31 Puff Puff Pastry Recipes You'll Wanna Pass Around (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to baking puff pastry? ›

Always preheat your oven for a minimum of 15-20 minutes before baking, because Puff Pastry depends on even heat to rise and puff. Place pastries 1 inch apart. If you want a flaky thin and crispy pastry that's not very puffy, prick the unbaked Puff Pastry all over with a fork, which lets steam escape while baking.

While all-purpose flour is fine and can be used successfully for homemade puff pastry, we recommend using strong bread flour like this for best results. Bread flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour, and therefore, contains more gluten.

The process of making puff pastry involves repeatedly folding and rolling the dough with layers of butter in between. This creates a laminated structure with many layers, and when baked, the moisture in the butter turns into steam, causing the layers to separate and puff up.

Adding vinegar tenderizes the pastry. It inhibits gluten from forming there by making the pastry tender and flaky.

You can brush an egg-wash glaze (1 egg plus 1 tsp. water) over the Puff Pastry to create a rich, golden sheen when baked. Use an egg wash to help seal filled pastries and connect Puff Pastry pieces: mix 1 egg plus 1 tsp. water, brush between layers, then pinch or press together.

You will have trouble keeping the margarine from melting while you're laminating the dough. While there are sticks of hard margarine, I highly suggest sticking with butter. Use European-style butter or French butter if possible as it results in more layers due to its high-fat content and will taste much better.

The main differences between puff pastry and phyllo dough are their fat content and preparation. Puff pastry is a laminated dough that gets its signature airy puff from layers of butter, while phyllo dough is comparatively low-fat. Phyllo dough is mostly flour and water and can dry out easily.

Puff pastry is mainly made by 3 important ingredients, flour, water, and fat (butter or oil). Unfortunately, I learned that butter and oil, consist of 100% fat. I've successfully created puff pastry using oil in a pan before. It works!

While you set your dough in the oven, the water in the dough forms steam which causes the puff pastry to rise. While the water evaporates the pastry is set in place due to the heat in the oven. Verdict : You need not add yeast, baking powder or baking soda.

What temperature do you bake puff pastry? ›

About halfway through baking, peek into the oven to see how the pastry is baking. Always bake Puff Pastry Shells in a preheated 425° F oven. Bake Puff Pastry Cups in a preheated 400° F oven for 20 minutes. Do not bake either Shells or Cups in a microwave or toaster oven.

This expands the space between the flour layers. Ultimately, in classic puff pastry, you want to create 729 layers of folded dough. Seems like overkill, but all of those hundreds of layers are what create pâte feuilletée's ethereally light and delicate flakiness.

Puff pastry, also known as pâte feuilletée, is a flaky light pastry made from a laminated dough composed of dough (détrempe) and butter or other solid fat (beurrage). The butter is put inside the dough (or vice versa), making a paton that is repeatedly folded and rolled out before baking.

The verdict: It's certainly cheaper to make your own pastry and I like the fact that most times, I'll have the ingredients to hand, no need for a special trip to the shops.

Shortcrust pastry: This is a type of pastry made from flour, butter, and water that is usually used for sweet desserts but can also be used as a substitute for puff pastry in savory dishes like pot pies.

Warm pastry: Your pastry should be cold, cold, cold going into the oven. It's worth reiterating: Cold butter equals flaky layers. If your pastry is warm, the butter can easily leech right out during baking. For best results, work quickly and keep your hands off!

Do I need to blind bake pastry cases when cooking with wet fillings? As a general rule, you do need to blind bake when cooking a dish with wet fillings. For example, if you're making a quiche or frangipane, blind baking the crust first will help ensure the pastry case stays buttery and retains its crunch.