Quick Puff Pastry

I loved this quick puff pastry recipe! It's almost as easy to make as regular pie dough, but with spectacular results. I used it to make a tarte tatin, and the dough baked up lovely and puffy, flaky and tender. I also made the recipe for palmiers on this site, which was equally delicious. This made 23 ounces dough for me. I used 1/3 cup water to get the dough to stick together. After I made the dough, I refrigerated it for almost an hour before it firmed up, but then I didn't need to refrigerate it again during the folding process since my kitchen was pretty cool. I floured the work surface and was glad I did since the dough still stuck to the counter a little bit. The rolling process was simple and easy, and on the third and fourth turns, I really didn't need much additional flour. I used a dough scraper to pick the dough up from the counter, which also helped.

This is a very easy puff pastry. You can have your pastry done and in the oven in a little over 30 minutes. I made this twice. The first time I made it exactly as described. The results were perfect, but the process was very messy. The second time, I put everything in a food processor and pulsed it 12 times. The result was perfect, and the mess was confined to a bowl and the processor. One final suggestion, or rather a story I want to share, pertains to when I wasn't thinking and made a braided Danish with this quick puff pastry recipe on a rimless sheet. As the pastry heated up, the butter drained down from the pastry, leaving it airy and crisp. But of course, there was quite a bit of butter all over the bottom of the oven.

I thoroughly enjoyed making this quick puff pastry recipe. It was almost therapeutic for me and the results were fantastic. I used the puff pastry dough to make some ham and Gruyère palimer appetizers and the pastry was light, crisp, and flaky, so much better than store-bought puff pastry. My dough came together with a total of 7 tablespoons water using the instructions of adding 2-3 tablespoons water at a time. Refrigeration for the first 4-by-4-inch square did not yield a firm dough after a 1/2 hour so I continued to leave it in the refrigerator, ran some errands, and came back to it after about 1 1/2 hours in the refrigerator and it was definitely firm at that point. I would recommend the longer refrigeration time as it helped keep the dough really cold while I completed all of the folding steps at once without stopping to refrigerate the dough midway through. I lightly dusted my counter and the top of the dough with flour to keep the dough from sticking. Because my dough was extra cold, I worked quickly with my folds and was able to make all 4 book folds for without need for extra refrigeration halfway through. I was refrigerating for next day use so I actually rolled the dough into the final size needed, placed parchment paper on the top and bottom, and then gently folded the dough into thirds over itself and wrapped the package in plastic wrap (similar to how store-bought puff pastry is wrapped). I was afraid of extra butter oozing from this recipe but it did not. This will be my go-to recipe for puff pastry. ( I worked on marble and used a pastry metal bench scraper which came in very handy and was necessary for this recipe. In fact, I purchased the bench scraper in anticipation of making this recipe. My bench scraper is metal and has cm. and inch markings up to 5 inches which was also a helpful guide to measure the dough, I purchased it at Ross for only $3.99.)