Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Puff pastry bravery

 Ok, this is a book review with pictures and surround smell.  I was given this book to review for Blogging for Books and as is my custom, when reviewing a cookbook I make something from it.  I love to bake and was excited to get this book.


 After reading through the whole thing looking for something I wanted to try, I decided to do something I never, ever, ever would do on my own.  Puff pastry.  Why would anyone make it themselves when there's a box of it in the freezer section at the grocery store?  I chose it for the challenge.  I also wanted to see if the technique is easily explained.  It was also the first step for many of the recipes in the book so you kind of have to do step one, the pastry, to make several other things. This is just the first step.  If you make puff pastry then you need to make something FROM the pastry.  I chose palmiers because I love them.  Around here they're called Dutch crisps.


There is a LOT of butter in puff pastry.  I knew that but when you see it lined up on the counter it made me read the recipe again to be sure. 

 Incorporating the butter involved some rolling on a well floured surface because in the beginning it's a very soft dough.  The punch mark in the lower left corner is there to tell me I was on my first fold over.  Now on the the cookie sheet to be chilled for 35 minutes.  There will be four of these rollout/foldovers with a 35 minute chill in between.  These chills helped firm up the butter again and the dough was easier to roll each time.

 How fun that you pour a cup of sugar on the counter for rolling the dough for palmiers! No flour, just sugar.

Roll then fold, fold, fold, fold so you have a log of folds held together with sugar.  

 At this point they can be frozen so while I baked six (self control at work here) I froze the rest.  What a great treat these will be in a couple of weeks!
Crispy, sweet, lightly caramelized, I have to say, puff pastry is a cinch to make and I won't run from it anymore.  I actually have some ideas.  A little cinnamon in the sugar?  Just a touch.  Some finely ground pecans rolled in there?

3 comments:

  1. Yum! I have watched a couple of cooking competitions where they make puff pastry and the amount of butter is alarming....but as one of my favourite cooks says, you don't generally eat the whole thing everyday. Good thing I don't, wink. I bet you it tastes better than shop bought. Well done on being brave with puff.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow.....I am super impressed you would tackle puff pastry! Kudos to you. I got over my phylloaphobia (fear of phyllo dough) last year and tackled baklava. OMG it was sooooooo wonderful, and working with phyllo was super easy. But you made the dough......oh dough master! It's all about the best ingredients you can find, and following instructions. I might have to try this sometime. ��

    ReplyDelete