Plunderteig (German Croissant Dough)

Serves 12

30 mins prep

0 mins cook

240 mins rest tim

270 mins total

Plunderteig is a German pastry dough that's flaky and similar to croissants, but without quite as many layers aka this dough is less work! The butter-laminated yeast dough ends up being a bit more compact than croissant dough, perfect for danishes. Homemade Plunderteig is like a blank canvas for your creativity and the basis for many German pastries or danishes like the best Franzbrötchen (German cinnamon rolls).

Makes 10 to 12 large pastries.

2 servings

Butter Plate

37 ½ gramsbutterRoom temperature. I use grass-fed butter and think it really makes a difference in taste.

5 gramsflour

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Combine the yeast and Luke warm milk and let stand for 5 minutes or until starting to get bubbly. Mix together with other dough ingredients and knead until you have a smooth, elastic dough. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
83 ⅓ grams flour
1 ⅔ grams salt
6 ⅔ grams sugar
50 milliliters milk
1 grams active-dry yeast
Mix the room temperature butter and flour for your butter plate, then roll it out in between two sheets of parchment paper to be a rectangle shape and no more then 1/4 inch thick (about 1/2 cm). Chill it in the fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour. I actually chill mine in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the yeast dough is rolled out and ready for my butter plate.
37 ½ grams butter
5 grams flour
Roll out the yeast dough into a rectangle shape and large enough to perfectly envelope the butter plates from all sides. You want the dough to generously overlap on the seams and no butter should be peaking through.
Simple Lamination. Roll out the packaged butter plate long ways and fold the top down and the bottom up, creating 3 overlapping layers of dough. Wrap in plastic and chill for one hour (or more if your kitchen is warmer).
Double Lamination. Roll out the dough again into an even longer rectangle, then fold the top down into 2 layers, meeting halfway AND the bottom up into 2 layers, meeting halfway. This process creates 4 layers. Wrap in plastic and chill for one hour.
Simple Lamination. Now repeat step 3 and chill again for another hour.
Your dough is ready to be rolled out to be about 1/4 inch thick (1/2 cm) and used for the German pastries of your dreams like my Franzbrötchen (German cinnamon rolls).
When ready to bake your pastries, shape them first. Then let them sit at room temperature for another 30 minutes to an hour (or until wiggly when gently shaking the baking sheet). Brush on an egg wash made from equal parts of egg yolk and water. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes at 350 convection setting.