CLASSIC PUFF PASTRY

What makes puff pastry unique is the way it is folded, known as ‘laminating’. As with croissants, the dough is folded around the butter numerous times, creating layers, which result in a flakier pastry. Puff pastry is perfect for both savoury and sweet products — at the bakery we use it mostly for sausage rolls, pie lids and galettes.

You will need to start making your puff pastry a day or two in advance.

Makes about 1.6 kg (3 lb 8 oz)

135 g (4¾ oz) unsalted butter, cut into 1.5 cm (⁵/₈ inch) cubes, chilled

675 g (1 lb 8 oz/4½ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour, chilled

20 g (¾ oz/1 tablespoon) salt

20 ml (½ fl oz) vinegar, chilled

300 ml (10½ fl oz) water, chilled

500 g (1 lb 2 oz) unsalted butter, extra, for laminating, chilled

Remove the butter from the refrigerator 20 minutes before you start mixing — the butter should be just soft but still very cold, so it doesn’t melt through the pastry while still mixing.

If mixing the pastry by hand, mix together the flour and salt in a large bowl and toss the butter through. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour to partly combine. Turn out onto a clean work surface and gather together. Combine the vinegar with the chilled water and sprinkle over the flour mixture. Knead gently to form a smooth dough.

If using a food processor, put the butter, flour and salt into the bowl of the food processor and pulse on high for about 30 seconds, or until the mixture resembles sand. Combine the vinegar with the chilled water and add to the bowl, pulsing in 3–4 bursts until you have a smooth dough.

Flatten the pastry into a round flat disc, about 2 cm (¾ inch) thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes, or overnight.

Before laminating, or folding, the pastry, remove the extra 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) butter from the fridge — it should be cold but malleable. Use a rolling pin to gently pound the butter, between sheets of baking paper, into a flat 20 cm (8 inch) square, about 1 cm (½ inch) thick.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry to make a 20 x 40 cm (8 x 16 inch) rectangle. Place the butter at one end of the pastry, then fold the other end over to completely enclose the butter.

Turn the pastry 90 degrees and begin to roll it away from you in even strokes. When you have a 20 x 90 cm (8 x 35½ inch) rectangle, fold in both ends to meet in the middle. Fold the pastry in half again to close it, as if you were closing a book — look at the pastry and visualise the spine of the book on one side and the pages on the other. Dust the pastry lightly with flour, cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. This completes the first fold.

Repeat this folding process three more times to make four folds in total. Each time you roll the pastry, place it on the bench with the ‘book spine’ edge running at 90 degrees to the front of the bench on the left-hand side; this will ensure you are rotating the pastry 90 degrees each time you roll and fold it. Refrigerate the pastry for 30 minutes between each fold to allow the gluten to relax, otherwise it will be hard to roll and the pastry will be more likely to shrink when baked. Some chefs prefer to make the first two folds, then rest the pastry overnight in the fridge, doing the final two folds 24 hours later. This gives more defined layers, and is preferable if time and refrigerator space permits. If you use this method, be sure to allow the pastry to sit out of the fridge for about 30 minutes after the overnight period, to allow it to become malleable again. After the laminating is complete, a 24-hour rest in the refrigerator is again preferable to stop shrinkage. After this time, the dough is best used within 1 day or frozen, as it discolours very quickly.

Remove the pastry from the fridge 30 minutes before you wish to roll it. Sprinkle a little flour on the bench and over the rolling pin. Working from the centre of the pastry, gently roll it away from you, then turn the pastry about 45 degrees and roll out again. Repeat this process until you have a flat rectangule or square about 5 mm (¼ inch) thick.

Refrigerate the pastry for at least 30 minutes before cutting into the desired shapes. When cutting, drag a sharp knife across the pastry rather than using a downward action — this stops the edge of the pastry becoming crushed, which would result in poor rising and loss of all the beautiful layers you have spent hours folding into the pastry.

If you are making pie lids, use a round pastry cutter to cut out circles for them, making sure they have a diameter that is at least 1 cm (½ inch) larger than the base of the tin, so that you can easily attach them and seal.

Any unused pastry can be rolled out, cut into the desired shapes and stored in the freezer for up to 2 months, covered in plastic wrap. Bake directly from the freezer.