For anyone who has ate any dessert made with puff pastry or seen puff pastry frozen in supermarket freezer, you might not know that typically this wonderful pastry with over a hundred layers on average takes about 3 days to make. And for anyone who's ever made anything close to puff pastry such as croissants you know that stuff like laminated doughs take lots of effort, time and can be very exhausting.
So here is somewhat of a cheat version, this is my go to recipe for a simplified version of puff pastry that's a much easier and takes only 2 hours max. Now you may say to yourself, isn't that a lot of time ? Well it's definitely better than 24 to 30 hours which is the normal time that it takes to make puff pastry, and one great thing to keep in mind is that those two hours mainly consists of the dough resting, so you're not actually putting in a lot of work. In fact, in actuality it's about 20 minutes of elbow grease needed to make this pastry. the key to good puff pastry is keeping it cool in between folds so that the butter does not overheat or melt before it gets to bake off. Puff pastry is greatly known for its flaky, buttery and irresistible taste. When made properly it's basically layers of dough that has butter trapped in tiny little pockets that expand in the oven to give you this even flakey layers of deliciousness. one the things that makes puff pastry so great is his first to tell me is it can be used for Savory or sweet dishes and this week you will see both to Savory dishes and one sweet.
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Don't fold under pressure Easy inverted Puff Pastry recipe Yields: 36 medium sized pastries Ingredients 3 C Ap Flour 1 ½ tsp sea salt 1 ⅔ C unsalted butter 5-6 Tbs ice cold water 1 Tbs white distilled vinegar 1 C of Butter 1 ½-2 C Flour, for dusting Procedure: Dough- Preheat the oven to 400° F and prepare 2 baking sheets with parchment. Put 1-2 ice cubes into 5 Tbs of cold water, stir until the cubes melt half way. Cube the butter and hold in the freezer until needed. Mix the ice cold water, and vinegar, then set it aside in the freezer until needed. Mix the flour and salt, then with 2 forks, one in each hand, or a pastry blender, cut the cold cubed butter into the flour just until the mix resembles small peas sized shapes. Now pull the ice water out, give it a stir and put it into the flour mix 1 Tbs at a time you may not use all the water. Use just enough water for a dough to form. On a floured surface gently roll out the dough, working fast so you do not melt the butter. Plastic wrap the dough, chill he dough for 15 mins in the fridge and make the butter block during this time. On a floured surface, roll the dough out into a 12” X 12” square and place the dough down diagonally and place the butter in the center. Put the edges carefully to the center covering the butter block completely and overlap the last two folds of the dough, chill the dough before the first roll for 15 mins. Book fold- roll the dough out to be about 10” X 15” lengthwise, chill for 15 mins in the freezer. Complete Step 11 four times total, and Alternate rolling lengthwise and widthwise with for every other roll. For the finally shaping, portion the dough with a knife in two halves, then roll the dough out to be ¼” thick. Work with one portion at a time keeping the other chilled in the freezer. Shape with a knife making squares, rectangles or whatever your desired shape is. Butter block: In between two sheets of parchment, using a rolling pin pound the butter into a 6” X 6” square block. Then freeze for 15 mins before using.
