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Classic Puff Pastry Recipe with Photo Tutorial and Danish Pastries...

Wednesday, March 23, 2011 | Labels: , , |

Making puff pastry or pâte feuilletée does require a little bit of time and patience but the end result is so worth it plus I find it rather fun as well (especially if it turns out well).  I am relieved to say that I loved the results of today's classic puff pastry and I actually prefer croissants made from classic puff pastry which is known as the patisseur's croissants in comparison to baker's croissants that I made earlier, the latter contains yeast whereas the former does not.  With puff pastry, you will be able to make so many delicious eats, both sweet and savoury.  As puff pastry is also easily freezed, you can store this for up to 1 year in a freezer provided it is wrapped well, however do note that freshly made puff pastry will always puff up better than frozen puff pastry.

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For today, I used half of my puff pastry to make Danish pastries in both the popular 'windmill' and snail shapes.  As these were made with classic puff pastry, these pastries were flakier and did not have the soft bread texture so if that's what you prefer for your danish pastries, do use this puff pastry for other purposes.  I am already thinking of some good savoury fillings for the other half of my pastry like spicy tuna, sambal ikan bilis and the list goes on.  I find making puff pastry at home rewarding and not that difficult but as the dough works better left to rest overnight, do plan accordingly as this is at least a two-day affair.  A tricky part of making puff pastry, at least for me is that while rolling out the dough, I am always extra careful to roll evenly as to avoid the laminated butter from 'bursting' through the dough.  As for my favourite part, it would have to be the shaping part, hands-down.  I remember the windmill shape especially fondly since that was the first type of pastry I attempted almost 10 years ago for my little brother's birthday party (the pre-blogger days) and it was really heartwarming to see him and his little friends enjoying my pastries.

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Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:

4 cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup water, use more if needed and add 1 tbsp at a time to form dough
2 cups or 225g or 4 sticks unsalted butter, 1/2 cup chilled, the rest left at room temperature
1 tsp salt (2 tsps for savoury pastry)

Fillings:

Enough jam of your choice (I used blackcurrant for the 'windmill' pastries)
4 tbsps raisins
4 tbsp light brown sugar
1 egg mixed with 1 tbsp water for eggwash

Apricot glaze:
1/2 cup apricot jam
1 tbsp water

Method:

1.  Measure out 3 1/2 cups of flour and put in a large bowl.  You will use this to make the dough.

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2.  Cut the chilled butter into the flour and mix with your hands or a pastry blender to create a crumbly or cornmeal texture.

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3.  Add the salt to the water and mix well.  Add the water gradually into the mixture above and with a fork, slowly mix to form a dough that should pull away from the sides of the bowl.  Add more water if needed, 1 tbsp at a time.

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4.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and start kneading.  Knead for about 3 minutes until smooth and somewhat elastic.  The dough will be very sticky.  Once smooth, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

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5.  Now for the lamination part, add the 1/2 cup of flour to the soft butter and mix well until well blended and smooth.  You can use a mixer or mix with a spoon by hand which is what I did.  This is to make the butter more stable so that it will not peek out of the dough so easily.

6.  Pat the butter mixture into a 8' by 8' square and wrap in plastic then refrigerate also for at least 30 minutes.

7.  After the required time in the fridge, remove the dough from the fridge first.  Roll the dough out to a 12' by 12' square on a floured surface.  Take the butter from the fridge and place the butter square at an angle on the dough where the corners of the butter square point toward the sides of the dough.

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8.  Wrap the dough around the butter square like an envelope i.e. fold the corners of the dough over the butter to meet in the middle.  Turn over and gently tap the dough to form a rectangle with your rolling pin.  Start rolling dough to form a 20' by 12' rectangle, turning the dough as you roll to ensure even spreading out.

9.  Dust off any excess flour on the dough.  Fold the dough like a business letter, imagine the rectangle in 3 sections from top to bottom, fold the first section on top of the second, then the third over the second.  Turn the dough 90 degrees and it should look like a closed book (pictured below).  This is the first turn.

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10.  If the dough still feels cold to the touch, you can do another turn, if not chill in fridge for 15 minutes at least before rolling again.  You need to do a total of six turns in total.  Chill the dough in the fridge every two turns for about 15 minutes to ensure butter does not melt.

11. Once you have completed six turns, wrap well in plastic and place in fridge.  Leave to rest overnight.

Shaping:

1.  Take dough out from fridge.  Start with half of the dough.  Slice the dough in half with a sharp knife.  Place the other half in the freezer or if you want to use it all, by all means do so.  Lightly flour your work surface.  Roll dough flat into a rectangle of about 12' by 18'.  You don't have to be fastidious about the measurements but the measurements are good guidelines.

For the windmill pastries:

Cut dough into 8' by 8' squares.  Make a cut at each corner of the square as below.

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Fold each flap to the center of the square to form a windmill shape.  Make a slight indentation in the middle with your fingers.

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Spoon about 1 tsp of your favourite jam into the slight indentation.  Repeat with the remaining dough as many as you like.  Proof for about 1 hour. (I proofed mine in a cold oven)

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For the mini snail pastries:

Use a rectangle of about 8' by 12' (trim off any irregular pieces).  Spoon the sugar and raisins on the dough and try to spread reasonably evenly.

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Roll the dough up gently and seal the ends lightly with moistened fingers if necessary.  Slice the roll with a sharp knife and place each slice face down on a tray lined with baking paper.  Proof for about 1 hour.  (I proofed mine in a cold oven).

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Baking:

Remove the proofed pastries and place in fridge while you pre-heat the oven.  Heat the oven to 150 C.  Brush the pastries with eggwash then place in oven and bake for about 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.

While the pastries are baking, make the apricot glaze by boiling the apricot jam and the water together over low heat.  Run the mixture through a sieve and set aside.

Once the pastries are out of the oven, lightly brush each pastry with the apricot glaze above.  If the glaze is already cold or hard by the time the pastries come out, put the glaze in the microwave for 10-20 seconds then brush.

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Your pastries are done!

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Tips:

- When slicing or cutting puff pastry, be sure to use a sharp knife as a blunt knife will smash the layers together and impede rising.
- Make sure your oven is throughly heated before placing in your pastries as the heat in the oven will ensure that the moisture in the dough turns into steam which in turn makes the puff pastry rise.
- Dust any excess flour of your baking items before baking as the excess flour will burn easily in the oven.  Dust off with a soft pastry brush.
- Do not apply eggwash to the sides of the pastries as the eggwash will 'glue' the layers together preventing full rising of the pastries.
- You can freeze puff pastry but note that frozen puff pastry will not rise as much as freshly made puff pastry.
-  Use good quality butter if you're attempting this to make sure that all your efforts will be deliciously displayed!

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20 comments:

Cheah said...

They look so mouthwatering, these pastries of yours. Really entails a lot of work and patience in order to achieve this, but then as always, it's most gratifying when you see results. A job well done and nice clicks too!

Min {Honest Vanilla} said...

WOW thanks for this tutorial, I always felt that puff pastry are really hard but with this guide, I'll probably feel more assured! Will print it out in colour every step before I make it :)

Cooking Gallery said...

Thanks for the great tutorial, Jen! I have never made pastries in my life, so this is really very helpful :)!

pigpigscorner said...

YUM! Love the step-by-step. Very useful for a pastry noob like me!

Celina David said...

Thank you for sharing..i actually made one recipe of the Blitz method..but yours looks yummier.

Daphne said...

U make your own puff pastry? brave gal!!!!! That looks great and good step by step guide as well. I bet your kitchen has a lovely sweet smell after!

tigerfish said...

Still seems hard to me cos I am such an idiot when it comes to baking :(

You are really good at savory (cooking) and sweet (baking) ;p ...

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

Thanks Cheah! Yes it was rewarding although the process was time-consuming :)

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

Min, you're welcome! Do hope this helps you...it's quite fun as well :)

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

CG, you're welcome! I'm sure you'll have plenty of fun making pastries at home :D

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

That's great :D

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

Thanks Celina! Although I'm not familiar with the Blitz method..

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

haha Daphne, this is one of the things I've been meaning to make for ages and it was quite fun and also you're right on the smell...the shih tzus were all running in as they were baking, funny sight! :D

tigerfish said...

Still seems hard to me cos I am such an idiot when it comes to baking :(

You are really good at savory (cooking) and sweet (baking) ;p ...

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

awww thanks TF! That's such a sweet compliment :) Btw, I'm sure you could if you really wanted to :P

Lyndsey said...

I can't believe you made your own puff pastry. It all looks fantastic! I am lucky to come up with a loaf of bread from the bread machine!

melissa Daams said...

is puff pastry so different from regular bread dough? i read through the tutorial and it looks like there is quite a bit more butter! I think i shall try these.

Hey, would you link these up over at Sweet-Rolls-that-Rock - I host a monthly sweet rolls linky party and I'd love to see these there?

Thanks, Melissa :)

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

Melissa, thanks for dropping by! Yes, a lot more butter is used in puff pastries hehe so decadent. I'll hop over now :)

Debbie Duplessis said...

doesn't danish pastry have yeast in it??? chef d

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

hi there! This is my own version which I prefer (danish made with puff pastries)

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