Puff Pastry Recipe
You know, it occurred to me just this morning that I’ve never put one of these up, which makes me the a leading contender for the International Captain Obvious “Duh” Award when it’s bestowed in Copenhagen later this year. Lord, what a dimwit I am. Anyway, here’s one I like quite a bit:
For the dough (détrempe):
18 ounces all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
2.5 ounces soft Euro-style (cultured) butter
8 ounces water
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
For the butter slab:
18 ounces cold Euro-stlye (cultured) butter
4 tablespoons flour
In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle, combine the flour and salt and stir on low to combine. Add the butter and continue to stir until it’s evenly distributed, about a minute. Add the water and lemon juice and continue to mix until a dough begins to form. Switch to a dough hook and knead until the dough comes together, about 30 seconds. If there’s still some flour left in the bottom of the bowl, add water by the teaspoon until the dough just comes together. All this can all be done by hand in a bowl if you prefer.
Wrap the ball in plastic and refrigerate it for at least two hours. When ready to laminate the dough, proceed according to Laminating Dough tutorial under the Techniques menu. I find that for this recipe, turning the dough a total of six times — two turns then an hour’s rest in the fridge, two more turns then an hour’s rest in the fridge, and so on — is the best way to go. Be warned that this dough is stiffer and more difficult to roll than croissant or Danish dough. Use a very big pin.
This recipe makes just under three pounds of dough. It can be cut in half or scaled up to whatever degree you wish. It will keep well in the fridge since it contains no yeast, but if you’re planning to keep it for more than four or five days it’s best to wrap it well and freeze it, since the butter will tend to pick up odors and off flavors.
I wondered if this is true; I read it somewhere: Puff pastry circles will always bake into ovals. I haven’t made puff pastry but wondered. I know I’ve seen circles of baked pp, so how do they do it?
Apricot, I sure love your name. I’ve never thought about that before, but I don’t think it’s true. The puff pastry circles you buy in stores generally puff up into reasonably perfect cylinders. I’ll have to give that some more thought. In the meantime try the recipe! 😉
Hi Joe!
I saw your Palmiers tutorial and wondering, oh my, I love this thing, and realy want to bake it… But I wasn’t confident enough, I’m afraid it won’t puff like yours. But your puff pastry recipe is just great, they work good, and my mom loves it. I’ve tried some other recipes before, but yours give better result… Thank you for sharing… It will be a keeper….^^
Midia
Thanks to you, Midia, for writing in and telling me about it. I very, very glad it worked for you. Kudos to you for making your own laminated dough. Not many people have the courage to try it. Very well done!
Cheers,
– Joe
Hi Joe,
Your recipes are great!
Quick question, could you share some insight on why you mention using ” Euro-style (cultured) butter” vs ordinary butter sold in American stores.
Thanks.
Hi Shivam!
No problem at all. You can do a search for those terms and you’ll find plenty of posts about the subject. However in a nutshell cultured butter is more flavorful, since it’s made with milk that has been allowed to ferment slightly. That fermentation also gives it a pleasant little tang as a result of more acid. The fat content is generally higher and the water content lower, and that tends to be a help when puff pastry is baked since water causes the pastry layers to stick together.
I hope that helps, Shivam. Let me know how it goes!
– Joe
Thank you. Yes that was me being lazy, I realized you have already written about this, in the ingredients section under butter.
I will definitely let you know how it turns out. I currently have finished 3 turns, it’s looking good. 3 more to go!
Send pictures if you can!
Cheers,
– Joe
Picture: http://imgur.com/lPynUxw
They were good, but it could have been better. The 6th turn was challenging.
The pastry overall could be baked a little more, and a little thinner would have been ideal.
However I enjoyed the flavor, and I have a lot of puff pastry on my hand now :). Thank you.
They look very good for a first try, Shivam. Keep practicing!
Cheers,
– Joe
Thanks. Going to make some this weekend again, practicing for this holiday party that is coming up.
Any advice on maintaining shape while rolling the dough?
My biggest challenge was while rolling the dough it would extend by width, making it difficult to fold over time. Any advice would be appreciated.
Hello Shivam!
It takes some time to learn how to roll the dough well in both directions. I generally start rolling it the long way (wide), but then work on the height with a lot of short up-and-down strokes starting in the middle of the sheet and working outward toward the ends. It can be challenging to get it to roll evenly, so be patient with it. All I can say is the practice makes perfect!
Cheers,
– Joe