Puff pastry is the most perfect embodiment of flaky pastry. It consists of a mass of slightly enriched, barely developed dough, laminated with butter through multiple rollings and foldings, at the end of which there are over 1400 layers, which, when baked, rise explosively to an impressive height.
Equipment:
Ingredients: Yield: 7 lb 5.75 oz
Method of Preparation:
Special Considerations: Puff pastry may be kept for three days at 40 degrees or below. Keep tightly wrapped, and freeze if not meant for immediate use. It will keep 6-10 weeks when wrapped airtight.
Time Management:
Gather equipment and ingredients 5 min.
Scale out ingredients 5 min.
Make dough 5 min.
Prepare roll-in fat 7 min.
Enclose roll-in fat 3 min.
First turn 2 min.
Second turn 2 min.
Third turn 2 min.
Fourth turn 2 min.
Clean-up 5 min
Total: 38 min.
It must be remembered that while puff pastry has a reputation as a time-consuming item to make, the actual mixing and manipulating of the dough is only a small fraction of the overall preparation time, most of which is spent allowing the dough to relax in the refrigerator.
Puff pastry is a staple product widely used in the pastry shop, however 80% of that used is a convenience product purchased from major food service and bakery suppliers. A basic working definition of puff pastry goes like this- a slightly enriched lean dough laminated with up to it's own weight in butter, resulting in a crispy, crunchy pastry, light in texture and golden in color.
Puff pastry is the most widely used dough in the pastry shop and is perceived to be one of the most difficult and time consuming to make. The quality of the roll-in fat is the most important ingredient. It should be made and consumed on the same day, though it does lend itself to freezing.
Three things happen to make the dough rise- air trapped in the dough expands when heated; the roll-in fat melts and creates steam; and the moisture in the dough itself turns to steam. A properly made puff dough will elevate 8 times. That is, a quarter-inch thickness with blow up to 2 inches high.
There are two portions to puff dough- the dough portion and the roll-in fat portion. A medium strength flour is required for the dough portion. It must be not too strong and not too weak to be able to withstand a lot of rolling and to support up to it's own weight in butter. Salt is used to help strengthen the gluten- it helps to stretch the gluten and as an enhancer, adds flavor.
Ice water is used to mix the dough, which stabilizes it by keeping the temperature down and retarding gluten formation. Butter in the dough portion acts as a tenderizer or shortener and helps prevent overdevelopment.
Eggs are added for the richness the fat in the yolks lend to the dough, and for the moisture in the water in the egg whites. Some formulas will include an acid ingredient such as lemon juice or cream of tartar. This will relax the gluten, prevent the dough from souring and have a whitening effect on the dough.
There are several choices for the roll-in fat. One may use specially formulated puff pastry shortenings which have a high melting point. The use of this product will give superior lift to the baked pastry, but since the fat has a higher than body temperature melting point, a hazy disagreeable film of fat will be left on the palate when the pastry is eaten. All-purpose shortening is not recommended as a roll-in fat. Margarine may be used if it's extra moisture content is taken into account.
Butter is the number one choice for use as the roll-in fat. It has a superior taste, melts at lower than body temperature and doesn't leave a film on the palate. However, it is expensive and doesn't give as much oven bang.
There are three portions to the roll-in fat. The butter itself, and small percentages of bread and cake flour which are used to absorb excess moisture and to make the butter more stable. The dough must have proper rest periods in order to relax the gluten,. If the butter is allowed to get too cold, it will break up into tiny lumps and cut through the dough. If it is allowed to get too warm, or not cold enough, the butter will ooze out and the dough will become sticky.
There are a couple of approaches to enclosing the roll-in fat- the spot method and the block method. There is also the blitz method of making what is referred to in the trade as "feuillete rapido." In our shop, we will use the block method. The properly chilled dough is rolled out to an 18" rectangle and the properly chilled plastic mass of butter, in a 12" square, is laid on the dough and then the dough is pulled up and over the butter to enclose it.
A properly made quantity of puff dough is referred to as a board. Since puff dough is so time-consuming to make, one wishes not to waste it in it's virgin form. The following formula will help determine how much of a board to cut during makeup.
1. weigh the board, say 7 lb.
2. convert to ounces- 112 ounces
3. measure the length of the board, say 14 inches
4. divide the weight by the length- 8
5. divide 16 by the answer in step 4- 2 Every 2 inches of the board will weigh 1 lb.
The desired characteristics of a baked a puff pastry item include an even, light golden color and it should be crispy and crunchy and light in texture and feeling. Once the puff dough has been rolled to the necessary size for makeup, it should be allowed to relax on the bench for 5 minutes or so to allow for shrinkage. Then any cutting and shaping can take place and the madeup items should be relaxed for 20 minutes before baking. Oven temperatures for baking range from 400-430 degrees, with smaller items baked at the higher temperature: larger items need a lower heat. If too rapid browning occurs the items may be covered with a sheet of parchment paper. When checking the doneness of items in the oven, one is encouraged not to dawdle with the oven door open. Know what needs to be looked at, how long it has been cooking, and what the temperature is. Smaller pastries take approximately 15 minutes to bake. Larger pastries will take longer. It is important to use a mellow oven heat, that is, a well preheated oven. Avoid raw, flashy oven heat.
Puff pastry items should be made and eaten on the same day. If they need to be stored, use dry, tight storage. Many pastry shops make up quantities of pastries and freeze them in the raw state. Then they can be baked when needed and lose none of their quality.
When puff pastry is not fully baked it looks translucent and oily. Following are some of the common problems enountered and their causes.
Shrinkage- dough not relaxed enough after rolling and makeup.
Poor lift- too little or too much fat, dough rolled too thin, too many folds, uneven heat in oven.
Uneven lift, irregular shapes- improper rolling, faulty spotting of roll-in fat, dough not relaxed enough, uneven heat in oven.
Fat running out- too much fat used, not enough turns, oven too cool.
The several steps involved in makeup of puff pastry items include:
Equipment:
Ingredients: Yield: 12 turnovers
Method of Preparation:
Equipment:
Ingredients: Yield: 12 pinwheels
Method of Preparation:
Equipment:
Ingredients: Yield: 8-10 bowties
Method of Preparation:
Equipment:
Ingredients: Yield: 36 cookies
Method of Preparation:
Time Management:
rolling and folding 5 min
cutting 2 min
panning up 2 min
total: 9 min
Equipment:
Ingredients: Yield: 6-8 portions
Method of Preparation:
Time management:
rolling 5 min
cutting and gluing 5 min
cutting fruit 10 min
filling, arranging and glazing 10 min
total: 30 min
Equipment:
Ingredients: Yield: 32 twists
Method of Preparation:
Time Management:
rolling 5 min
folding, cutting and twisting 8 min
total: 13 min
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August 8, 1998