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Butter Frame-@Proth5

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Butter Frame-@Proth5

I hope you see this and respond Pat, I read your tip about the butter frame and want to ask a question.

After reading your tip on using a frame to roll butter into a light went off in my head. That sounds like a great idea for building a consistent size and thickness of butter, if I understand what you wrote. So the first thing is to figure out what the cubic volume is in a block of butter. Next decide how thick you want the slab to be and mill some hardwood to that size thickness. I'm thinking that 1/4 to 3/8 inch would be a good thickness as it it twice the thickness of the final roll out and would be the same thickness as the dough roll out the first time. You would tap and roll the butter (encased in parchment or plastic) inside the frame and flatten it. Removing and chilling the butter after for later use.

The hard part of this will be determining What the volume is of the amount of butter in your batch recipe. There would be minor differences in weight/volume ratios between various butter makers depending on water content but these would be so small I think not worth bothering with. I usually use the English method of encasing the butter whereby I form the dough to be 1/3 longer than the size of the butter. So then, I need to make a frame about 8 inches wide on the inside and long enough to equal a pound of butter at say 3/8 inch thick or what ever that thickness turns out to be.

Is that about right Pat?  If this works out, it will resolve my main issue with making croissants, which is forming the butter.

Eric

Comments

proth5's picture
proth5

But you caught me in a bad "frame" of mind.

All those fractions - how will my tiny mind ever be able to understand? 

OK - mostly have that out of my system.

I find that folding the edges of the parchment over the roughly pounded out butter really makes a sturdy enough frame to restrict the dimensions of the butter and keep it in a rectangular shape.  I'm not sure creating a solid wood frame wouldn't cause more aggravation than it would good (you would have to deal with edges of parchment and plastic getting bunched up in the frame, etc.) But it might be worth a shot.  Again, just by getting good folds on sturdy parchment (the reason I don't use plastic) gives me the dimensions for length and width.  If you know what dimensions you want, you can measure and pre fold the parchment paper.  Simpler perhaps.

But I have recently given a lot of thought to using strips of wood to use as guides to roll out the butter block to a given thickness. 

I wish I had the ability to just show the technique on these pages - because it is so simple that it was a revelation to me...but I don't.

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Thanks for your speedy reply.

Now I'm starting to get a better idea of what you were talking about with  the paper frame. You put the roughly shaped butter in the middle and fold the paper into a frame of sorts that restricts expansion when rolling. Yes?

I have some steel band iron I picked up at a local hardware store that are 1/2 inch by36 inches long and 1/8 inch thick. That's what I use to roll out the final dough before cutting. I have also seen silicone bands that are made to slip over the ends of the rolling pin to make it easy to roll out a crust. King Arthur maybe?

Eric

proth5's picture
proth5

Actually I just put an entire cold 1 pound block of Plugra right in the middle of my pre folded parchment and bash the heck out of the thing until it is about the size I want - then - as you realize - just fold up the edges and continue with some light bashing until I get it close to the edges. (That's how we did it in class - noisy, but very sastifying...)

The parchment kind of sticks to the softening butter and sometimes need a bit of adjusting, but it really does hold the butter to a shape.

So simple you will smack you hand to your forehead.  I always knew there was some trick. (Of course, the real trick is to find pre made butter sheets...)

Yeh, I have those silicone rolling bands - somewhere... I haven't been as thrilled with them as one might think.  May be I'm just looking for a more "macha" solution...

gary.turner's picture
gary.turner

Don''t you mean Amazonian? I'm thinking "macha" would reference a feminized man.

cheers,

gary

proth5's picture
proth5

as I see 'em and when I don't see 'em I make 'em up.

After all Humpty Dumpty has taught me that words mean what I want them to mean - no more and no less.

LindyD's picture
LindyD

After all, she's a goddess of the old Ireland.

Nice drawing of her here,  cursing the GOB of Ulster.  ;-)

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Hello, hope you both don't mind me chiming in on your thread.
I remember Mr. Hitz mentioning the butter block frame idea at his seminar at IBIE (proth5, I think you were there too? Wasn't it a great seminar?)

My husband found some 1/4" aluminum square stock in amongst the scraps at our local metals place and welded me up a frame:


The dimensions are (inside measurement) 6.25 x 8.375 inches. I was trying to size the frame for 330g of butter as needed for danish dough as per Mr. Hitz's formula.

(I miscalculated a bit though, as 330g butter caused the butter block to be a wee bit higher than the frame.
Playing with the measurements, I think dimensions of 6.125 x 8.125 inches might be a better size for that quantity of butter, provided you could find 5/16"x5/16" aluminum.)

I lined the frame with plastic wrap prior to rolling into the frame - worked out OK.

I've also made a butter block using Mr. Hitz's parchment paper method; there's video here of Mr. Hitz demonstrating his technique (butter stuff starts at 1:50) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMfZBFQQ_es

Eric, best wishes for success with your frame if you decide to make one.
from breadsong

 

ehanner's picture
ehanner

A moment of clarity has been observed. Thank you so much for linking Mr. Hirtz excellent video. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words. I won't bother building a frame after seeing how nicely parchment works.

I thought the comment about using a paddle on your mixer was interesting also if you were in production. A person could easily make your own butter sheets in advance and freeze them for another day.

I sure wish I could play with a sheeter:>)

Eric

proth5's picture
proth5

I haven't quite got the knack of finding those YouTube videos.

As I said - soooo easy.  I was taught a slight variant, but the principle is the same.

And Eric  - once you play with a sheeter you'll never feel good about using a rolling pin again - you can do it, but you'll always know how much time and effort you could save with a sheeter. BTW - it was Mr Hitz who first taught me to use a sheeter  - he started it all for me...

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Pat, am I sensing a certain fondness for Mr. Hitz? Your first sheeter?

I baked off my batch of croissants today. I can certainly see where repeating the process a few times in the same week would be helpful. My crumb was good but nothing like that of txfarmer. My next purchase will be a good rolling pin. I need a little more of the big stick that comes with speaking softly.

Eric

proth5's picture
proth5

Mr Hitz a lot because unlike "my teacher" - he does not yell at me or give me homework assignments that take me several years and much hard work to do.

Also, I took a class from him on decorative doughs - which is something I was born to do. 

But despite introducing me to a piece of equipment that haunts my dreams - he does not get the title of "my teacher."

I have one of those Matfer jobbies - seen in the video.  As you might guess, it puts a bit of a dent in the wallet, but it really is the best rolling pin I've ever had - and I have had a bunch.

Yes, practice makes better...

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Eric, Pat, glad you liked the video; Eric, like you, I'd love to try using a sheeter someday too - from breadsong

ehanner's picture
ehanner

So I tried to use all my collective knowledge about croissants, knowing the company that reads these things. These taste pretty good and are light and flaky and crusty. I would appreciate constructive comments on how to improve the layer definition. The crumb seems bread like instead of laminated. Also I have seen people crush or squeeze them and they spring back. Mine don't spring back. Even a mediocre croissant tastes good and that's what I have here.

I was careful about keeping the dough cold. The dough got a double and 3 triple turns due to my dough size and poor planning. The dough sat in the chiller for 24 hours waiting for the final roll out. I cut the dough in half after rolling to 18 inches and made 2 batches. So, maybe it was the extra double turn that wrecked the layers?

Eric