Brioche Feuilletée

Flake It Till You Make It- the art of laminated pastry!

Hello friends!

After a week out eating my weight in tortillas in Guatemala, I am back! If Guatemala isn’t on your list of places to travel, it should be! I shared a full 7-day itinerary on my blog that you can check out!

REMINDER: James Beard Platform Event in NYC- March 9th

There are just a few more tickets left for my afternoon tea and baking demo at the James Beard Platform! I’ll be demoing how to make her Masala Chai and Kesar pista cream puffs, and you guys will get to taste a selection of decadent treats from my cookbook while sipping chai and women-made wines! Ticket sales end March 7th!

Brioche Feuilletée

This week for Runways to Recipes, I made a dessert inspired by Gaurav Gupta, an Indian designer known for his structural and 3D-like dresses! He’s dressed Beyonce, Shakira, and many more! The folks over on Instagram picked this gorgeous beige structural dress as the inspiration.

I immediately knew I had to make some sort of laminated pastry! The dress's gathers and pleating reminded me of pastry layers, and he curves and swoops would be easily done with a laminated brioche dough!

Laminated dough is a type of pastry dough that consists of multiple thin layers of butter and dough, created through a process of folding and rolling. This technique traps steam between the layers during baking, creating a flaky, airy, and crisp texture.

Some examples of pastries made with laminated dough include croissants, danishes, puff pastry, and laminated brioche! This is a challenging pastry to make by hand, most bakeries use sheeters (machines that roll out the dough) and have temperature-controlled kitchens that they bake in.

To make laminated brioche, you first make brioche dough and then use that to enclose a sheet of butter, which you then roll out and fold multiple times to create the layers of butter and dough.

For this recipe I HIGHLY recommend using a scale. It’s mandatory. You want to ensure the ratios of dry to wet ingredients are exact to get the right dough consistency.

For my yeast I used instant yeast, which is different from active dry yeast! You can learn more about the differences here on a previous newsletter. I use SAF instant yeast and store it in the freezer. I’ve had mine since the pandemic, and it’s still working!

Another ingredient you want to pay attention to is the butter. Make sure to use European butter. The main difference between American and European-style butter is the butterfat content:

🧈 American Butter

• Butterfat Content: Around 80%

• Texture: Firmer, less creamy

• Flavor: Mild, slightly sweet

• Common Brands: Land O’Lakes, Tillamook, Challenge

• Best For: General baking, cooking, and spreading

🧈 European-Style Butter

• Butterfat Content: Around 82-85%

• Texture: Softer, silkier

• Flavor: Richer, more pronounced buttery or creamy taste

• Common Brands: Plugrá, Kerrygold, Président

• Best For: Laminated doughs (croissants, puff pastry), sauces, and richer baked goods

The higher butterfat in European-style butter makes laminated dough flakier and more tender. European butter also tends to melt faster so you need to pay attention to your temperature. I wouldn’t recommend making this recipe on a hot day!

For my ganache, I used Dulcey Chocolate from Valrhona. This is a blond, almost caramelized white chocolate.

Laminated pastries are hard to make, so keep that in mind as you make them! It’s okay if you fail or if they look wonky; just toss them all in cinnamon sugar, bake them off, and enjoy them (I do this with the edge scraps!). The only way to improve at making laminated pastries is to keep practicing! I ended up editing a long format video for you guys since I found it easier to learn through visual aid!

This recipe is for paid subscribers. If you’re looking for free recipes, check out my blog Milk & Cardamom.