Store bought vs homemade butter for croissants?

Last weekend I tried making croissants with store bought butter for the first time and they came out flat, but 3 years ago I used homemade butter from a farm in Vermont and they puffed up perfectly. My theory is the water content in the butter makes or breaks the lamination process. Has anyone else tested both and seen a big difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabeth_bailey266d ago

Okay so I tested this exact thing back in 2018 with Kerrygold vs homemade butter from a local dairy near Portland. The homemade butter had way less water, like maybe 12% compared to store bought which can hit 18%. My croissants with the homemade stuff layered up perfectly, nice and tall with those honeycomb holes inside. The store bought butter made my dough feel sticky and it leaked out during baking, leaving me with sad greasy pancakes instead of croissants. Water content is the whole game here, plus the fat quality matters a ton too. If you can get your hands on European style butter with lower water, that'll help, but homemade is still king for lamination.

lily2306d ago

Tried Kerrygold myself for croissants a few years back. Worked fine for me, no leaks, but I let my dough rest longer between folds. Might help with the sticky problem.