the process is intricate and exacting, involving something called a butter block and an expensive machine called a sheeter . All that work adds up to a seemingly infinite number of layers. And it’s why most people buy these products at a bakery or supermarket, rather than make them from scratch. But biscuits aren’t that stringent. An approximation of this action gets the job done more than adequately here. You’ll incorporate butter into flour in haphazard chunks, either with a food processor or your fingers. You’ll shape and fold the dough with a rolling pin, bench scraper, and your hands. And you’ll still get biscuits so lofty and laminated, they’ll make anyone weak in the knees. I am in favor of folding the dough in thirds like a piece of printer paper. It offers a good balance of building layers quickly, whilst retaining a workable thickness. Folding in half is ineffective and may result in overhandling the dough by the time the layers are built; folding into fourths makes the dough unwieldy. Three is the magic number. Fold and roll the dough at least twice and not more than three times. A dough that’s folded one too many times will become a homogenous blob and yield the opposite of the intended result. Of course, all of this is spelled out in the recipe for you. So what are you waiting for? Go forth and fold with confidence!
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
5 Chain Restaurants With the Best Hand-Breaded Chicken and BiscuitsYour ultimate source for expert nutrition tips and health advice, covering wellness, healthy recipes, cooking hacks, food news, style trends and shopping.
Read more »
Denise Austin, 68, Shares 6 ‘Low-Impact’ Cardio Moves ‘for Any Age’Denise Austin demonstrates low-impact cardio moves “for any age,” alongside her daughter, Katie. Here’s how to perform each “fun” exercise.
Read more »
Grab Apple's iPhone Air MagSafe battery while it's down to an all-time lowFind the latest technology news and expert tech product reviews. Learn about the latest gadgets and consumer tech products for entertainment, gaming, lifestyle and more.
Read more »
SEK: Low core inflation tests Riksbank resolveDanske Bank analysts note the Riksbank unanimously kept rates unchanged, but minutes show Jansson considered a cut and may reserve his vote in March. Flash CPIF core inflation fell to 1.7% year-on-year, well below expectations, adding downward pressure on front-end rates.
Read more »
Forget AirPods or Shokz, DeWalt Neckband Bluetooth Headphones Go on Clearance at an All-Time LowThis hardy pair can go with you wherever you go.
Read more »
Storm pattern to break up Utah's dry stretch, but will it help record-low snowpack?Carter Williams is a reporter for KSL. He covers Salt Lake City, statewide transportation issues, outdoors, the environment and weather. He is a graduate of Southern Utah University.
Read more »