The puff pastry
What is that?
A pasta based on flour and water, to which butter is added by "turning" the dough at each stage of preparation so that, in fact, it "peels" (these are the famous "six turns" of François Pierre de la Varenne). The pastry is obtained thanks to the butter and the folding + stretching of the dough in overlapping layers.
Recipe:
Dough: 450 g of flour, 14 g of salt, 60 g of softened butter.
+ 340 g of butter worked until it becomes a soft dough.
Dissolve the salt in the water. Mix the flour, salt, water and 60 g of butter by hand or with the mixer. Knead but do not overly manipulate the dough, just enough for the ingredients to blend together. Roll into a 25 x 40 cm rectangle, wrap it in cling film and refrigerate for 2 hours.
During this time, roll out the 340 g of butter into a rectangle the same size as the dough. It must be slightly soft.
2 hours later: Remove the dough from the fridge, pull it lightly and place the slab of butter on it. Cover with dough, turn the dough ¼ of a turn, roll it out and fold it again, in 3. The «first turn» is done. Turn the dough again ¼ of a turn, roll it out and fold it in 3, in the same way. Make two dots on the dough, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
2 hours later: Start the previous operation again, make 4 points on the dough, wrap in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 2 hours.
2 hours later: Complete the 6 rounds by repeating the same operation and put back in the fridge for 2 hours.
2 hours later: The paste is ready to be used.
See also
The tricks
Perfume
You can sweeten the dough or flavor it (cinnamon, cocoa, thyme ...), between the 5th and 6th round.
Cook
Depending on what you want to achieve, cooking is different.
Bake the pasta at 240 ° C for about 10 minutes, so that it swells, then finish cooking at 180 ° C to prevent it from burning.
Keep
2 days in the fridge, wrapped in cling film, or frozen: in a loaf or stretched out and wrapped in a tube in baking paper. Defrost it at room temperature for 3-4 hours, or in the fridge for 12-24 hours in the lower part of the fridge.
Butter
It must be soft, creamy but not melted. The greater the amount of butter and turns, the crispier the puff pastry.
The six rounds
The more turns you do, the more the dough "peels". The trick to knowing how many turns you have done: make a small hole in the dough with your finger at each turn!
What can I use it for?
Savory pies
Prick the dough with a fork and then place it in a mold, with the pricked side facing up, to prevent it from swelling "in bubbles".
Trousers
Seal the edges well, with yolk, egg white, water ... Brown the top, but not the sides.
a thousand leaves
The pasta is cooked at 200 ° C, with a grill on top, to prevent it from swelling. It is caramelized afterwards, passing it in the oven after having sprinkled it with icing sugar. In this way, you get a thin and compact dough at the same time, and a crunchy and caramelized consistency that makes a lot of crumbs!
