This month we’re trying our hand at homemade puff pastry. Gotta tell you I’ve done this before and everyone should try it at least once, but I now have no problem spending the extra money for Pepperidge Farm to do it for me.
HOMEMADE PUFF PASTRY Recipe Source :- BBCFood
You can make the pastry a day before and store in refrigerator or freeze it for longer use!!!
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Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the flour and pour in about two-thirds of the cold water, mixing until you have a firm rough dough adding extra water if needed.
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You can use food processor/blender at this time.
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Turn out onto a lightly floured board, knead gently and form into a smooth rectangle.
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Cover with cling film and leave to rest for at least 20 mins in the fridge. Overnight works too.
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Roughly break the butter in small chunks, use two parchment paper and chunk them loosely. You need to see bits of butter.
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Using Knife or scale and bring it to shape and store in refrigerator with the same parchment paper till use.
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Now roll the dough with thick center, place the butter at center and seal it properly.
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Roll the dough in one direction only, until 3 times the width, about 20 x 50cm.
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Keep edges straight and even.DON’T OVERWORK THE BUTTER STREAKS – YOU SHOULD HAVE A MARBLED EFFECT.
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Fold the top third down to the center, then the bottom third up and over that.
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Give the dough a quarter turn (to the left or right) and roll out again to three times the length.
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Fold as before, cover with cling film and chill for at least 20 mins before rolling to use.
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Roll and fold four more times, chilling after two.
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You can fold 4 times the previous day and then next day you can fold two times.
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In the whole process brush off the excess flour over the pastry dough.
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Chill the dough for an hour or more before using.
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When you feel the dough is sticky just chill in refrigerator before the next fold.
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You can check out this video for making the puff pastry.
I tried a design and wasn’t totally thrilled with it, but I’ll go back to a rope design next time.
APRICOT RUM RAISINS
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- In a saucepan melt butter.
- Add milk and water whisking until smooth consistency and JUST boiling.
- Cool 5-10 minutes so you don’t kill the yeast.
- Add the sugar, salt and yeast to form a sponge like blob.
- Add the eggs until uniform consistency.
- In a mixer with a dough hook attached, combine flour and yeast mixture.
- Knead well. Put in refrigerator for at least several hours, but overnight is better.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Roll a ball of dough the size of a golf ball into a rope and coil into a circle. Make sure the center is thinner than the outer edges to hold the filling in. Sometimes I prefer squares, but you just have to work with your dough after you have it coiled.
- Fill with a heaping tablespoon of filling per danish (recipe below).
- Let rise an hour in a warm place.
- Bake 15 minutes.
- Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting (see below). If you prefer a drizzle thin out this frosting with a couple extra tablespoons of milk until desired consistency.
1/2 cup golden raisins, chopped
1/4 cup golden rum
- Soak apricots and raisins in rum for an hour or overnight.
- Drain off rum.
- Set aside.
- Blend cream cheese, egg, powdered sugar and orange peel together until smooth.
- Fold in apricots and raisins into the cream cheese mixture. Or my favorite is to fill them as 2 separate fillings with the cream cheese first and the apricot in the center of that.
Cream Cheese Frosting
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
juice of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
- In a medium bowl beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
- Add lemon juice and vanilla. Beat until blended.
- Add powdered sugar gradually until well blended and smooth.
- Ice first layer and then add 2nd cake top and ice again including sides of cake.
- Refrigerate 1 hour to set icing before serving.
Thks for the mention n love the sweet pastry!!!
Thank you – was really craving sweet this month!
Delicious love your take on puff pastry Tamy very nice.