EASY PUFF PASTRY
Never buy puff pastry again.
This is by far the easiest puff pastry recipe you will find anywhere. It takes less than an hour to be ready and can be used in all sorts of savoury puff pastry recipes. Once you try it you will never buy pre-made puff pastry again.
INGREDIENTS
75 ml (2.53 fl oz) water
250 g (0.55 lbs) all-purpose flour
200 g (8.8 oz) plain unsalted butter (with at least 82% fat content)
A pinch of salt
NOTES
For the dough folding: 3 turns is the norm but you can do more if you like.
Dimensions for the folding of the dough: a rectangle of 45 cm / 17.7 inches long by 15 cm / 5.9 inches wide.
For the cling wrap, I use a 100% Certified Compostable Cling Wrap sourced online to avoid using plastic. These days you can buy the more sustainable stuff in most supermarkets.
PROCEDURE
Sprinkle the butter cubes over the flour and then rub butter into the flour until it is well incorporated, but not to the extent that it resembles bread crumbs. It should be roughly incorporated so that the butter is in flakes and little balls.
Add a little water to the mixture a little at a time and blend it in by hand until a ball of dough is formed that does not stick to the bowl (depending on the flour used, a little more water than the quantity set out in the ingredients description may be required).
Form the dough into a rectangular shape, wrap it in cling wrap and rest it in the fridge for 30 minutes or longer.
Dust the work bench lightly with flour.
Roll out the rectangle of flour lengthwise until it measures 45 cm (18 inches) by 15 cm (6 inches). I recommend that you use a tape measure or ruler.
Brush off any excess flour and fold 15 cm (6 inches) of the dough back towards yourself and then fold the remaining 15 cm over the top so that the piece of dough will be 15 cm square.
Flatten the parcel a little by hand and then turn it 90 degrees (a quarter turn).
Again roll the parcel out (if necessary, dusting with flour) until the parcel is 45 cm (17.7 inches) by 15 cm. (in the process it may be necessary to push in the sides of the strip of dough so as to maintain the 15 cm width).
Again, brush off any excess flour, fold 1/3 of the dough back towards yourself and fold the remaining 1/3 over the top to form a 15 cm square.
Again flatten the parcel a little, lightly dust with flour and turn it 90 degrees, ensuring that the direction of the turn is the same as before, and roll out to a 45 cm by 15cm rectangle.
Fold as before into a parcel one last time.
The pastry should then be rested in the fridge for 15 minutes and is then ready to be rolled out into any desired shape.