Note to self: never make a puff pastry video on a hot day, in 90˚F weather, after drinking a whole bottle of champagne! Whoo-eee!!!

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Now that I’ve got that disclaimer out of the way, I can tell you about making puff pastry or Feuilletage with the fabulous blogger Tse of Chez Tse. We studied at cooking school together and later she joined me at Guy Savoy before interning at the famous patisserie, Pierre Hermé.

Puff pastry is easy. It really is. And it tastes better and bakes lighter than store bought dough loaded with hydrogenated oils. The ingredients are simple: flour, water, salt, and butter. If possible use beurre sec or “dry” butter that has a low moisture content and high fat content . It will make the process easier and help keep the flour from turning into a greasy mess. But, just to prove that regular butter can be used, we’ve chosen normal unsalted beurre for our video.

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There are so many uses for puff pastry from easy fruit tarts to pastry shells for savory dishes. Make a big batch and freeze half!

For recipe click on “continue reading How to Make Puff pastry….”

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Puff Pastry

Ingredients
Détrempe dough:
400g flour sifted
220ml water room temperature
10g salt
80g butter, melted and cooled to room temp.

For the turns:
260g “dry” unsalted butter

Instructions
1. Watch video!
2. In a bowl put flour and salt.
3. Pour over water and melted butter and mix quickly to form a ball.
4. Knead dough on marble or in bowl until it has a smooth surface.
5. Rest dough for 10 minutes in refrigerator covered with saran wrap before starting pastry turns.
6. Dust workspace with flour. Put dough ball on surface and make a cross with a slight lump in the middle by rolling out the edges.
7. Place butter in a square on top of mound and fold flaps over it like an envelope.
8. With a rolling pin, press down in an “X” on top of envelope.
9. Roll out dough carefully the length and width of the rolling pin. Fold in thirds. Turn dough towards you like a book. Repeat the process: roll out dough the length of rolling pin and fold in thirds. Cover with parchment paper and chill in refrigerator for 10 minutes.
10. Take dough out of fridge and repeat turns twice to complete the 3rd and 4th pastry turn. Chill again for 10 minutes.
11. Take dough out again and finish 5th and 6th pastry turn. Roll out 1/8″ and cut to desired shape depending on the recipe.
12. On it’s own puff pastry only takes about 10-12 minutes to bake in a convection oven set at 375˚F

Ideas
1. Fresh fruit tart: cut pastry to desired shape and brush with abricot jam and cut fresh apricots on top. Sprinkle some sugar on top (or don’t) and bake until pastry is golden brown.
2. Apple turnovers. Cut pastry out into 3″ circles. With rolling pin, roll center of circle so it becomes an oval (leave edges thick). Dices apples and flash fry in some butter and sugar with cinnamon and vanilla spice. (you can heat the sugar and butter together first to create a nice syrupy caramel before adding apples) Fill one half of pastry circle with a tablespoon of apples. Brush a little water on the half and fold the other over and press down to seal. brush with egg wash.