Rough Puff Pastry

Hello HTS Community

Let’s learn to make rough puff pastry today, which can be used to make tarts, pies, sausage rolls, vegetable puffs, etc etc, the list is endless. You can also make amazing Palmiers with this rough puff.

Rough puff, also know as blitz pastry, is a light unleavened pastry, made with flour and fat, to bring a crisp flaky texture. Chunks of cold butter are mixed through flour, and when baked, the water from butter becomes steam to create separated layers of dough. There are different methods to make it, where some people like to grate the entire butter for easy handling of the dough, and the other one where butter is incorporated in two ways. I am using the latter method with grated and chunks of butter.

The ratio of flour to fat to water is generally 3:2:1, since we want to make a dough that just comes together. One important thing to keep in mind is the temperature, and we want all ingredients cold. Butter should not melt and mix in the dough, else we won’t get the separated layered texture.

Ingredients you will need:

• All purpose flour- 150g
• Unsalted butter- 100g
• Chilled water- 50g
• Salt- 1 teaspoon
• Lemon juice/ white vinegar- 1/4 teaspoon

Steps:

• Divide the butter block in 2 equal parts and keep one of them in freezer. Cut the other one on chunks 1/2cm thick and freeze.
• In a mixing bowl grate the other block of butter with a box grater, combine with flour, salt, butter chunks and lemon juice. Make sure the butter does not become soft and starts to melt. If it happens, keep the entire bowl in refrigerator for 15 minutes.
• Make a dough that just comes together with chilled water, and wrap it in a plastic cling wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

• Time for fold number one. Lightly flour your dough and tap gently multiple times along the length of the dough. Roll with an even pressure , to form a roughly 15 inches long rectangle.
• Once rolled, we are going to perform a book fold. Mark the center of the entire length of the dough, take the top end and fold upto the center, similarly, fold the bottom end till the center line as well. Next, take the top side and fold over the bottom one, to quadruple the folds. You will be able to see 4 layers on the sides, this is called a ‘book‘.
• Gently tap the dough, cover completely in cling film and then refrigerate for 1 hour.

• Time for fold number two, letter fold. Unwrap the dough on a lightly floured surface, tap it and start rolling in one direction lengthwise, approximately 16 inches in length. You will have a long and narrow strip now. Make 3 light marks on the dough strip, which divides it equally in 3 parts, we will be folding it in thirds like a letter. Refer image below
• Grab the top and fold it till line 2, and then the bottom till line 1. Refer image. You will have 3 folds on the side now. Totally, we have created 12 layers of dough and butter (4*3). Wrap tightly in plastic again, refrigerate for 1 hour.

• Your rough puff is now ready to be rolled to make some amazing savory recipes or desserts. Do check out my recipe for making Palmiers- French Sugar cookies.
• You can freeze it for up to 8 months, tightly wrapped in a cling film. 24 hours before you want to use it, place it in the refrigerator to thaw.