Shelf · Dough & batter · No heat
Lamination
Folding a sheet of butter into dough and rolling it out repeatedly, so one layer becomes hundreds.
- The temperature band
- In the fridge · 2 to 10 °C
Why it works
Each butter layer is a barrier the dough cannot cross. In the oven the water in that butter turns to steam and pushes the dough layers apart before they set — the flake is a fossil of the steam that lifted it.
The tell
The cut edge shows distinct stripes rather than a marbled smear, and the dough rolls out without butter breaking through the surface.
- One layer
- Four layers
- Too many to count
How it fails
Butter that warms past pliable smears into the dough and the layers merge — back to the fridge between every turn, without exception. Butter too cold shatters into shards instead of stretching, which breaks the layers just as badly. Cool and bendy is the only window.
In the app, the card opens on the recipe step that names it, with the tell drawn.
Learning is free on every plan.