PUFF PASTRY 101

Look at me! While ranting about trying to lose weight, losing a ring and other mundane stuff I forgot to mention about my winnings in Vegas. Ooh yes, baby, I won, gambling in Vegas. To tell you the truth, I did not forget but I was in a double mind to mention it- since I do not want to endorse gambling on such a public forum (yes, yes I am the morally right kind of person 😉 ). So why mention today. Well, the reason why I mention it today is that I put my winnings into buying a new cookbook! Well, its funny because I remember telling V before leaving for Vegas that I’ll only play for enough money to buy this cookbook that I had been eyeing for some time now (people gamble for the enjoyment, to pay debts, buy drinks, while I play to buy cookbooks 🙂 ) . And that’s exactly what happened! I won only enough to buy me that book. This was destiny. That book was in my destiny! God wanted me to have it. So even though I just played twice on the slot machine- the moment I hit my target amount I immediately encashed it. No, this time I was not going to be greedy.

A few days back, the book (that I bought from my hard earned money), arrived in a shipment from Amazon. Happy and excited, I opened the package, and behold the beauty! There it lay Sarabeth’s Bakery From My Hand to Yours Sarabeth’s Bakery: From My Hands to Yours – in a large white colored cover with a simple yet beautiful picture of a lady whose hands are shown holding a batch of freshly made brioche in her apron! Yes, it had me floored. For the first few moments I was just flipping through the pages, feeling the smooth and crisp paper, oggling at the beautiful pictures (I am such a sucker for cookbooks!). 🙂

It was on my bed side table that night, and I read through the first few pages and instantly knew I made a good decision in buying this book. The book is designed with elegant simplicity. Her tips and techniques are what makes this book worth buying. I do wish though she had included the recipe for her famous orange-apricot marmalade that kick started her career.

Yesterday I chose to try Sarabeth’s version of Puff Pastry.

As Sarabeth describes:

With countless amazingly, thin, buttery layers that shatter when bitten into, puff pastry is the classic layered dough.

The secret to Sarabeth’s dough is that she uses heavy cream instead of water. Ok! I know what you thinking- “heavy cream! Wasn’t it fatty enough with the butter! “. But Sarabeth believes that the added butterfat from the heavy cream gives the pastry another dimension of flavor and crispiness. Hmmm.. It just means I have to gym harder!

You can use puff pastry in a number of things. It can be used in making palmiers, tarts, mille-feuille. I will be using it to make Apple Turnovers to send to V’s office. (That’s why I am not too worried about the butter and the heavy cream going in the dough- as long as I don’t have to eat them all!)

PUFF PASTRY 101

The dough should be made at least 2 days before using. It has two parts the D’etrempe and the Beurrage

The D’etrempe

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out the dough
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/3 cups heavy cream, start with 3/4 cup and add more as needed

The Beurrage

• 340 grams (3 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour

1. To make the d’etrempe, in a bowl, mix together flour and salt. On low speed, add enough of the cream to make a stiff but a sticky dough. Be careful as to now over mix. Once everything has been mixed, transfer dough onto a clean surface and knead a few times till you get a smooth dough. Mark an X to make four quadrants.
2. Transfer dough to a sheet pan dusted with flour. Cover with clingwrap and set in the refrigerator.
3. To make the beurrage. Place the butter in a bowl and beat on medium speed until the butter is almost smooth, about 30 seconds. Add the flour and beat until mixture is malleable, about 30 seconds more. Transfer the butter mix to a lightly floured surface and shape into a 4-inch square.  Refrigerate for about 15-25 minutes. The d’etrempe and the beurrage should have similar consistency and temperature after this slight chilling.

4. On a floured surface, place the dough. Using the heel of you hand, flatten and stretch each quadrant out about 2 1/2 inches as shown in the images. The area in the center should be thicker than the rolled out sides. Each of the flap should be about 6 inches long and 5 inches wide, leaving a raised square in the center.

5. Place the butter square in the center of the rolled out dough. Gently stretch and pull each flap to cover the top and sides of the butter square, brushing away any excess flour (see image). (cover the butter square as best as you can without tearing the dough.)

6. Dust surface with flour. Turn the dough over so the four folded flaps face down, the open seams should face you. Dust top of dough with flour. Slightly pound the top of the dough to widen it slightly and then roll dough into a 17 by 9-inch rectangle. Fold the dough in thirds like a letter (see image), brushing away excess flour (SINGLE FOLD). Roll lightly to compress layers and transfer pan to refrigerator for about 20 minutes.

7. Dust surface with flour. Roll out dough into a 17 by 9-inch rectangle. Fold the right side of dough over 2 inches to the left. Fold the left side of the dough over to meet the right side. Fold the dough in  half vertically from left to right. (DOUBLE FOLD). Roll dough slightly to compress layers. refrigerate for 20 minutes.

8. Repeat rolling and folding dough into a second double turn. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

9. Repeat rolling and folding dough into final single turn. Cut the dough in half vertically. Wrap each dough tightly in plastic wrap, then wrap again. Freeze for at least 24 hours or up to 3 weeks. (By freezing the dough, the butter and flour layers firm up, resulting in an extra-flaky texture on baking. It also relaxes the dough better than refrigeration alone.)

10. The night before using the dough, transfer the frozen dough to the refrigerator and let thaw overnight, about 8 hours but no longer than 12 hrs.