Classic Puff Pastry Dough
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Classic puff pastry dough scares people because it sounds complicated. Yes, to make it perfectly takes some practice, but you should be able to make dramatic puff pastry the first time. Remember, you're basically enclosing a packet of butter in some pastry dough and then rolling it out and folding it over itself to create layers. This recipe is somewhat unorthodox because it calls for working the basic dough that you use to enclose the butter. This is heresy to anyone trained in the classic method in which the dough is worked as little as possible, but the results are dramatically better. The only downside is that the initial dough has to rest overnight before you can get to the next step.
ingredients
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serves: 1
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
14 tablespoons butter
Nutrition Facts
Classic Puff Pastry Dough
Servings Per Recipe: 1
Amount per Serving
Calories: 2697
- Total Fat: 205.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 136.5 g
- Trans Fat: 6.6 g
- Cholesterol: 430.5 mg
- Sodium: 3814.7 mg
- Total Carbs: 190.9 g
- Dietary Fiber: 6.8 g
- Sugars: 0.8 g
- Protein: 27.5 g
preparation
1. After mixing by hand or in a mixer or food processor, knead the mixture as necessary until smooth.
2. Form the dough into a squarish disk, score the surface of the dough with a knife, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
3. Wrap the butter in plastic wrap and pound it into a rectangle, working it with your hands as needed to smooth it out.
4. Press down and rollout each of the "edges" of the dough disk.
5. Roll the dough out so there are four flaps and a mound in the middle. Brush off any excess flour.
6. Close the butter up in the pastry.
7. Tuck excess dough in the folds to form a neat parcel of dough.
8. Roll the parcel of butter and dough out into a rectangle.
9. As you roll, check to make sure the butter reaches evenly across the length and width of the rectangle to its edges.
10. Fold one end of the rectangle halfway up the rectangle like a letter.
11. Fold the other end over and brush off any excess flour.
12. Roll out into another rectangle. Repeat the folds.
13. Fold again, and mark the dough with your fingers to indicate it has had two turns. Wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
14. Roll out into another rectangle. Fold, mark, wrap, and refrigerate, and continue until you've given the pastry a total of seven turns.
Cooks' note:
Combine the flour, water, oil, and salt by hand on a work surface or in a stand mixer or food processor. Mix until they come together in a smooth, homogeneous mass. Don't hesitate to knead the mixture to smooth it out. Form the dough into a squarish disk and score the top deeply with a knife, to help the gluten relax. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let rest overnight in the refrigerator.On a clean work surface, crush the butter with the heel of your hand or work it in a mixer with the paddle attachment until it is creamy, smooth, and spreadable, with the consistency of buttercream. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Wrap the butter in plastic wrap and shape it into a square about 5 inches on each side and 1 1/2 inches thick. Work the square of butter as needed with your hands to smooth it.
Flour the work surface and set the dough on it. Press firmly down on the dough disk at its four "edges". Roll out each edge so that you end up with a mound of dough in the center surrounded by four flaps. The flaps should belong enough to enclose the cube of butter.
Place the cube of butter on the central mound of dough and fold over the flaps, tucking excess dough into the folds so the butter is completely enclosed in a neat parcel of dough. Hammer gently on top of the packet of dough until it stretches out into a rectangle measuring 9 by 18 inches. Run your hand along the surface of the rectangle to make sure the butter is spreading out evenly inside the envelope of dough. Fold the rectangle into thirds as though it were a letter: starting with a narrow end, fold the bottom third up and fold the opposite end down. Turn the dough so that the large single fold, like the spine of a book, is on your left. Roll it out into another rectangle about the same size, and fold it in the same way. If the dough is difficult to roll, refrigerate for 30 minutes. Make two imprints with your fingers to indicate that it's had two "turns". Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Continue in this way until you have given the pastry seven turns total.
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comments
Serena
May 9, 2012