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Local bakery owner showed me a trick with cold butter that saved my morning rush | Bakers - Vivisector

Local bakery owner showed me a trick with cold butter that saved my morning rush

I run a small bakery out of my house here in Portland, and my croissants were always flat and greasy no matter what I did. Last Tuesday, I stopped by Sally's Bakery downtown to pick up some flour, and she saw me eyeing her display case. She flat out told me I was overworking my dough because the butter was too warm from the start. She had me feel a cube straight from her walk-in, then showed me how she cubes it into flour before it even softens. I tried it the next morning with my batch, and the layers actually puffed up for the first time in months. It sounds dumb but I guess I never realized how fast butter warms up in a warm kitchen. Has anyone else found a simple switch that fixed a big problem like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

lucast812mo ago

That line about "how fast butter warms up in a warm kitchen" really hit me hard. Did she mention if she keeps her flour cold too, or is it just the butter that matters? I'm wondering because I feel like my kitchen temp changes a lot depending on the time of year, and I don't always think about how the flour sitting on the counter adds to the problem. Seems like a small thing but if the butter's staying cold longer, maybe the flour temp matters just as much for keeping the butter from melting right away.

fiona_hunt712mo ago

Oh absolutely, keeping the flour cold makes a huge difference, I learned that the hard way. I used to just have a bowl of flour sitting out on the counter and wondered why my crust was always tough and the butter seemed to disappear. So now I stick the whole bag in the fridge a few hours before I start, or at least measure out the flour and pop it in the freezer for like 15 minutes. It really does help keep everything cold longer, especially if you're working in a warm kitchen. Your mileage may vary depending on how warm your hands run, but for me, that one change was just as important as keeping the butter itself cold. It's one of those small things that adds up faster than you'd think.

jenny_lane122mo ago

My grandmother actually taught me something similar with pie crust years ago, and it's wild how that one cold butter trick turned into me realizing the whole kitchen environment matters. I keep a bowl of flour in the fridge now during summer months because she told me if your hands are sweating from the heat, the butter will soften before you even get it mixed in. It's like once you notice one little detail, you start seeing all these other places where temperature or timing messes things up in cooking or really anything in life. Like how I used to rush my bread dough because I wanted it done faster, but letting it rest at the right temp actually saved me more time in the long run than rushing ever did. Small stuff adds up fast, you know?