In Praise of Scrap Pastry

Leftover puff pastry is indeed a many-splendored thing, and another reason to never, ever throw anything with that much butter in it away. I keep a scrap ball in a sandwich bag in the freezer. It starts out the size of a walnut, and in a couple of months is usually about the size of a baseball — just ready to be rolled and cut into any number of things. Like parmesan twists.

You start by thawing your scrap ball in the fridge overnight. The next day, roll it out into a rough rectangle (don’t worry about folding or mashing the dough, the perfect layers are wrecked already, but they’ll still puff up somewhat). Then just cut it into strips:

Next, holding one end of the strip down with a finger, stretch and twist the dough to whatever extent you wish.

Sprinkle liberally with parmesano reggiano and bake at 400 degrees for about twenty minutes or until golden brown.