Puff Pastry. October 2011

Puff Pastry and Quick Puff are kinds of a Laminated doughs. 

What defines a laminated dough is a process of rolling and folding some kind of fat into the dough, usually butter, so that it forms fat/dough layers. It will help the dough leaven.

Products made with laminated dough, such as Puff Pastry, Croissants and Danish dough, have a distinctive flaky texture created by the repeated layering of fat and dough.

Even though the formula for making laminated dough may differ, the techniques are quite similar since the main objective is to achieve from 800 to 1200 layers of fat/dough layers.

Here are four basic stages for the production of laminated dough:

1. Preparing the dough before it's been rolled out and layered (the Detrempe).
2. Selecting and preparing the fat for the lamination (cutting the butter into pieces and leaving it at room temperature. This way it won't break the delicate dough and it should also not melt in the dough as it is rolled on to it. It should simply blend between the dough and create a layer of about the same thickness as the layers of dough0).
3. enclosing the fat inside the dough (usually in 33% of the laid out dough, since you will be folding it in 3 parts).
4. Flattening, rolling and folding the dough to develop the proper layers). 

The ingredients for Puff Pastry or Quick Puff are usually Flour, Salt, a small amount of Fat and Water. Don't over mix the dough, so that to much gluten is not formed. 


Quick Puff:


In case of the Quick Puff, you will mix it kind of like a Pate Brisee, leaving chunks of butter unmixed. This will allow you to work quicker, make less folds if desired and not have to wait so long between each fold. The final product is great, but not as flaky as the Puff Pastry.


Once the dough (Detrempe) is mixed it should be rested for at least two hours in the cooler to relax the gluten and so that the flour absorbs the liquid.

Now pull it out and roll it into a rectangle that can be folded in 3 parts. In one third of the rectangle, add your pieces of chilled but pliable butter, fold the dough in 3, a Letter Fold. If the dough and butter feels too soft, you may but it back in the fridge and allow it to rest for one hour before doing the next fold. 

Once the dough is chilled you shall turn it in a 90 degree angle and roll it out again in a rectangle of 3 parts.  Fold it in 3 and you will then be concluding your 2nd letter fold. 

You shall repeat this process until you reach 5 letter folds or 800 to 1200 layers of fat and dough.

Now wrap the dough and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour. It can be refrigerated up to a few days or from 2 to 3 months.

Shape and bake as needed.

Below are some ready Puff Pastry savories:

Cinnamon Straws, Feuilletee, Chocolate filled triangle and swirls.

A feuilletee before being baked.

An envelope fold.

Puff pastry can also be done with a Book fold, below. The only difference is that you would do 4 book folds instead of 5 envelope folds.

Rolling out the dough in a rectangle shape with equal parts of 3.

Puff Pastry Recipe:

• 0.5 oz salt
• 10.5 oz water chilled
• 10 oz bread flour
• 10.5 oz ap flour
• 4.5 oz unsalted butter soft
• 15 0z unsalted butter cold