The Baker's Daughter: Feeling French - Pate Feuilletee

Feeling French - Pate Feuilletee - Puff Pastry

Pâte Feuilletée means layered dough in French but it should mean delicious. Anything with puff pastry is to die for, the flaky butter layers are so good! The layers of butter when placed in a hot oven steam causing the pastry to puff up. I’ve been debating for a while now whether or not to post a recipe for puff pastry. It’s a recipe that I’ve been making for over ten years now and I don’t even have to think about it anymore but it can be a tricky thing to get just right especially in the beginning. It’s taken me a silly amount of time trying to figure out a way to explain the rolling and turning patterns but I think I’ve finally gotten it so it’s understandable. Please let me know if you try this recipe and my directions are not clear so I can try and rework them. This recipe will make one kilogram of puff pastry. I usually cut my finished dough in half so it is easier to work with. You should use your pastry within 3 days if it is stored in the fridge but it freezes really well so you might want to make up a big batch so you'll have it on hand whenever the cravings strike.

Pâte Feuilletée - Puff Pastry

1 ¼ lbs all-purpose flour

½ lb butter (divided in half)

1 1/8 cups cold water

1 lg egg

pinch of salt

Directions

In a large bowl combine the flour and salt. Add half of the butter (1/4 lb) to the flour mixture and using your fingers blend until a coarse crumb forms. In a separate bowl mix the cold water and egg. Make a well in the flour mixture and add the water and egg mixture. Using your hands incorporate the water into the flour until it is combined being careful not to over mix.

Flour your surface and turn the dough out. Roll the dough into a rectangle sized approximately 12” X 14”. Press the remaining ¼ lb of butter into the dough working from the far left side towards the middle. Do this by pressing dime sized pats of butter into the dough. You are going to cover a third of the dough with the butter.

Once all the butter is pressed into the dough it’s time to fold the pastry. Take hold of the far right side of the dough and fold it 1/3 of the way in, towards the middle.

Repeat the last fold to the far left edge.

Give the dough a quarter turn clockwise (you will always turn your dough clockwise) and roll out again to 12" X 14" repeating the above folds.

When you have rolled and folded your dough four times you are done. Cut your dough in half, tightly wrap in saran or in a bag and refrigerate your dough for at least 12 hours.