puff pastry dough is buttery and flaky
and makes for such decadent baked goods
whether they be savory or sweet
first i'll show you the technique of a
real french folded puff pastry dough the
french method i'm showing you now has
two parts to it the barrage and the dead
trump i'm going to start by mixing the
barrage this is that hunk of butter that
gets folded in layer by layer into the
dough so i've got three cups of unsalted
butter and i'll add one cup of flour
this makes this butter layer easier to
handle as you start rolling it and
folding it
maybe a shocking amount of butter but it
is puff pastry for a lot of recipes
there we go
so this butter really doesn't change
much in consistency but because it's so
soft we have to chill it down so that we
can handle it and work it in to the
dough now you need to let this chill
until it's
almost firm so chill it for a couple of
hours
now for part two of the french puff
pastry and that is
the de trump this is the body of the
dough
so i start with four cups of all-purpose
flour
and then
a cup of
cool water
and just a touch of sugar one tablespoon
two teaspoons of salt
then an important ingredient is a
tablespoon of lemon juice and now i'm
switching to a dough hook because we
really want to knead the dough
now i can add the last element
not as much butter as the barrage of
course but half a cup plus an extra
tablespoon
at just about room temperature
and it takes about four minutes to
really knead the dough
there we go so the dough has come
together
so i'm going to shape this into an eight
inch square you want to give it at least
an hour to relax
so i've got one already chilled
the method for this puff pastry is the
french method your two parts your
barrage and your doughy detromp the
contemporary and modern thought amongst
pastry chefs is to roll out the butter
and put the dough in the middle
makes for a more even and consistent
pastry
so now i'm going to roll it lengthwise
about 20 inches across and this is the
first fold oh
this is why you need the big rolling pin
with the handles on the outside because
at this point it's a bit of work
lift make sure it's not sticking and i
do a three fold so you fold it third the
way in
and now brush off this excess flour
and like so
so that's one
fold down
you can usually get
up to two folds each
folding session
without overworking the glutens
and there we go so
dust off the flour
and the same threefold
i've exercised the dough enough that it
needs to relax
you have to give the puff pastry at
least two hours in between the rolls and
folds for the butter to set so back in
the fridge it goes
it's really a simple case of repetition
now you'll need to repeat this double
roll and fold step once more
followed by a single roll and fold
but be sure you let the dough rest in
the fridge for at least two hours in
between
and this is a puff pastry ready to roll
and use after it's had it's two hours to
rest and relax but just to show you
so you can see
this is why it's worth the effort those
beautiful thin
layers of flour and butter ready to bake
up and be flaky