Uploaded January 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Puff pastry is a wonder for hors d’oeuvres, can also be used to make some breakfast pastries such as vol au vents, and of course is a requirement for making beef Wellington. Making it involves some effort, but the procedure is at least easy to understand. Performing it well requires some practice, and some brute strength. Because it must be worked cold, the dough is always stiff and recalcitrant. When rolling out the dough repeatedly to perform the lamination, avoid the temptation to do all the folds in one go.
Most recipes say to chill the dough between individual folds, meaning: roll the dough out, perform the triple or book fold as you like, and then chill the dough. Using triple folds, I find that I can roll the dough out and fold it two times between chills, meaning that I can complete the dough in two sessions of rolling and folding. I think that book folds would make this impossible, but it would of course result in even more layers. This is blitz puff pastry, we came to cut corners, so I say, use triple folds and maybe achieve two iterations per session.
Once this dough is “done” it needs to rest, preferably overnight, before use. A little goes a long way. I found that a third of a batch of this dough made three personal beef Wellingtons, and another third made 22 of the cheese straws in a forthcoming recipe.
Makes roughly 2 lb.
Equipment:
• large mixing bowl or stand mixer
• rolling surface or pastry board
• rolling pin
• sheet pan and plastic wrap or bag for chilling dough
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened 1 stick
4 cup AP flour
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup cold water
1 1/4 cup butter 2.5 sticks, cubed, semi-frozen
Procedure:
1. Allow the first quantity of butter to soften in the mixing bowl.
2. When soft, add the flour, salt and cold water and combine well.
3. When the dough has come together, incorporate the semi-frozen butter. This can be done with the mixer, but by doing it on a board with the hands, the butter can be incorporated in layers to begin with, which will improve the quality of the puff pastry.
4. Once the butter is incorporated, shape the dough into a good shape for future rolling, and then chill it for about an hour.
5. Once chilled, roll the dough out on a floured surface until it has increased enough in area to be folded. I favor triple folds, but book folds (where the outside edges are brought to meet each other in the middle, and then folded together, to make four layers) are traditional for puff pastry.
6. Fold the dough and if it is still chilled enough and also pliable enough, roll it out and fold it again.
7. Repeat the previous three steps, chilling, rolling, folding (possibly twice) until the dough has been folded and rolled four times.
8. Chill the finished dough a good long time, preferably overnight, before using.
Music: bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Puff pastry is a wonder for hors d’oeuvres, can also be used to make some breakfast pastries such as vol au vents, and of course is a requirement for making beef Wellington. Making it involves some effort, but the procedure is at least easy to understand. Performing it well requires some practice, and some brute strength. Because it must be worked cold, the dough is always stiff and recalcitrant. When rolling out the dough repeatedly to perform the lamination, avoid the temptation to do all the folds in one go.
Most recipes say to chill the dough between individual folds, meaning: roll the dough out, perform the triple or book fold as you like, and then chill the dough. Using triple folds, I find that I can roll the dough out and fold it two times between chills, meaning that I can complete the dough in two sessions of rolling and folding. I think that book folds would make this impossible, but it would of course result in even more layers. This is blitz puff pastry, we came to cut corners, so I say, use triple folds and maybe achieve two iterations per session.
Once this dough is “done” it needs to rest, preferably overnight, before use. A little goes a long way. I found that a third of a batch of this dough made three personal beef Wellingtons, and another third made 22 of the cheese straws in a forthcoming recipe.
Makes roughly 2 lb.
Equipment:
• large mixing bowl or stand mixer
• rolling surface or pastry board
• rolling pin
• sheet pan and plastic wrap or bag for chilling dough
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened 1 stick
4 cup AP flour
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup cold water
1 1/4 cup butter 2.5 sticks, cubed, semi-frozen
Procedure:
1. Allow the first quantity of butter to soften in the mixing bowl.
2. When soft, add the flour, salt and cold water and combine well.
3. When the dough has come together, incorporate the semi-frozen butter. This can be done with the mixer, but by doing it on a board with the hands, the butter can be incorporated in layers to begin with, which will improve the quality of the puff pastry.
4. Once the butter is incorporated, shape the dough into a good shape for future rolling, and then chill it for about an hour.
5. Once chilled, roll the dough out on a floured surface until it has increased enough in area to be folded. I favor triple folds, but book folds (where the outside edges are brought to meet each other in the middle, and then folded together, to make four layers) are traditional for puff pastry.
6. Fold the dough and if it is still chilled enough and also pliable enough, roll it out and fold it again.
7. Repeat the previous three steps, chilling, rolling, folding (possibly twice) until the dough has been folded and rolled four times.
8. Chill the finished dough a good long time, preferably overnight, before using.
Music: bensound.com/royalty-free-music
