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.