In praise of very cold butter

People assume great croissants are a secret recipe. They aren't. They're a temperature.

The dough and the butter must start at almost the same temperature — cold enough that the butter stays a solid, discrete sheet, warm enough that it doesn't shatter into a hundred floury crumbs. We rest the dough between folds, and we rest it again after shaping. Patience is an ingredient.

The butter itself is a French-style butter at 84% fat. Less water, more flavour, better lamination. It costs more and it is worth every cent — you can taste the difference between a croissant made with good butter and one made with OK butter, blindfolded.

On a good day the layers shatter when you pull the croissant apart. That's the sound we're chasing at 5am.