The best homemade puff pastry is a delicate balance of butter, flour and cold water that creates layers of flaky dough. It takes a bit of practice and a lot of patience to master this skill, but the end results are well worth the effort. It is possible to make puff pastry from scratch in 15 minutes, and it can be used for a variety of recipes, including pies, tarts and even sweet turnovers!
The first step is to sift the flour into a large bowl and mix in the salt. Then add the butter and mix together until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Finally, stir in just enough cold water to bring the dough together, a little bit more than you would for a regular pie crust. If the dough is too dry, add a little more water; if the dough is too sticky, add a little bit more flour.
Once the dough is well-mixed, sprinkle some flour on a clean surface and roll it out into a thin sheet. The key is to keep the rolling pin in place as you roll out the dough. It’s also helpful to dust the rolling pin and dough with flour before you start rolling, as this helps prevent the dough from sticking.
After you’ve rolled out the dough, you want to transfer it to the refrigerator for 30 minutes to help chill and relax the gluten. This will ensure that the butter remains solid and pliable while the gluten is developing, which makes it easier for you to get those big flaky layers in your puff pastry.
Chilling is especially important because the butter in puff pastry needs to stay cold so that it doesn’t melt into the dough during the lamination process. Keeping it chilled also helps to release any steam that may have built up during the process.
This will ensure that you get big, flaky layers in your puff pastry and will prevent it from becoming too soft or falling apart during the lamination process. Once the dough has been in the fridge for a few minutes, remove it and begin the folding and rolling process.
Folding and rolling is a key part of the lamination process because it helps to develop the gluten strands that will give you those strong sheets of elastic dough in the end. In addition, it gives the butter in the dough a chance to re-solidify and relax as the gluten strands continue to strengthen during this process.
Once the first fold is complete, the dough should be chilled for another 30 minutes and then you can begin to finish the process by rolling out each of the six simple turns. Once you’ve made all 6 turns, the dough should be chilled for another 30 to 45 minutes before you begin the next fold. Repeat the process for a total of 7 simple turns and two chilling periods (or, one rest period) until you have an ultra-flaky sheet of puff pastry dough!