Puff Pastry

Easy to find in stores but not so easy to make. Patience is the key for a successful laminated dough like puff pastry (or pate feuilletee) and there is no mystery about it, just patience.

Temperature is another main element in the process of making puff pastry, as we work with butter within the layers of dough, this butter must be kept cold because if melted, it skips from the layers and destroys the characteristic of a laminated dough.

When baked there is nothing to compare puff pastry with, its crunchiness is unique, when the layers are baked all the way through you can hear the noise of a bite from a distance.

Every country that I know have a special recipe containing puff pastry, savory or sweet, and I'm sure that you won't have trouble finding a good one to put this technique in practice sooner then you think. The one you see on the video is going to be used as the shell of the Pastéis de Belém, a classic portuguese custardy pastry that it's going to be our next recipe. I also love to use puff pastry in my fruit tart with pastry cream and fruits on top, the butter gives it a little bit of a salty taste that contrast super well with the pastry cream (my mouth watered right now just from thinking about it).

Some recipes like Palmiere doesn't even require anything else but sugar so you can imagine how incredible this recipe is just by itself, right?

The trick to bake it is simple, start your oven at a higher temperature then turn it down as soon as it goes in and once it turns brown, turn it down couple degrees more, this way you will ensure that all the layers are properly baked and crunchy and not raw at all (I've had raw puff pastry center many times before, people serve it without realizing it is raw). Last tip, don't roll it too thick, the layers will rise and become 4 or 5 times taller than the raw stage is.

baked puff pastry for fruit tart

Take a break in a rainy day, put your apron on and start the challenge to make the perfect puff pastry, let me know how it goes.

Ingredients:
250g all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
50g melted unsalted butter
150g cold water
for the beurrage:
175g cold butter

Music List:
Bananeira-João Donato
In your light- Gotye

Daquele amor nem me fale- João Donato

I feel better- Gotye

Voce e eu- Carlos Lyra