Puff Pastry

I feel so French….

 I am even thinking about letting my mustache grow out and have those little swirly ends...

Even more I feel like I stuck it once again to Pepperidge farm….

That itself is worth my arms feeling like they are going to fall off…  

Every time I came across a recipe that called for puff pastry I avoided it.. not that I disliked the pastry… it was more to the fact I disliked spending any amount of money on something I was viewing as a extravagant expense.

And when I felt adventurous I   would go trolling for recipes on how to make it.. “ lots of work” , “ takes forever to make” , “ be prepared to be all day making it” .  

The lazy person inside of me was screaming, “NO!”

Then last night as I was recipe browsing  for brunch idea’s… puff pastry was one that kept popping up… and I just felt like I could do it…

It was really just the fact I was majorly sleep deprived, I tend to make some stupid decisions when there is bags under my eyes.

So I made it…

I had a Silence of the lambs moment …After the final roll of this dough I wanted to wear it… it was so smooth and silky….

Butter…. I slice the sticks length wise like so…

With another piece of wax paper laid on top I flattened the butter to about ½ inch thick.  Stick that in the freezer for about 20 minutes

In mixing bowl add your flour and salt

With the dough hook add the water

Mix until the sides of your bowl is clean…

In a floured counter pat our your disk of “dough” to a large flat round thingy… let rest 10 minutes…

Get side tracked with the cake you are making and everything ends up resting for about ten minutes more…

Roll out your dough to a large rectangle. Add your disk of butter

Add fold the dough over the sides of the butter like so…

Roll out… carefully.. with this first round of rolling, your butter can pop out, just make sure you smoosh the dough back around it before you roll over it.. we want the butter IN the dough… not out.

Fold in thirds and roll out again..

Again in thirds , I poked two dimples on the pastry so I would know what number I was at with the rolling… since I had 15 irons in the fire and didn’t want to lose track

Continue two more times.. each time rolling out, folding, rolling out, folding.

I am making a Danish ring ( sticks out tongue at panera bread) for brunch so I just trimmed off the ends of the dough to bake some… 

Print Recipe

Puff Pastry


Ingredients:


2-1/2 cups bread flour
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup water, or as needed
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature




Directions:
Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer that is fitted with a dough hook. Gradually stir in water until the dough holds together enough to clean the sides of the bowl. You may not need the full amount of water. Shape into a flat ball, and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes.
Place the butter between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound into a flat disc using a rolling pin or other heavy object. Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a large rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Place the disc of chilled butter in the center and fold the two ends over it so that it is completely encased in dough. Roll out the dough again, taking care not to let the butter break through the dough, to about 1/2 inch thickness. Fold into thirds. This is the first ''turn''. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and roll out into a rectangle again. Fold into thirds. By this time the butter is starting to warm up. Place the dough on a baking sheet and mark it with two pokes from your finger (two turns). Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Repeat this rolling, folding and turning two more times, then refrigerate until firm. Repeat two more times for a total of 6 ''turns''. Wrap and refrigerate. The dough is now ready to roll out and use in any recipe calling for puff pastry. Roll the dough out as thin as 1/4 inch to make pastries. Bake in a preheated oven of at least 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) to get the maximum puff from your pastry