Laminating Dough
A Detrempe is the dough used as the basis for our laminated dough. A layer of fat is placed in the middle of the dough and we start a sequence of foldings (tourée) creating layers of dough and fat. Those layers will create the flaky characteristic of the laminated pastry. The terminology of different folds vary depending on who you ask but essentially what you do is fold the dough in 2, 3 or 4. When you fold it in half you create 2 layers of dough and one of fat. When you fold it in 3 (single book-fold) there are 2 layers of fat and 3 layers of dough. In 4 (the double book-fold) ends are folded in the middle and then ends meet in the middle again, creating 2 layers of fat and 4 layers of dough. As you combine folds in this process the numbers of layers multiply. If you fold too much the result maybe excessively flaky.
Between folds we put the dough back in the cooler and let it rest there. If the fat (butter in our case) becomes too soft the separation of layers in the dough may disappear and ruin the desired effect of feuilletage. The dough needs to be cold but not too cold. If it gets frozen you will not be able to work it. Letting it rest in the cooler for ~30 minutes between folds is very important.
Croissants and Danes above differ from the dough made for other laminated pastries because they follow a process similar to the yeast bread process. The dough follows the turning process but it contains yeast that will help in leavening.
Instead of rolling the dough like we would do with other types of bread, here we flatten the dough and portion it flat. After that each portion is shaped we do the proofing step like we do with breads. In the end result we get a very rich bread like pastry but also extremely flaky that people love so much.