Avoid butter in puff pastry dough from melting while baking in the oven
I made puff pastry dough. I rolled it out and cut into 8 rectangles. Then I put a stick of chocolate in the middle of each piece and rolled the dough to form a semi-cookie. As I put them in the preheated oven (200 C), the butter melted and cookies were swimming in the butter! Is it normally so? If not, how should I avoid this problem? I thought preheating the oven would help but it did not.
Best Answer
There are a few things that may be wrong here:
- Oven not pre-heated enough: how long you need to preheat depends on the oven, but for 200 degrees C I'd give it 20 minutes. If your oven has not pre-heated enough it will be at too low a temperature the butter and will melt rather than turn to steam, which is what gives you lift
- Oven at too low a temperature: often the temperature you set on an oven and the actual temperature is different, sometimes these differences can be really big, I've seen 35C (70F) difference in the past. It may be worth investing in an over thermometer to see whether your temperature is right. An oven thermometer will also tell you whether your oven has pre-heated as well
- Dough too warm: it's important to keep your dough cold throughout the process, if butter gets too warm you will lose the lamination (layering) in the dough. When it comes to baking it if your butter is too warm it may melt, so you could try chilling your pastry in the fridge. How long to chill them depends on the size and the thickness of each pastry, the important thing is that the thickest part of the pastry stabilizes at the refrigerators's temperature. That could take 10 minutes, it could take an hour or more. For the cookies you describe try at least 20-30 minutes, or up to an hour if you have the time.
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Why is my puff pastry melting in the oven?
This occurs because solid pieces of butter separate layers of dough prior to baking. When a pastry goes in the oven, those pieces of butter melt in the high heat and the small amount of water in the butter evaporates; this leaves little pockets of air in between the dough and creates distinct, separate layers.How do you keep butter from running out of puff pastry?
Richard's solution: Because of the massive amount of fat in puff, you have to be careful of sticking your dough to the table. As mentioned previously, regularly chill your dough so the butter doesn't leak out.Why is butter leaking out of my puff pastry?
If the butter starts to melt and seep through the pastry when you are rolling and folding, lightly dust the area with a little flour, then chill for a bit. Butter that's too cold can also cause greasy pastry.How do you keep pastry from melting?
The 3 Most Common Mistakes To Avoid When Making Puff Pastry
More answers regarding avoid butter in puff pastry dough from melting while baking in the oven
Answer 2
Did you chill the puff pastry before putting it in the oven? Most of the recipes say that after rolling it out you should wrap it in plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes before baking.
Here's a few random recipes from the web that all call for a chill down:
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