Laminated dough formulas: croissant, Danish and puff pastry beurrage ratios and layer counts

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Formulas, not just technique

The companion article A6-laminated-dough-fundamentals explains why lamination works — alternating sheets of dough and fat, steam pushing them apart, the melting fat frying and sealing each layer so they cannot stick back together [src-foodcrumbles-puff; src-bakeinfo-puff]. This article is the recipe book: complete, tested formulas you can scale and put on the bench tomorrow.

Every formula here is written in baker's percentage, the universal language of professional formulas. Flour is always 100%, and every other ingredient is expressed as a percentage of the flour weight: ingredient % = (ingredient weight ÷ flour weight) × 100 [src-kingarthur-bakerspct]. Hydration is just the liquid expressed the same way. The pay-off is that one formula serves a 500 g test bake and a 100 kg plant run — only the flour weight changes.

The one number that defines a laminated dough is the beurrage ratio — how much roll-in fat you carry relative to flour. Quote it two ways and you will never be confused: as a % of flour (the formula figure) and as a % of the total package (what you weigh on the bench). A croissant at 56% of flour is only ~24% of the finished dough [c2].

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Three doughs by the numbers

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The technique is shared; the formula is what separates the three classics. See data.json table-a8ld-beurrage-ratios for the full grid.

| Dough | Roll-in fat (% flour) | Roll-in fat (% total) | Folds | Fat layers | |---|---|---|---|---| | Croissant (yeasted) | 50–60% (56%) [c2] | ~24–28% [c2] | lock-in + 3 single [c5] | 27 [c23] | | Danish (yeasted + egg) | 40–60% (50%) [c9; c10] | ~20–25% [c9] | 3 single [c12] | 27 [c23] | | Full puff (unleavened) | 100% (1:1) [c13] | ~38% [c18] | 6 single [c17] | 729 [c18] | | Three-quarter puff | 75% [c13] | ~33% | 6 single | 729 | | Half puff | 50% [c13; c14] | ~25% | 6 single | 729 | | Rough/blitz puff | 70–75% [c20] | ~30% | 4 single [c20] | 81 |

The puff family is classified purely by fat: full puff uses equal weights of fat and flour (1:1), three-quarter puff 75%, half puff 50% [c13]. The hard floor is half — go below ~50% of flour and the layers fuse, the dough cannot rise, and you have made a brick [c14].

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The croissant formula

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A croissant is a moderately enriched yeasted dough laminated with a butter block. The worked example below (formula-a8ld-croissant) is the Weekend Bakery classic French croissant converted to baker's % [src-weekendbakery-croissant]:

| Ingredient | Baker's % | Grams | |---|---|---| | Medium-strong flour (~11–12.5% protein) | 100% | 500 g | | Water | 28% | 140 g | | Whole milk | 28% | 140 g | | Sugar | 11% | 55 g | | Soft butter (in dough) | 8% | 40 g | | Instant yeast | 2.2% | 11 g | | Salt | 2.4% | 12 g | | Détrempe subtotal | 179.6% | 898 g | | Roll-in butter (beurrage) | 56% of flour | 280 g | | Total laminated dough | 235.6% | 1178 g |

Hydration (water + milk) is 56% [c3]; the beurrage is 56% of flour = 23.8% of the total package [c2]; yield is ~15 croissants at ~78 g each pre-bake [c4]. Mix to a smooth, not fully developed dough (22–25°C), retard overnight, lock in the butter at matched plasticity, then 3 single folds with 30-minute chills, sheet to 3–4 mm, shape, proof at 24–26.5°C for ~2 h and bake convection 195°C→165°C or conventional ~220°C [c5; c6].

For a richer, more open crumb, swap the three single folds for one letter + one book fold (~25 layers) — King Arthur showed that fewer folds keep the butter thick enough to make separating steam, giving a defined honeycomb instead of a tight, cell-like crumb [c24]. King Arthur's own bakery formula scales the same idea to 24 croissants from ~1.8 kg dough with a 425 g butter block [c7].

Flour is the quiet decision. You want a medium-strong, extensible flour — strong enough to hold the layers, not so strong it snaps back and tears during sheeting [c36]. From the catalogue, FWP Matthews Windrush sits at 12.0–12.5% protein (target 12.2%) with a Hagberg falling number of 250–400 [c32], and GoodMills Type 750 at ~11% protein, wet gluten min 28% [c33] — both in the sweet spot. Butter is Polmlek Unsalted 82% (min 82% fat, 16% water — and that water is part of the steam lift) [c28; c37], or the dedicated Agart Tourage Croissant Butter. In a warm bakery, reach for a roll-in margarine instead (see below).

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The Danish formula

A Danish (wienerbrød) is a croissant taken richer — more sugar and an egg — so it eats softer and a touch chewier. The worked example (formula-a8ld-danish) blends soft and strong flour to dial back the strength [src-saltbuttersmoke-danish]:

| Ingredient | Baker's % | Grams | |---|---|---| | Plain (soft) flour | 60% | 360 g | | Strong (bread) flour | 40% | 240 g | | Total flour | 100% | 600 g | | Caster sugar | 13.3% | 80 g | | Salt | 2.0% | 12 g | | Whole milk | 28.3% | 170 g | | Water | 16.7% | 100 g | | Egg | 8.3% | 50 g | | Dried active yeast | 2.0% | 12 g | | Soft butter (in dough) | 10% | 60 g | | Détrempe subtotal | 180.7% | 1084 g | | Roll-in butter (beurrage) | 50% of flour | 300 g (+25 g flour in block) |

Hydration is 45% (milk + water), rising to ~53% if you count the egg as liquid [c11]; the beurrage is 50% of flour = 21.3% of the package [c9], which sits squarely in the authentic 40–60% Danish window [c10]. Method: chill the mixed dough 12–16 h, 3 single folds with 90° rotation and 30-minute chills, shape (spandauer, windmills, combs), proof 2–3 h and bake 220°C for 16–18 min [c12].

Because the sugar load is high, the yeast works against osmotic pressure. Dose ~2% dried active, or switch to about 1% osmotolerant instant for cleaner, more reliable gas production in sweet doughs — see A2-osmotolerant-yeast-enriched-doughs [c38]. Fresh Lesaffre Benevia (dry matter >29%, fermentative activity 125 ± 10 ml CO₂) is the bench standard [c35].

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The puff pastry ratio card

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Puff pastry (pâte feuilletée) is unleavened — steam does 100% of the lifting — so the formula is almost all about the fat ratio. The détrempe is constant; you simply choose your puff class (formula-a8ld-puff-ratio). Worked full-puff example at 1 kg flour:

| Ingredient | Baker's % | Grams | |---|---|---| | Medium-strength flour | 100% | 1000 g | | Cold water | 52.5% | 525 g | | Salt | 1.8% | 18 g | | Soft butter in détrempe (optional) | 10% | 100 g | | Détrempe subtotal | 164.3% | 1643 g | | Roll-in fat — FULL puff | 100% of flour | 1000 g | | Total (full puff) | 264.3% | 2643 g |

For three-quarter puff use 750 g of fat (75%); for half puff 500 g (50%) [c13]. The détrempe carries about 10% soft fat rubbed into the flour and ~50–55% water [c15], and everything stays cold — dough 2–7°C, room 10–20°C [c25]. Give six single turns (or three book folds), resting 15–30 minutes between sets, which builds 729 fat layers (3⁶) [c18]. Bake at ~220°C [c19]. King Arthur's tested classic puff is effectively a three-quarter puff — 510 g flour détrempe with a 396 g (77.6%) butter block — proof of how the ratio card maps onto a real recipe [c17].

In a hot kitchen, fat choice rescues the formula. Kruszwica Maestra Puff Pastry Margarine 80% holds an SFC of 33–37% at 20°C and is worked at 18–20°C — wider and more forgiving than butter's 12–16°C window [c29; c37]. For the warmest plants, Cardowan Crown NHAV has a slip melting point of 47°C and is fully vegan with all 14 allergens absent [c31]. Puratos Mimetic 32 and Argenta are further roll-in options.

The fast alternative: rough/blitz puff

When time is short, skip the butter block. Cube cold fat into the flour and fold it in directly (formula-a8ld-rough-puff): flour 100%, butter or shortening 70–75%, water 59%, salt 0.5–1.0%, lemon juice 1.0% [c20]. Four single folds give ~81 layers — less soaring than classic puff, but a fraction of the work.

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Counting layers and scaling the formula

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The maths is simple once you fix the convention (table-a8ld-fold-maths): a single (letter) fold ×3, a book (double) fold ×4, and dough layers = (2 × fat layers) + 1 [c21; c22]. From one enclosed fat sheet, three single folds give 27, six give 729 [c18; c23]. (The simple multiplication slightly overstates the functional layer count because folding presses dough onto dough; the Universal Numbering System subtracts those dough-touching points — see A6 for the full discussion [src-pastryarts-lamination].)

Scaling is equally mechanical. To hit a target dough weight, sum all the percentages, divide the target by that sum to get a conversion factor, and multiply each ingredient by it [src-kingarthur-bakerspct]. The croissant détrempe totals 179.6%; to make 5 kg of détrempe the factor is 5000 ÷ 1.796 = 2784 g of flour, and every other ingredient follows. Or simply scale by flour: a 500 g test batch × 20 becomes a 10 kg production batch with the same percentages — water 2800 g, roll-in butter 5600 g, and so on.

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Pain au chocolat: same dough, different shape

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Pain au chocolat is not a new formula — it is the croissant dough (formula-a8ld-croissant) cut into rectangles and rolled around chocolate (formula-a8ld-pain-au-chocolat). Sheet to 3–4 mm, cut ~10 × 15 cm (4 × 6 in) rectangles [c27], lay a bake-stable chocolate baton near the edge, roll once, add a second baton, and finish seam-side down [c27]. Commercial professional batons typically weigh 8–10 g each; dark couverture batons from the catalogue run ~44–70% cocoa (Terravita 70%, Callebaut 811 at 54.5%). From the catalogue use PGD Dark Chocolate Sticks 8 cm (purpose-made batons) or cut Callebaut 811 / Terravita 70% couverture to size. Allergen note: commercial dark chocolate batons almost universally contain soya lecithin (SOY) and many carry a milk may-contain advisory — verify each product's current specification before labelling [reg-eu-1169]. Proof and bake exactly as croissants.

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Faults that live in the formula

Most lamination faults are handling and temperature (covered in A6), but several are recipe problems you fix on paper, not at the bench (fault-a8ld-01):

• No rise, layers fused → beurrage below 50% of flour; raise it to at least half puff [c14].
• Heavy, greasy, low → too much fat for the structure, or fat smeared warm; drop toward three-quarter puff and respect the working temperatures [c37].
• Tears and snaps back → flour too strong / under-hydrated; professional references recommend a medium-strong flour in the ~10–12.5% protein range (BAKERpedia: 10–11%; catalogue options such as Windrush and GoodMills T750 sit at the upper end of this band, 11–12.5%); also raise détrempe hydration and lengthen the rest between folds [c36].
• Tight, cell-like croissant crumb → too many folds; cut back to ~25 layers [c24].
• Fat leaks at the base → proofing above the fat's melting point; proof ≤26°C, or use a high-melting-point fat in warm conditions [c26; c31].

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Food-safety and allergen note (flagged for review)

All numeric specs above come from first-party supplier spec sheets, but allergen and nutrition data must be confirmed against current batch documentation before labelling. In particular: Polmlek butter contains MILK [c28]; Kruszwica Maestra (a 2009 spec) lists soya lecithin and a may-contain milk warning — this allergen data is 17 years old and MUST be re-confirmed in writing before any labelling use [c30]; the détrempe flours (Windrush, GoodMills T750, Komplexmłyn T550) contain gluten with a soy/lupine/mustard contamination risk — lupine cross-reactivity is clinically significant for peanut-allergic individuals [c32; c33; c34]; Benevia yeast carries sulphites in its production molasses (below the labelling threshold, but operators catering to high-risk groups should request quantified SO₂ data from Lesaffre) [c35]; and pain au chocolat chocolate batons (PGD Dark Chocolate Sticks, Callebaut 811, Terravita 70%) typically contain soya lecithin (SOY) and may carry a milk may-contain advisory [c27]. The 14 declarable allergens follow Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 [reg-eu-1169]. Treat every allergen and nutrition figure here as provisional pending human review.

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Coverage report

Solid: the beurrage ratios, hydrations, fold schemes and layer maths are cross-checked across King Arthur, BAKERpedia, BakeInfo (trade body) and the supplier specs, and every formula card's internal arithmetic has been verified. Five formula cards (croissant, Danish, full/three-quarter/half puff ratio card, rough puff, pain au chocolat) cover the laminated canon.

Thinner: the full/three-quarter/half puff classification leans partly on lower-reliability recipe sites, though it is corroborated by the BakeInfo trade body. Product-specific numerics (SFC, slip melting point, protein, falling number) are single-source first-party spec sheets — appropriate as product data but not independently cross-checkable, hence specs_cross_checked: false.

Follow-up: confirm Kruszwica Maestra's current allergen/nutrition data in writing before any labelling use; add a sourdough/levain croissant variant and an inverse (inversé) puff ratio card in a later pass; cross-link to the planned A8-bakers-percentage-fundamentals and A8-scaling-and-yield-conversion articles once written.