← Back to recipes

Pâte Feuilletée

Classic, quick (Felder), and inverted — three approaches to laminated pastry

Varies: 1–3 h active, overnight preferred — 600–700 g (enough for a large tart or galette) — Advanced

Classic (détrempe + beurre)

  • 500 g flour T55
  • 250 g water
  • 10 g fine salt
  • 375 g dry tourage butter

Rapide — Felder

  • 200 g flour
  • 240 g tourage butter, cold, 1 cm cubes
  • 4 tsp caster sugar
  • 3 g fine salt
  • 90 g cold water

Inversée (beurre manié outside)

  • Détrempe:
  • 300 g flour T55
  • 150 g water
  • 5 g fine salt
  • Beurre manié:
  • 300 g tourage butter
  • 100 g flour T55

Three versions of the same idea — alternating layers of dough and butter, folded and re-folded until hundreds of distinct sheets are formed. In the oven, moisture trapped between the layers converts to steam and pushes them apart, creating the characteristic shatter and lift of feuilletage. The classic version is the foundational method. The quick (rapide) version from Felder cuts corners intelligently and produces excellent results for tarts and galettes. The inverted version (inversée), where the butter is on the outside of the dough, yields the crispiest, most layered result of the three — preferred for galette des rois and mille-feuille.

Method

Classic — détrempe

  1. Combine flour, water, and salt. Mix until a smooth, slightly firm dough forms — do not over-knead. Shape into a square, score a cross on top, wrap, refrigerate 1 hour.
  2. Pound the tourage butter between two sheets of parchment into a 20 × 15 cm rectangle, keeping it pliable but cold. It should bend without cracking.
  3. Roll the détrempe to a 20 × 30 cm rectangle. Place the butter block in the centre and fold the dough over it like an envelope, sealing all edges.

Classic — turns

  1. Roll out to 20 × 60 cm. Fold in four (double turn: fold both ends to the centre, then fold the whole thing in half). This is 1 double turn. Wrap, refrigerate 30 min.
  2. Repeat for a total of 3 double turns, chilling 30 min between each. After the third, refrigerate at least 1 hour before using — overnight is better. The dough can be refrigerated up to 3 days or frozen.

Rapide (Felder)

  1. Keep all ingredients cold. Combine flour, cold butter cubes, sugar, and salt — mix briefly, leaving visible butter chunks. Add water and bring together until a shaggy dough forms. Butter pieces should remain intact.
  2. Rest 30–60 min in the fridge.
  3. Roll to 15–20 cm wide. Perform 5 single turns (letter folds), chilling between each if the butter starts to soften. Flour the work surface generously.
  4. Rest at least 1 hour before using.

Inversée

  1. Détrempe: Combine flour, water, and salt into a smooth dough. Do not overwork. Flatten into a square, wrap, and chill at least 1 hour.
  2. Beurre manié: Mix tourage butter and flour together until homogeneous. Shape into a large square. Chill at least 1 hour.
  3. Place the détrempe in the centre of the beurre manié square (roles are reversed: butter is outside). Fold the butter around the dough and enclose completely.
  4. Perform 3 double turns with 1-hour rests between each (longer rests than classic because the high butter content needs more time to firm). Chill overnight before using.

Background

Tourage butter (beurre de tourage or beurre sec) is not standard butter. It has a lower water content and a higher plasticity range, meaning it stays pliable at lower temperatures without breaking. Supermarket butter is too soft at room temperature and too brittle when cold — both failure modes that break the layers rather than extend them. If tourage butter is unavailable, the best substitute is an unsalted AOP Poitou-Charentes.

The classic and inverted versions achieve the same result by different routes. In the classic, the lean dough (détrempe) is on the outside and the fat is inside. In the inversée, the butter-flour paste is on the outside. The inversée is slightly more difficult to handle — the beurre manié tears more easily than the elastic détrempe — but it produces a finer, crispier feuilletage because the butter has more direct contact with the heat of the oven.

The rapide cuts the overnight rest and the détrempe-separately step. The butter pieces are never fully sealed in a block — they remain distributed through the dough and each turn extends them into uneven layers. The result is slightly less regular than classic but perfectly adequate for home tarts and rustic galettes, and the time saving is real.

Temperature governs everything. Work in a cool kitchen (ideally below 20 °C). If the dough starts to feel soft or the butter starts to peek through, stop, wrap, and chill for 20 minutes before continuing. Forcing cold butter that is not yet pliable will break the layers — forcing warm butter that has started to integrate will do the same.

Mistakes I've Made

  • Butter shattering inside the dough. Tried to flatten the tourage butter when it was still too cold. It cracked into shards rather than extending smoothly, creating uneven pockets. Always work the butter just until it bends without cracking.
  • Butter squeezing through the edges during rolling. The détrempe had warmed up and the butter was almost at the same temperature as the dough. Stop and chill immediately — a 20-minute rest usually fixes it.
  • No visible layers in the baked result. Forgot to rest the dough long enough between turns. Gluten that has not relaxed springs back during rolling and compresses the layers. The rest is not optional.
  • Soggy bottom on tarts. Did not dock (prick) the base before blind baking, and the steam created a large pocket under the pastry. Always dock and use baking weights for the first stage.

Sources

  • Pâte feuilletée classique — meilleurduchef.com
  • Pâte feuilletée rapide — encoreungateau.com (Christophe Felder)
  • Pâte feuilletée inversée — meilleurduchef.com
Tonton Frometon — 2026