Puff Pastry

Homemade puff pastry takes a little more effort but is worth it. The finished product is a million times better than the commercial varieties. It is very important to keep everything cold when preparing pastry, you also need to be careful to overwork the pastry as this will result in shrinkage. If the area you are preparing the pastry is to warm increase the refrigeration times.

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Prep: 2 hours (2 hours resting after preparation)
Cook: 10-12 minutes

Ingredients

Puff Pastry

  • 250g plain flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 100-150ml water (cold, add ice if needed)
  • 250g butter (left out of the fridge for a short time so pliable not soft)

Method

  1. Dough Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Mix in the lemon juice and enough water to form a firm dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead briefly and lightly with cold hands so that the dough is smooth.
  2. Pastry Roll the dough out into a square around 1cm thick on a floured work top. Unwrap the butter and flatten out with a rolling pin so that it is 2cm thick (this can be done between greaseproof paper). Place the butter in the centre of the dough. Cover the butter by folding the left and right sides inwards.
  3. Flatten the dough lightly with the rolling pin to seal in the butter. Roll out lightly into a long thin rectangle, 3 times as long as wide. Fold the pastry into 3 as evenly as possible, keeping the sides aligned, seal the sides lightly with a rolling pin. Turn the dough 90° (1/4) so that it is facing you like a book, roll out and fold into 3 as before. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Repeat this process twice more so that you have folded it 6 times, rest the pastry in the refrigerator for 30 minutes after each 2 turns.
  4. Rest the pastry for at least 1-2 hours or overnight. Your pastry is now ready to use.