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Old baker taught me about dough temp in 5 minutes
Was at a bakery in Portland last summer, just watching the morning rush. Guy named Sal must be 70, he sees me eyeballing his croissant dough. He says 'your hands are too warm, kid.' I never thought about how my own body heat affects the dough. He made me stick a thermometer in my palm, it was 98 degrees. Now I ice my hands before laminating in summer. Has anyone else changed a basic habit from one random pro?
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mason2095d ago
The ice trick works, I started doing it with pastry cream too since my hands are always hot. Cold ingredients are half the battle with any butter based dough in warm weather. Felt dumb that Sal had to tell me something so simple after years of baking.
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the_jesse5d ago
The ice trick is one of those things that seems too simple to matter, but it really does. I used to think keeping everything in the fridge was enough, but my hands just wreck warm dough anyway. Started throwing a couple ice cubes in the bowl before mixing and it's night and day.
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