Saturday, April 7, 2012

Blitz Puff Pastry

Hey guys!  Those of you who follow me on Facebook probably already know that I'm in a Baking lab this quarter so there's gonna be baking-related posts for a bit!  Are you excited?!  Alright!

Now this also means that we're going to be using scaled measurements here - I gotta do it in school, so might as well make it a habit of doing in real life!  So bust out your digital scales!

Hope you guys are doing well, we're just finalizing all the little details for the wedding (22 days!!) and staying busy - as always.

So puff pastry.  Tons of layers, tons of butter.  But who has time to fold and turn, fold and turn, fold and turn?! That's where blitz puff pastry comes in.  It doesn't quite rise as much as regular puff pastry, but it rises enough for presentation, and it's a whole lot quicker!  Let's get to it!

Ingredients:

8 oz. bread flour
8 oz. pastry flour
1 lb. unsalted butter, softened
1/4 oz. salt
8 oz. cold water

My digital's batteries went out when I started the recipe so I had to bust out my spring scale.  Definitely not nearly as accurate as a digital or a balance scale - but you have to be resourceful with what you have!

So now we sift our flours and salt together.  You could definitely use a mesh strainer or an actual drum sifter, but our chef said in a pinch, a whisk works just fine too.

Just for fun, let's discuss the 3 purposes of sifting (because let's be honest, when a recipe tells me to sift, I rarely do, based on the shear fact that I'm lazy and don't want to go through all the trouble.  Guess this Baking class is going to change my evil ways!)

#1 - to remove lumps - makes sense
#2 - to incorporate air - this is the big one, ever notice that after you sift dry ingredients they seem to amount to more mass?  It's the air!
#3 - to create a homogenous mass - another big point.  You want your individual ingredients to lose their sole identities to become one happy family.

And now we're gonna cut in our butter.  You want to "crush" the fat into the flour, not "squeeze" it in there.  Picture yourself making the "I want money" gesture, not the "I want to choke the chicken".  You know what I mean?

The whisk doesn't belong in there (can you tell I'm rusty?  Or rushed.)

Once you have the majority of the big chunks of butter incorporated into the flour, make a well in the center and pour in your cold water.


Use a bowl scraper or wooden spoon to incorporate the dough into the center until it forms a unified mass.  Gentle now... we don't want to over work the dough.  On a lightly floured surface, form the dough into a rectangle loaf.


Roll dough into a rectangle that is about 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick.


Fold the left and right sides toward the center, leaving a finger-width gap in between.


Then fold the sides together.


Then roll out into a rectangle about 1/4 to 1/8 thick again, and repeat entire process 2 more times.


Wrap up your finished pastry and place in the freezer for at least 8 hours or overnight.

And bam, you'll have puff pastry to use at your own discretion!  Next couple of posts, I'll show you what I did with mine!

Hope you all have a great Easter holiday, if you're celebrating.  Otherwise, just have a good rest of the weekend =)

25 comments:

  1. Lookin good! that puff pastry is hard work :) Happy Easter Peggy!

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  2. I really need to start weighing my ingredients. I love it when I feel like I am getting a work out when cooking.

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  3. I made a quick puff pastry a little while back and Stella told me it was technically a blitz pastry. I loved making it and thought it was totally delish. I wish I were taking a baking lab. Sounds like fun!

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  4. Wonderful!! Sometimes I really have a hard time finding good puff pastry!!

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  5. Happy Easter!
    This is definitely above my abilities, but I can certainly appreciate it :-)

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  6. I'm excited to see what you'll do with this!

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  7. This sounds like a brilliant idea to me. So much quicker. Have a great Easter. Diane

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  8. Great puff pastry demonstration. My mother can make puff pastry and in my eyes... it's like magic. These type of skills I did not inherit. You did a fabulous job!! Good luck with your baking lab. :) Happy Easter my friend!! Have a joyous day! ~ Ramona

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  9. Sometimes I think the ready made ones rises too much. I need to roll it with some flour to stop the rising or put a heavier pan on top to prevent that.

    This makes a nice try for a home made version and used whenever needed.

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  10. Looking forward to what you are making. Happy Easter!

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  11. Never make puff pastry at home....you make very well!! Happy Easter!

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  12. This should be fun; please share your recipes with us. Happy Easter!
    Rita

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  13. Your down to the 3 week countdown! Wow! Love this short cut puff pastry :)

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  14. Great thanks for this. I made croissants three times but they are time consuming. We have people over for brunch a lot,and I am looking forward to what you did with yours so I can get ideas.

    Hope you are doing well!

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  15. Great post! I have made something like this to put on top of a pot pie, but yours looks like it would be flakier! Bookmarking it :) Thanks for sharing :)

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  16. Wow! I just took a course in puff pastry, and, of course, we learned the long way of doing it. I like your flash method and can't wait to see what you made with it.

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  17. Amazing! I love this method, and I'm drooling just thinking about those flaky layers. Thank you for sharing. It was a great way to start my week. I hope you have a blessed day!

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  18. 22 days?!?!?!?! OMFG! How are you staying calm!?!?!?!??! :D

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  19. Very informative! I've always been scared of making my own puff pastry, but this recipe doesn't look too bad.

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  20. This pastry looks perfect! I'm always intimidated by making my own!

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  21. Don't make me break down and buy a scale... I am so not ready for that level of commitment... Puff pastry is on my 'to do' list as I just can't stomach the price at the market for the pre-made kind. I'll let you know how it turns out. ;)

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  22. Love this step by step post. Very interesting. Can't wait to hear abou tthe wedding!!!

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  23. I make my own puff pastry but it takes forever. This is a great recipe. Can't wait to try it!

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