Puff Pastry

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Alena

Assistant Cook
Joined
Nov 8, 2006
Messages
3
Location
Washington State
Hi everyone! I am working on my menu for Thanksgiving and wondering if anyone has ever made puff pastry from scratch? I have a few recipes I like to make with puff pastry-- but I don't always have it in the freezer when I want to use it for a quick meal.:ohmy:
 
Making puff pastry is anything but quick. It invloves making a dough and folding a slab of butter into it like a check folded into a letter. Then it's rolled thin and folded like a letter again, then it's rolled thin and folded like a letter again, then it's rolled thin...

You get the picture. The repeated rolling and folding makes a dough with lots of alternating layers of butter and thin dough.

It takes a great deal less time to defrost a frozen store-bought dough than to make your own. Not to mention that you'd need arm and shoulder transplants by the time you were done.
 
I'm with Andy - made properly by hand, puff-pastry is anything but quick or easy! Made improperly - it's still not quick or easy ... and it doesn't "poof".
 
Alena, I think you are better off using the ready-made ones as puff pastry is time-consuming and difficult to do. A lot depends on temperature as well. I won't want to mess with it in summer!!
 
It is much more fun to watch a pro make it than do it yourself. I agree "get the ready made".
 
Yup! Buying ready-made puff pastry is so worth it. You're assured of PUFFing at very little effort and skill expended.
 
I agree with others, puff pastry is one of a few things I prefer buying a ready made version. I tried it a couple of times but all the hassle I had to put in came out in a rather discouraging and unrewarding fashion...:huh:

However I wouldn't discourage your enthusiasm and readiness to take on the challenge, there are of course plenty of people who did it successfully with a good proven recipe. I suggest, if there is some time constraint or you would be amidst a busy situation like preparing for a Thanksgiving meal, just use the ready made, and when you have some free time where you can comfortably dedicate yourself, give it a try!
 
On another board many use what is called "rough puff pastry" with excellent results. It may not be picture perfect but we all appreciate a handmade effort that tastes terrific.

Rough Puff Pastry
ingredients

12 oz. (2-1/2 cups) cold flour
3/4 tsp. salt
12 oz. (24 Tbs.) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
6 oz. (3/4 cup) very cold water

how to make
Sift the flour and salt onto the cold cubes of butter. Using a pastry scraper or a large chef's knife, cut the butter into the flour. Work until you have a crumbly mixture. Flatten any large chunks of butter with just your fingertips. Add the ice-cold water a little at a time to loosely bind the dough. Mix the dough with the pastry scraper until it just hangs together. Shape the messy, shaggy dough into a rough rectangle and roll it out until it's 1/2 inch thick. Resist the temptation to overwater or overwork the dough; it will eventually hold together.

Use the pastry scraper to fold the dough in thirds like a business letter. Don't worry if it folds in pieces. Turn the package of dough 90 degrees so the folds run vertically. Square off the edges of the dough as you work. Roll the dough into a rectangle that's 1/2 inch thick, always rolling from open end to open end. Continue rolling, folding, and turning until the dough looks smooth. By four or five "turns," the dough should hang together well.

For even more layers, fold the smooth dough up like a book. To do this, fold the two shorter sides into the center and then fold the dough like a book. Brush off excess flour as you fold. Wrap the dough and chill it for half an hour before giving it two final turns. At this point, you can then use the dough, though another short rest will make rolling and shaping easier.
 
licia said:
Gretchen, thanks for posting that. I will try it when I have time to dabble.:)

Hope it will help. Good stuff.
I hope one of the administrators will move this thread to a cooking category rather than an introduction. I think more will see it, but maybe the heading will get the attention.
 
Gretchen said:
Hope it will help. Good stuff.
I hope one of the administrators will move this thread to a cooking category rather than an introduction. I think more will see it, but maybe the heading will get the attention.

You are right Gretchen, I moved it now. Thanks for the reminder!!

Thanks also for the innovative recipe, I would like to give it a try when I summon up enough courage to tackle the puff pastry again!:)
 
I still occasionally make rough puff pastry (I think that's a English-ism) - but nowadays, I tend to buy it ready made, simply cos it's so time consuming. Mind you, for my Hogmanay steak pie, I still make my own pastry - my family CAN tell the difference between mine and shop-bought!

Here's a UK recipe which is exactly the same as the one I use, but I haven't had to type it out!
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/tuk/Rough.html
 
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I look forward to trying the rough puff pastry, if its good it will be a very useful thing to have.

Now, I am the first person to advocate making your own pastry, and home made puff pastry, when mastered, is wonderful...especially if you use a good quality clean tasting butter. I enjoy making it, but realistically its very rare I do. May be once/twice a year on a pyjama Saturday. The rolled puff pasty one can buy frozen is adaquate for most things, and yes, I have even cooked with it for dinner parties and not felt embarrassed, although I make all my other pastries nowadays.

Definitely try making it, but no one can describe it as a quick or effort free enterprise it IS delicious.
 
Rough Puff is easier than the regular and fun to do, but I wouldn't advise taking the time to do it for a big do like Thanksgiving. If you already had some on hand in the freezer that would be a horse of a different color.

IMO, the best Puff pastry you can buy is DuFours... they use real butter, as opposed to the more popular brand. Look around for it. Whole Foods carries it, and I believe you can order it on line. Just run a google search. I always have a couple of packages in the freezer for the "What If." :)
 
ChefJune said:
Rough Puff is easier than the regular and fun to do, but I wouldn't advise taking the time to do it for a big do like Thanksgiving. If you already had some on hand in the freezer that would be a horse of a different color.

IMO, the best Puff pastry you can buy is DuFours... they use real butter, as opposed to the more popular brand. Look around for it. Whole Foods carries it, and I believe you can order it on line. Just run a google search. I always have a couple of packages in the freezer for the "What If." :)

It's still 2 weeks until Thanksgiving--enough time to get some in the freezer actually!! Would that the Dufours were available in the hinterlands--all butter is better.
 
That's a very good point, in case you go for a ready made. You need to check the ingredients before you grab it, so many of them that are available in supermarkets are made with margarine instead of butter, and then you can REALLY taste the difference....:( Make sure it is made with butter.
 
urmaniac13 said:
That's a very good point, in case you go for a ready made. You need to check the ingredients before you grab it, so many of them that are available in supermarkets are made with margarine instead of butter, and then you can REALLY taste the difference....:( Make sure it is made with butter.

In most parts of the US it will not be made with all butter--just a fact of life that you put up with. I have never even seen Dufours, although I haven't looked at our Dean & Deluca.
However, if you made even the rough pastry yourself it COULD be all butter. Good idea.
 
It's worth the try. There's three boxes at our grocery and they have been there for a long time. It's too expensive to buy a box of stale puff pastry. Since your postings, I am thinking small amounts.
 
I've always been too intimidated by the process.

Maybe someday when i'm really bored. lol
 
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lulu said:
... I enjoy making it, but realistically its very rare I do. May be once/twice a year on a pyjama Saturday ... Definitely try making it, but no one can describe it as a quick or effort free enterprise it IS delicious.

Lulu? I have a feeling this is the wrong time to ask since you're wildly busy moving, but may I put in a request for whenever you can to share your recipe, method, and, most of all, hints you have thanks to your experience?

Figure it wouldn't hurt to try making it, and who doesn't welcome an excuse for a "pyjama Saturday"?!
 
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