Rough Puff Pastry

By Addie

Classic puff pastry takes half a day to make, but this shortcut version, called rough puff pastry, is ready to use in an hour or less by Molly Stevens easy shortcut puff pastry, ready in an hour or less Quick puff pastry is ideal for crisp, buttery pastries and crusts. Begin with a hot oven (450°F) to get the puff and then lower the temperature to finish baking.

When I was learning to cook, I thought of mastering puff pastry as a rite of passage from the merely eager to the expert. Making this delicate, flaky pastry usually takes at least half a day, but the result—hundreds of puffed, crisp, and buttery layers—was, in my mind, the ultimate kitchen achievement.

Then I discovered that most chefs use a shortcut method known as rough puff pastry (also called blitz and half pastry) that takes only a fraction of the time. Though the results are not quite as spectacular in terms of height, rough puff pastry is just as irresistibly flaky, buttery, and tender as traditional puff pastry.

Use rough puff pastry to make turnovers, mille-feuilles, cheese straws, and cream horns, or use it as a crust for tarts, quiches, and pot pies.


The amounts for butter, flour, and water are given by weight (ounces) and by volume (cups or tablespoons); use either measurement. Yields about 2 pounds of dough.

Ingredients

• 3 sticks cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 3 c. all-purpose flour, chilled; more for dusting work surface
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2/3 c. chilled water
• ............................
• For Baking: (Glaze)
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup cream

Details

Adapted from keyingredient.com

Preparation

Step 1

Put the butter pieces on a large work surface and chop them roughly with a knife. Dump the chilled flour and salt on top of the butter and use a knife or a pastry scraper to cut the butter and flour together. When well combined (the mixture will still be very dry and rough), add the water, a small amount at a time, and mix with a knife or pastry scraper. It will be a very crude, dry-looking mixture.

Dust the work surface and begin rolling out the crumbly dough into a 6 x 18 inch rectangle. Using the pastry scraper, fold the two short sides to the center; then fold the bottom end to the top, like closing a wallet.

Turn the dough 90 degrees so that the seam is on the right side. Roll it out again to form a 6 x 18 inch rectangle. Repeat the folding process. Seal the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out to a 6 x 18 inch rectangle. Repeat the fold and roll process twice more. Brush off excess flour as you fold. The dough should be smooth. Seal the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Quick puff pastry is ideal for crisp, buttery pastries and crusts. Begin with a hot oven (450°F) to get the puff and then lower the temperature to finish baking.

Leftover trimmings should be stacked up and chilled or frozen for another use. Don't scrunch them together in a ball or you will lose the layers. To re-roll, allow to come back to room temperature.
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REVIEWS:

Excellent recipe. Went together much more quickly than regular puff pastry. Although it didn't rise as much as traditional puff pastry, it was incredibly tasty and crispy and very, very easy to work with. Pay attention to the recipe, get things cold and don't despair when it looks lumpy. It will come together in the end.

I converted into a gluten free recipe, by changing the flour to a rice flour and tapioca starch mix. I kept every thing else the same although I did not need as much water. It was the best most flakiest I have ever had and that is including non-gluten free. Thank you!

So far so good. Is in the fridge now. Easy to put together. It absolutely starts out as a mess, but came together by the fourth turn. Did three more for good measure, plus folded as a book as suggested. Will use for a simple apple tart later this evening.

Brilliantly easy! I always bought puff pastry ready made because i thought puff pastry was supposed to be hard to make - it was pimps-squeak! I'll be making lots more in the future!

I needed some pastry in a hurry to top a pie (realised I'd run out of frozen puff), and this recipe came up trumps! I cheated a bit by using the plastic blade in my food processor but the result was a nice homely pie crust, crisp on the top and nice and stodgy underneath. I stamped out some small rounds with the leftovers and grated parmesan on the top before baking, making some nice little nibbles.

I have only used it once to make spinach,ricotta pasties and they were beautiful, the pastry was divine so shall be using it always, and will be making cheese straws with it and sausage rolls, these shall be adapted to my own fillings. Highly recommended.

This was incredibly easy. I find this pastry easier to work with than the frozen pastry I have bought so far.

This is great, a cross between puff pastry and normal pastry. Very easy to make and I had comments of "the best pastry I have ever had"!

I will never use frozen again! This is so easy and so delicious. Yes Sophie it can be a bit time consuming if you do it all in one night, but if you plan ahead you can make the night before and then just roll it out when needed.

This recipe is really great and easy, no more bought puff pastry for me.

Amazing, idiot-proof recipe - can't recommend it highly enough! Despite adding too much water (due to my impatience) and ending up with a rather sticky mixture initially it still turned out fine. I did the rolling/turning/chilling step another two times (after reading about puff pastry making on you-tube) and got a fantastically light and flaky result. While I consider myself to be a good cook I have never been brilliant at either pastry making or baking so am very chuffed at how this turned out. I will NEVER go back to ready roll after this - can't see why anyone would! I know it takes more time but better to make it in advance and freeze it.

Really good to make and also extremely easy.

I found the pastry very easy to make. I used it to make a tart and put too much topping on which stopped it rising. I found the pastry tasted richer than the shop brought stuff, so I imagin it would be good for sweet dishes.


Really easy, tastes great. Made apple turnovers and got rave reviews all round! Much better than store bought puff pastry.

I had a pack of mince I didnt know what to do with, found this recipe and made Cornish pasties. Best ever.

Very good recipe - first time I've made pastry myself and it came out just the way I like! Browned, not burnt or too wet - perfect! I didn't get the marble effect, but that's my cooking not the recipe! Lol