How to make Traditional French Puff Pastry
If you have ever wondered how to make traditional French puff pastry from scratch, this will be your ultimate baking guide! Home made puff pastry (Pâte Feuilletée in French) might seem like a challenge, but the buttery taste and crisp texture are well worth the effort!
- Prep time
- 1 hr
- Cook time
- Not listed
- Yield
- 6 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 250 g Bread flour (high protein content flour)
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 50 g Unsalted butter (melted but not hot)
- ½ teaspoon White vinegar
- 125 g Cold Water (very cold)
- 180 g Unsalted butter (cold - for the butter block)
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the puff pastry dough
- 2
Measure water and vinegar, mix them in a small bowl, and place them into the freezer
- 3
Prepare your Stand mixer with the hook attachment and mix high protein content flour with salt
- 4
Melt butter (the smaller amount) and once the butter is not too hot mix it into the flour
- 5
Start adding the water-vinegar mixture to the dough while your mixer is at the lowest speed. Be mindful of the water, you might not need all of it, stop adding water as soon as the dough is moist enough but you do not want to make it wet. Once water is added, knead the dough in the Stand mixer for another minute at low speed just until it comes together.
- 6
Then, using your hand, gently knead the dough for another minute just until it becomes smooth. Do not overwork the dough
- 7
Wrap the dough into a plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight
- 8
Prepare the butter block
- 9
Prepare a 20cm / 8 inch square butter block and refrigerate it
- 10
Lamination process
- 11
Take the butter block out of the fridge. We want to wait for the perfect moment to seal the butter into the dough; when you can slightly bend the butter block without breaking it. This is called when the butter is pliable.
- 12
Use Silicone baking mat to make the rolling and folding easier. Start rolling the dough into 25x45cm / 10x18inch, which is 2x bigger (plus some extra) than the size of the butter. When the butter reaches the perfect temperature, place it onto the bottom part of the dough, fold the dough over the butter block and carefully seal all 4 sides.
- 13
If the dough is still cold enough start the folding process as per below, if not, place it into the fridge for 15 minutes.
- 14
Prepare a 6-fold puff pastry; Roll dough into 25x45cm / 10x18inch, fold the top third into the middle, then fold the bottom third into the middle. Now you will get an envelope shape that has an "open edge" on the top and a "closed edge" on the bottom. Rotate by 90 degrees to the right so you will get the "open edge" on the right and the "closed edge" on left.
- 15
Your first fold is done, repeat it 6x. Rest the dough for 1-2 hours either in between each fold (if your kitchen is warm) or in between 2 folds. Do not make more than 2 folds at once without resting the dough.
- 16
After the 6th fold, refrigerate the puff pastry dough for a minimum of 4 hours before using
- 17
Baking
- 18
Bake the pastry accoridng to the recipe.