Puff Pastry

This is a recipe for a cheater's puff pastry or a rough puff pastry. It takes only about 30 minutes of active time and about 3 hours total time. The results are great! This is a Roll in Method, which means we are creating lots of layers of butters by rolling with a rolling pin, folding like a letter, chilling, and repeating 4 times. This puff pastry can be used for anything you'd use store bought puff pastry for, but it tastes better and doesn't have all the additives. At the end of the recipe, I show how to make a few of pastries in the photo.

Puff Pastry

What you'll need:

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, very cold

  • 1 Âľ cup all-purpose flour

  • 1 tsp salt

  • ½ cup ice water

EQUIPMENT

  • Measuring cups & spoons

  • Mixing bowl

  • Knife and cutting board

  • Rolling pin

  • Plastic wrap

  • Baking sheets

for shaping the pastries:

  • pizza wheel or small sharp knife

  • pastry brush if you have one

Step 1: Wash your hands


Step 2: Mise en Place

Make sure you have all the ingredients you'll need ahead of time and that they are all cold.

Step 3: Cut your cold butter into 1/2 inch cubes

Don't worry about being perfect, but do make sure they stay cold! If they warm up at all, pop them in the freezer for a few minutes.

Step 4: Measure the dry ingredients into mixing bowl, toss in butter cubes and toss to coat

The dry ingredients are:

  • 1 Âľ cup all-purpose flour

  • 1 tsp salt

Step 5: Add most of the water and use a fork to create dough

Different flours and butters have different moisture contents. Start by adding most of the water and add more as needed. I ended up using a little more than the 1/2 cup called for.

Using a fork or a pastry cutter, smash the butter cubes and incorporate the water at the same time. Don't worry about getting a perfectly smooth dough or incorporating the butter fully, butter chunks are good!

You might need to use your hands towards the end to push the dough together.


When all of the ingredients are holding together, stop mixing. It's ok if you have a few drier spots, and again, butter chunks are good! You'll see lots in my next photo.

Step 6: Roll your dough into a square shape, it's ok if it's not perfect!

See all those beautiful butter chunks? Those are all going to turn into butter sheets as we roll, which turn into flaky layers later.

When we added water, we activated the gluten in the dough. Now it needs to rest, but we also want to keep it cold, so the best place to put it is in the refrigerator. Preshaping it into a square makes it easier to roll after it's rested and chilled and lets it chill more evenly.

Step 7: Wrap in plastic, refrigerate for 30 minutes

Wrap in plastic wrap and place on a baking sheet. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes

Step 8: Complete your first set of folds

Roll your square into a rectangle


Now fold one side in to the center like a trifold letter.


fold the other end on top, you've completed your first fold!

Step 9: Wrap and rest in refrigerator for 30 minutes

Make the dough as squared as possible. I like to mark the dough with the number of folds I've done each time. We're going to do 4 total folds before the dough is ready to use.

Step 10: Repeat rolling and folding process 3 more times with a 30 minute rest between each.

See how the butter is turning into thin sheets now? Perfect.


You'll start to see less and less butter, but as long as you're keeping it cold, it;s there and it's going to work perfectly!


Here's my finished dough. You can use it the same day, but you'll want to give it another rest before rolling it to shape it. I let mine rest overnight and shaped it the next day.

You can use your pastry for so many sweet or savory uses. Regardless of how you use it, you'll want to bake it between 375 F and 400 F until it's puffed up and golden brown. I turned most of mine into little pastries. I'll show you how below!

Egg Wash

For some of the shapes below, you'll need to use a little egg wash as glue. To make the egg wash, just combine 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of water. It is easiest to apply the egg wash with a pastry brush, but if you don't have one, you can use a clean paintbrush (preferably one that's never been used with paint!) or your clean fingers to apply it. Egg wash also gives a shiny gloss to your finished pastries if you brush a thin coat on before baking as I did with all of the pastries below.

Simple Twist

For my twist, I used some nutella as a filling, but you could make a cinnamon paste, jam, or make it savory by using tomato sauce or pesto.


start with a long rectangle

Spread filling across

begin rolling the longest side up

Roll all the way until you have a log

using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut right down the center of the log

Face the exposed filling sides up

pinch the end together

twist the 2 pieces together keeping the filling side up

Cut to desired length and pinch all ends together


Windmill


begin with a square

using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut a diagonal slit in one corner, don't cut all the way to the middle

repeat on all corners creating triangles of dough on each side

brush egg wash into middle of dough

fold the top left corner of each triangle in towards the middle and press gently to glue down

repeat on all sides being sure to take the same side of the triangle for each side




pipe or spoon filling into center of windmill


G Clef


Begin with a square

using a sharp knife, cut a right angle in one corner leaving a little space at the beginning and end

turn the square 180 degrees and repeat

Brush the outer edges of the cut pieces with egg wash

fold cut edges to opposite uncut edge and glue down by gently pressing

repeat on other side

fill window with filling

Braid


Start with a rectangle, normally, I would have used a larger piece of dough, but I wanted to have plenty to use for other shapes

cut slits about 1/2 inch apart down one of the long sides

repeat on other side trying to keep cuts symmetrical on both sides

Add filling to the middle. Don't be tempted to overfill, it'll make the braid really difficult

brush edges of cut pieces with egg wash

fold cut piece from bottom up to the top and gently press to glue

fold cut piece from top to bottom angling down press to glue

repeat alternating sides until all of the pieces have been secured




Turnover


Begin with a square

Put filling of choice on 1/2 of square

Brush egg wash on edges of square

fold square into a triangle and press sides to seal

Using a fork, seal sides

cut vents in the top


Bear Claw


begin with a rectangle

place filling in middle of rectangle

brush egg wash on sides of rectangle

gently press all open sides to seal

Using a sharp knife, cut 3 slits in the side that didn't get egg washed and sealed



Storing Puff Pastry

Because this dough doesn't need to rise before baking it is ideal for freezing either shaped or unshaped, just wrap tightly in plastic or a zip top bag and it should be good to go for up to 6 months. Just remove from freezer and let defrost, use while still cold, but not frozen.


To store baked puff pastry, it does great in an air thight container on the countertop for a few days. For best results, reheat it in an oven for a few minutes before digging in.