Method
Enough already with the… just buy your Puff Pastry from the supermarket it’s a lot easier and tastes just a good. It doesn’t and you should really try to make it yourself just once, to see how easy it is. Puff is a key patisserie building block. Master it and delights such as millefeuille and proper sausage rolls are yours.
This recipe works well but only if using butter straight from the fridge.
- If using a stand mixer. Place all the ingredients together in a bowl other than the butter. Chop the 65g portion of butter into small pieces and add that to the bowl. Mix with a paddle attachment until all combined - about 3 minutes on the lowest setting. The pastry doesn’t need to be smooth and uniform at this stage. The subsequent working of the pastry, when folded together with the butter, will achieve that. Cover in cling and rest in the fridge.
- If making by hand. Add the flours to a large bowl and add the 65g portion of butter. Rub the butter in by hand until you have a fine breadcrumb texture. Add all the other ingredients, other than the remaining 18g butter and mix until all combined. Tip the pastry out and kneed briefly until the dough has come together. The pastry doesn’t need to be smooth and uniform at this stage. The subsequent working of the pastry, when folded together with the butter, will achieve that. Cover in cling and rest in the fridge.
- Place the 185g of butter between two sheets of greaseproof paper. Shape into a rectangle 1cm deep by pressing the butter flat with a rolling pin.
- Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out on a lightly floured surface. Roll to a rectangle just twice the width of the butter block and just larger than the length. Place the block on one half of the pastry and fold over the second half to cover the butter. Seal in the block by tightly pressing together the pastry edges.
- Gently roll out the pastry being careful to keep the butter from breaking up into pieces. This is particularly easy to do with the first folds when the butter is thick. Roll the pastry out to 3 times it’s width.
- With the pastry laid out with its longest side in front of you, fold the left hand third of the pastry onto the central third. Now fold the right hand third over the top of that. Cover in cling and allow to rest in the fridge for 30minutes.
- Remove from the fridge. Turn the pastry 90 degrees and roll it out again until it is 3 times its width. Repeat the fold. Turn the pastry 90 degrees again, roll out and make a third fold.
- Wrap in cling again and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes again. Remove and make 2 further folds. (now 5 in total)
- Rest the pastry in the fridge again for 30 minutes before using.
Ingredients
125g plain flour
125g strong bread flour
1/3 tsp table salt
90g water
1tsp white wine vinegar
250g cold unsalted butter - divided into 185g and 65g amounts
Tim’s Top Tip
Puff pastry freezes brilliantly. Wrap it tightly in cling film after its made and it will sit happily in the freezer for 3 months.
To use up any puff pastry trimmings, try dusting the unbaked puff with a mixture of caster sugar and a little cinnamon. Roll the puff up into a sausage shape and cut small 1cm thick rounds. Flatten the rounds slightly and bake in the oven until golden. Perfect.
