Puff Pastry from Scratch (with Video)

Puff Pastry, feuilletage or pâte feuillettée in French, is a light-weight, flaky pastry of a laminated dough made with layers of butter and dough. It’s the base for desserts like napoleons, pastries like Quesitos or fruit turnovers, and savory recipes like beef wellington and cheese straws. On this tutorial, I’ll train you the whole lot that you must know to attain success when making your dough. 

This text was initially revealed in October 2019. I’ve up to date the recipe to incorporate metric measurements and snazzy new footage.

What’s Puff Pastry?

My most tense class in culinary faculty was Classical Pastries. Chef Jan Bandula was the teacher, and he was additionally a Licensed Grasp Pastry Chef. And he was European. Failure was not an choice in any of his programs. However Chef Bandula additionally wished us to win. He by no means made us really feel like idiots if our bread didn’t rise or our chocolate didn’t arrange. Due to him, I veered off of the culinary course I started culinary faculty on and navigated straight to the pastry store. One of many recipes I discovered in Chef Bandula’s class, which I nonetheless maintain expensive to my coronary heart, is Puff Pastry. 

The 2 parts of puff pastry are the détrempe and the beurrage. A combination of flour, butter, and water make up the détrempe. The beurrage is solely butter mashed along with flour, an acid (lemon juice), and salt. The butter combination is wrapped contained in the dough, and the 2 change into one. You find yourself with a dough with at the least 513 layers of fats and dough. In the long run, your pastries have dozens of layers of flaky, crisp, buttery goodness. 

The place does Puff Pastry come from?

Puff pastry is a French invention. The basic French preparation of this recipe ends in a pastry of 1,500 layers. This obscene quantity of flakiness is the place the French pastry, napoleons, will get its title mille-feuille, which suggests “a thousand leaves.” 

Why make Puff Pastry from scratch?

Earlier than starting this recipe, that you must know that it requires time. The preparation and folding are usually not troublesome, nor does this recipe require superior pastry abilities. Most individuals keep away from making puff pastry at house as a result of it requires a few hours to make from begin to end. However, most of that point is the required chilling time that the dough should bear to make the puff pastry correctly. In case you don’t rely the chilling intervals, making the puff pastry takes lower than an hour.

Making puff pastry from scratch is as simple as making pie dough. Do-it-yourself puff pastry additionally tastes butterier than store-bought dough. You most likely have all the substances to make puff pastry in your kitchen. Briefly, making puff pastry dough from scratch is price it as a result of it tastes higher, you have already got the whole lot you want, and simply because you may. 

What substances are in Puff Pastry?

You solely want 6 substances to make puff pastry. A kind of is chilly water, so, technically, you solely want 5.

Breaking this recipe down into the 2 components of the détrempe and the beurrage, I begin with the beurrage as a result of it wants to sit back so long as the détrempe and it’s messier. You want unsalted butter, bread flour, lemon juice, and kosher salt to make the butter layer for the puff pastry. The one piece of apparatus you want is a mixing bowl. Possibly a knife to chop the butter into small items, however that’s it.

Can I exploit a special fats to make Puff Pastry?

You shouldn’t make puff pastry with any fats apart from butter. Loads of fat are marketed because the “smartest thing” for puff pastry, however they’re mendacity. I’d by no means misinform you. Overlook the calorie rely on this recipe. That’s not what we’re right here to do. Puff pastry has a major calorie rely as a result of it’s a butter-layered dough. Butter is the one fats worthy of this decadent pastry. It melts in your mouth, leaves layers as crisp as fallen fall leaves, and tastes chic.

Traditional European puff pastry is made by hand. Use the heat of your palms to mash the room temperature butter right into a clean paste. Break up the larger chunks till the butter resembles peanut butter. You should use a hand mixer for this when you have dexterity or different points together with your palms.

Add the bread flour, lemon juice, and salt to the paste within the bowl. Including the bread flour creates a free dough that’s nearer to the consistency of the dough layer than butter alone. Moreover, the lemon juice provides the butter some pliability to make it “stretch” together with the détrempe.

Use your palms (or an electrical mixer) to mix the flour and the remainder of the substances into the butter. After getting a clean paste, you may type it to sit back.

What do I have to make the Détrempe?

You want all-purpose flour, bread flour, unsalted butter, kosher salt, and ice chilly water for the dough portion of this recipe.

The gear you want for this stage is a mixing bowl, a pointy knife (or bench scraper), and, ultimately, a rolling pin.

Do I’ve to make use of two forms of flour?

Puff pastry is combined precisely like pie dough is. The explanation you employ two forms of flour to make puff pastry is to present the dough a stability of proteins. All-purpose is a softer flour, that means it doesn’t have a excessive protein content material. Bread flour, then again is a tough flour. It has the next proportion of protein than most different flours. In case you had been to make puff pastry with solely bread flour, you’d combat in opposition to it and the tip outcome could be an inferior product in peak and texture. All-purpose flour cuts the bread flour to make it extra pleasant to the folding course of it’s about to bear.

Mix the 2 flours and the kosher salt on a clear work floor or use your palms to combine them collectively in a big mixing bowl.

What’s the distinction between Puff Pastry and pie dough?

Take the butter and grate, lower, or tear it into 1/4-inch items or skinny shreds. Use your fingers to chop the butter into the flours till the combination appears to be like coarse and sandy, like coarse-cut cornmeal. If in case you have a meals processor, it’s also possible to use it as a substitute of your palms to do that, however I discover it warms the butter an excessive amount of and makes the détrempe gummy. 

Collect the combination right into a pile, then use the underside of a measuring cup to type a nicely within the heart of the pile.

Pour the ice-cold water into the nicely (or over the flour within the bowl) and use your hand or a bench scraper to fold the flour into the water.

Knead the whole lot collectively simply till the combination kinds a mushy dough. Don’t over-mix the dough since you don’t need to develop an excessive amount of gluten. Producing extra gluten by mixing will trigger the completed dough to shrink again whilst you attempt to roll out the puff pastry later.

Type the combination right into a impolite rectangle form and wrap it in plastic wrap. Switch the dough to the fridge and let it chill for 10-Quarter-hour. This offers the gluten within the dough an opportunity to chill out.

You’ll be able to freeze the dough at this level, however you’ll need to thaw it and produce it to the correct consistency earlier than continuing. 

What’s laminated dough?

You haven’t made puff pastry but. That solely occurs whenever you mix the beurrage and the détrempe. Puff pastry is a laminated dough. Another examples of laminated dough are croissants and danishes. A laminated dough is one by which fats and dough are folded over each other to create a number of layers. Some laminated doughs have added leaveners to assist the dough rise, however puff pastry depends solely on steam for its peak. The water within the layers of butter shortly evaporates within the highly regarded oven, disappearing and leaving as a replacement empty pockets. These pockets between the crisp layers of dough give the puff pastry its flaky texture.  

Puff pastry is made with three four-fold turns of dough. Folding within the butter layer doesn’t rely as a flip or fold when making puff pastry.

Use a heavy rolling pin to roll the dough out into a big rectangle that round about 20-inches (50 cm) lengthy by 15-inches (38 cm) large. Measurements don’t need to be actual, however you need to roll it out, so it’s between 1/4 to 1/3-inch thick. Attempt to make or preserve the corners as sq. as attainable. Use an offset spatula to unfold the butter combination over 2/3rds of the dough layer. The butter layer needs to be spreadable, however not oozing. Be certain that to maintain the butter in an excellent layer.

What number of occasions do I’ve to fold the Puff Pastry?

Fold the unbuttered dough third over the adjoining third. Then, fold the remaining third over the uncovered dough. That is very similar to folding a letter.

Switch the dough-butter bundle to a sheetpan and canopy it evenly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for Quarter-hour to present the gluten within the dough an opportunity to chill out.

After Quarter-hour, uncover the dough and roll it right into a rectangle about 20-inches (50 cm) lengthy by 15-inches (38 cm) large. The dough can be about 1/4 to 1/3-inch thick. 

Fold the 2 quick ends into the middle of the dough so their edges meet in the course of the rectangle. Subsequent, take one of many quick edges and fold it over the opposite, such as you’re closing a e book. 

That is your first of three 4-folds.  

Why is it arduous to roll out the Puff Pastry?

After the primary flip is accomplished, return the “e book of dough” to the sheetpan and canopy it with the plastic movie. Chill the dough for 25-Half-hour to present the gluten an opportunity to chill out. 

Flip the dough 90 levels so the size turns into the width, or so the quick ends are on the left and proper. You’re going to show your dough this manner after each fold to make sure your puff pastry layers are constant and rolled in each course.

Roll the dough out lengthwise right into a rectangle with the identical dimensions as the primary rectangle. Maintain these corners as sq. as you may. Don’t press down when rolling. As an alternative, roll evenly and easily. Additionally, attempt to not run over and down the perimeters of the dough. This retains the layers of dough from sticking collectively.

That is your second 4-fold flip. Give the dough an opportunity to relaxation one other 25-Half-hour earlier than repeating these steps as soon as extra for a complete of three 4-fold turns. 

In case you discover that the dough is simply too arduous to roll out, it’s almost certainly as a result of it was over-mixed in the course of the making of the détrempe. Giving it extra relaxation time might assist, however you may need to go away it in a single day to present the gluten some time to relaxation. 

What’s the distinction between Puff Pastry and Blitz Puff Pastry?

A fast word on the distinction between the 2. 

Blitz puff pastry differs from puff pastry in that it doesn’t comprise a butter layer. As an alternative, extra butter is lower into the flour, and the ensuing dough is folded over, rolled out, and folded over once more. My Buttermilk Biscuits recipe makes use of this method. 

As soon as the dough is completed, divide it into 4 items of equal (or as near equal) weights. I normally get 3 1-pound 9-ounce bricks and one that’s heavier. You’ll be able to eyeball it, although. Wrap every bit of puff pastry in a layer of plastic wrap and retailer them in a lined container or meals storage bag for as much as 4 days. 

What do I exploit Puff Pastry for?

Puff pastry can be utilized to make most of your favourite breakfast pastries, like:

And so many different recipes. You should use one piece of puff pastry for many recipes that decision for a bundle (or field) of store-bought dough. 

How skinny do I roll the dough?

When rolling out puff pastry dough on your recipes, it’s vital to roll it thinly- or about 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick. You’re going to be shocked at how a lot it rises as soon as it’s baked. The explanation why it’s vital is that the dough will solely rise so excessive within the sizzling oven earlier than it begins to burn. The thicker you roll it, the extra time it must rise. 

Additionally, at all times bake the puff pastry in a highly regarded oven, at the least 400°F (205°C). A blast of excessive warmth encourages the dough to shoot up as that water within the butter evaporates and leaves these layers I advised you about earlier. In case you bake it at too low a temperature, you threat less-than-stellar layers. 

Why does my Puff Pastry bake up soggy?

Excessive warmth is a should for baking puff pastry as a result of it prevents the dough from turning into soggy because it bakes. In case you don’t hit it with excessive warmth, the butter melts into the dough as a substitute of leaving that void between the layers. 

Verify that you simply’re baking on the correct temp of at the least 400°F (205°C). Additionally, be sure you’re reducing your dough with a really sharp knife to forestall the layers of puff pastry from sticking collectively whereas baking. Lastly, by no means bake the dough whereas it’s heat. If the butter is already mushy, it is going to soften into the dough. It’s higher to sit back the dough than bake it whereas it’s heat. 

How lengthy can I retailer Puff Pastry within the fridge?

You’ll be able to retailer ready puff pastry dough within the fridge for 4 days. Don’t retailer it any longer than that, or the flour within the dough will begin to ferment and switch grey. 

Can I freeze Puff Pastry?

One of the best ways to retailer puff pastry is within the freezer. Wrap your items of dough in plastic wrap and put them right into a freezer-safe storage bag. Retailer the puff pastry within the freezer for six months. Bear in mind to thaw the dough within the fridge and permit it to heat up barely on the countertop earlier than rolling it out. 

You’re going to see that making your personal Puff Pastry at house isn’t almost as arduous as you thought. Remember to pin this recipe to your bread or pastry board, and don’t overlook to share it together with your family and friends!