{"id":201,"date":"2012-12-10T00:09:59","date_gmt":"2012-12-09T23:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.roadtopastry.com\/blog\/?page_id=201"},"modified":"2012-12-17T17:22:03","modified_gmt":"2012-12-17T16:22:03","slug":"puff-pastry-pate-feuilletee","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.roadtopastry.com\/blog\/puff-pastry-pate-feuilletee","title":{"rendered":"Puff pastry – P\u00e2te feuillet\u00e9e"},"content":{"rendered":"

Butter, butter, butter!<\/strong> Puff pastry<\/strong> is basically flour, water, and (lots of) butter. It is nevertheless one of the greatest products<\/strong> you can find in a bakeshop.<\/p>\n

It is very versatile<\/strong> and can be used in many different shapes and with many fillings, both sweet and savoury. The high quantity of fat and the particular way of making puff pastry result in many thin layers in the finished dough: this explains the French name “Mille-feuille”<\/strong> (i.e. “a thousand leaves”), used for the world-wide famous cake made of p\u00e2te feuillet\u00e9e<\/strong>\u00a0 and pastry cream.<\/p>\n

The theory<\/strong><\/h3>\n

So what is puff pastry exactly?<\/p>\n

Puff pastry<\/strong> is made up of a d\u00e9trempe<\/strong> (a dough made with flour, cool water, salt, and a bit of soft butter) and a block of butter<\/strong> incorporated in it. The d\u00e9trempe is folded like a letter<\/strong> to lock the block of butter in. Repeating the folding for 5-6 times<\/strong> after rolling out the dough each time creates many layers<\/strong> of dough and butter.
\nWhen in the oven, the butter starts to boil: the steam<\/strong> lifts the successive layers higher and higher. Moreover, the heat cooks the flour in the d\u00e9trempe, which becomes harder since the water evaporates. The final result is flaky<\/strong> (thanks to the butter), with many visible layers: if the dough is properly prepared, puff pastry should rise up to 6-8 times its initial volume<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

To prepare puff pastry from scratch, you don’t need any yeast nor baking powder! I would just suggest a fresh room<\/strong>: when I first tried the recipe in summer, the butter was constantly melting<\/em> as a result of my (not so fast) rolling. When butter is too hot to be worked, it escapes from the d\u00e9trempe, destroying all the layers<\/em> in the dough (and making a mess in the kitchen).<\/p>\n

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Puff pastry \u2013 P\u00e2te feuillet\u00e9e<\/h2>\n
\n \n \"\"Print recipe<\/a>\n