Bread & Dough Techniques

Tourage

Also: tourage, turns, folds, lamination folds, tours

The sequence of rolling and folding that creates alternating dough-and-butter layers in laminated pastry; each turn type and the total number determine final layer count and texture.

/too-RAHZH/French, from tour (turn); the full term is tourages or nombre de tours (number of turns), a technical count central to professional pâtisserie formulas.

Definition

Tourage refers collectively to the folding and rolling operations that build up lamination in feuilletage. Each cycle — rolling the dough-butter package into a long rectangle, then folding it back on itself — is called a turn (tour), and the number and type of turns determine how many discrete butter-dough layers the finished pastry contains. Two fundamental fold types are used: the letter fold (tour simple or single turn) folds the slab in thirds, tripling the layer count; the book fold (tour double or double turn) folds both short ends to the center then folds in half again, quadrupling the layer count. Classic puff pastry typically receives five or six single turns (729 to 2,187 layers), while croissant dough commonly receives three double turns (64 layers, with yeast providing additional lift). Between every two turns, the dough must be refrigerated to re-firm the butter and relax the gluten — rushing this step causes butter to smear or the dough to tear. Orientation matters: the dough is always placed on the work surface with its open edge (the fold facing outward) to the right like a book, ensuring each roll elongates in the same axis as the previous fold and does not bias the lamination. A consistent rolling pressure and a light flour dusting prevent sticking without drying the surface. Too few turns yield large, visible butter pockets and uneven lift; too many turns risk the butter and dough homogenizing rather than remaining as distinct laminae, producing a bread-like crumb rather than shatteringly crisp pastry.

In use

“After completing the third double tour, the tourage was paused for a 45-minute refrigeration rest before the final two single turns.”

Related terms

Tour simpleTour doubleLetter foldBook foldFeuilletageDétrempe BeurragePâte levée feuilletée

References

1.Advanced Bread and Pastry — Michel Suas
2.The Professional Pastry Chef — Bo Friberg
3.Baking and Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft — The Culinary Institute of America
4.Le Cordon Bleu Pâtisserie and Baking Foundations — Le Cordon Bleu Schools

Confidence: high

Notes

Layer count formulas

Starting layers before any fold = 1 (one butter layer between two dough layers). After n single turns: 3^n layers. After n double turns: 4^n layers. A mixed schedule — say 2 double turns and 2 single turns — gives 4^2 × 3^2 = 144 layers. Many classic puff pastry formulas target 730–1,460 layers, which corresponds to 6–7 single turns; beyond roughly 2,000 layers the laminae become so thin they merge during rolling and baking.

Dough orientation between turns

Consistent orientation — always placing the dough so its last open edge faces the same direction (traditionally to the right) before rolling — ensures each turn rolls along the same grain axis. Rotating 90° between turns is a common shortcut but subtly biases the lamination, producing slight directional variation in lift. Professionals maintain orientation throughout.

Signs of compromised tourage

Visible butter blotches on the cut edge after the final turn indicate butter that ruptured through dough layers. An opaque, unified cross-section without distinct lines of white and yellow indicates the butter has smeared and lamination has been lost. Either fault means the finished bake will lack the characteristic shattering flake of proper feuilletage.