Perfect Puff Pastry Food

PUFF PASTRY

Steps:

• Put the flour and a pinch of salt in the food processor. Turn it on and steadily pour in 150ml of water. When the dough comes together, cover it in cling film and chill for 20 mins.
• Lightly flour your surface and roll the dough into a 25cm circle. Put the butter in between two pieces of baking parchment and soften it by tapping it with a rolling pin. Cut the butter in half and repeat the process until the butter is pliable but still cold. Reshape to the size roughly of a postcard.
• Put the butter in the centre of the pastry and fold over the right and left sides of the circle, overlapping in the middle. Press the dough with your rolling pin to make it longer and then lightly mark into thirds. Fold the bottom third up to cover the middle third and the top third down. Seal the dough gently by pressing down on the edges with your rolling pin. Give the dough a quarter turn.
• Roll the dough out to a long rectangle (roughly 18 x 38cm), keeping the edges square and the sides straight. Mark the dough into thirds again, fold the bottom third up and the top third down. Seal the edges and give the dough a quarter turn. Repeat one more time, cover and chill for 20 mins.
• Repeat step four twice more, chilling each time. Chill for one hour before using. Watch our puff pastry video for a Good Food tutorial.

QUICKEST PUFF PASTRY

Steps:

• Cut 8 ounces (2 sticks) butter into 1/2 to 1/4-inch dice, place on a plate and refrigerate while preparing remaining ingredients.Measure water and add salt; stir to dissolve and set aside.
• Coarsely dice remaining 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter. Place flour in work bowl of food processor fitted with metal blade; add 4 tablespoons butter and pulse until butter is absorbed -- about ten to twelve 1-second pulses.
• Add remaining butter and pulse once or twice to distribute. Add water and pulse 3 or 4 times, just until dough forms a rough ball. Do not over-process.
• Flour work surface and scrape dough from work bowl. Shape dough into a rough rectangle and place between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Press dough with rolling pin to flatten, then roll back and forth several times with rolling pin to make a 12 by 18 inch rectangle of dough.
• Peel away plastic wrap and invert dough to floured work surface. Peel away second piece of wrap. Fold dough in thirds in the width, folding the top third down and the bottom third up, to make a 6 by 18-inch rectangle, then roll up the dough from one of the 6-inch ends, making sure to roll end under dough. Press the dough into a square, wrap in plastic and refrigerate 1 hour, or until firm.

PERFECT PUFF PASTRY

Steps:

• In a food processor or using the flat paddle on an electric mixer, mix 1/2 cup flour with the butter until very smooth. Shape into a flat square 1 inch thick, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 30 minutes.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine salt with the remaining flour and add the cream. Mix dough well by hand or with an electric mixer; the dough will not be completely smooth, but it should not be sticky. Shape it into a flat square 1 1/2 inches thick, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator or 15 minutes in the freezer.
• Remove flour dough from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured board, roll the dough into a rectangle twice as long as the butter dough. Place butter dough in the center, fold up ends to encase it completely, and seal edges by pinching together. Wrap well in plastic and chill for at least 30 minutes so that dough achieves the same temperature throughout.
• Remove dough from the refrigerator and, on a lightly floured board, roll it out into a large rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Fold into thirds, aligning edges carefully and brushing off excess flour. The object is to ensure that the butter is evenly distributed so that the pastry will puff evenly when baked. Wrap dough and chill for at least 30 minutes. This completes 1 turn.
• Repeat this process 5 more times; classic puff pastry gets 6 turns, creating hundreds of layers of butter between layers of the flour dough (729, to be exact). Use as little flour as possible when rolling out the dough, and always brush off any excess. Remember to let the dough rest and chill between turns. This chilling makes the rolling out much easier and keeps the layers of butter of equal thickness.
• By the sixth and final turn, the dough should be very smooth, with no lumps of butter visible. Wrap the pastry in plastic and refrigerate until ready to use (up to 2 days), or freeze for future use. (It's convenient to divide the dough into 1-pound pieces and freeze it that way.)