Rough Puff Pastry is a quick easy method for making homemade pastry dough. Instead of using a block of butter, I used shaved frozen pieces of unsalted butter to fold into pastry dough. Use the recipe to make croissants, cronuts, stuffed pastry, tarts, and strudel!
What is Puff Pastry?
Puff Pastry is a laminated dough that consists of multiple thin layers of butter and pastry dough. When baked it ‘puffs’ up into a light, crispy, pastry texture. Regular Puff Pastry is made by wrapping a block of butter in a basic flour dough, creating a rectangular shape. Then, you fold it over creating a ‘book’ shape and repeat. Each time you rotate the dough 90 degrees, roll flat, and fold into a book again. The more rolling, folding, turning and repeating you do, the more layers you will have. It’s not too difficult, just takes a little patience and rolling pin power.
The layers created are signature for puff pastry. Think about how light and fluffy a croissant is. While baking the butter evaporates and creates air pockets. The air pockets help the pastry to ‘rise’. Remember we aren’t using any leavening agents like baking powder or baling soda. Butter also gives the dough a rich flavor. However, if you let the butter melt or get soft before baking, you will end up with flat pastry. So, make sure to use cold or frozen butter and chill your pastry before baking.
Tips for Rough Puff Pastry:
- Measure your unsalted cold butter with a kitchen scale.
- Use a cheese grader to shave your chunks of butter into small pieces.
- Place your two separate measurements of cold butter into individual containers to freeze. This makes your pastry process much easier.
- Freeze your butter pieces for 45-60 min. before making dough.
- Weigh and sift flours into a medium bowl. Whisk together adding in the salt. Place the bowl of flour into the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
- Prepare a bowl of ice cold water and set aside a Tbsp scoop.
- Mix the 60 g of cold butter into the flour by hand until resembles cornmeal.
- Slowly add your cold water, working in with your hands until a dough is formed.
- If dough is too dry add a small bit of water. Dough should not be super sticky.
- Wrap dough ball in plastic and chill in fridge for 30 minutes.
- Remove dough and roll into a long rectangle about ¼ inch thick onto floured surfaces.
- Sprinkle half of the remaining 200 g of cold butter into ⅔ of the dough.
- Grab the remaining uncovered third of dough and fold inward over the middle third.
- Then take the thick folded dough and fold over the last butter covered third.
- It should now resemble a trifold book.
- Take the book and rotate 90 degrees.
- Roll back into a flat rectangle.
- Sprinkle the last of the cold butter onto ⅔ of the dough.
- Repeat the folding process.
- Once you have another dough book, rotate 90 degrees again.
- Repeat the rolling into a rectangle, and folding into a book 3 more times. (You will not have any more butter, but fold the thirds the same way.
- Cover rough puff pastry dough in plastic and place in fridge to chill for 3-4 hrs. before using.
Ingredients
- 60 g Unsalted Butter grated and frozen
- 200 g Unsalted Butter grated and frozen
- 150 g All Purpose Flour
- 150 g Bread Flour
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 8-10 Tbsp Ice Cold Water
Instructions
- Measure your unsalted cold butter with a kitchen scale.
- Use a cheese grader to shave your chunks of butter into small pieces.
- Place your two separate measurements of cold butter into individual containers to freeze. This makes your pastry process much easier.
- Freeze your butter pieces for 45-60 min. before making dough.
- Weigh and sift flours into a medium bowl. Whisk together adding in the salt. Place the bowl of flour into the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
- Prepare a bowl of ice cold water and set aside a Tbsp scoop.
- Mix the 60 g of cold butter into the flour by hand until resembles cornmeal.
- Slowly add your cold water, working in with your hands until a dough is formed.
- If dough is too dry add a small bit of water. Dough should not be super sticky.
- Wrap dough ball in plastic and chill in fridge for 30 minutes.
- Remove dough and roll into a long rectangle about ¼ inch thick onto floured surfaces.
- Sprinkle half of the remaining 200 g of cold butter into ⅔ of the dough.
- Grab the remaining uncovered third of dough and fold inward over the middle third.
- Then take the thick folded dough and fold over the last butter covered third.
- It should now resemble a trifold book.
- Take the book and rotate 90 degrees.
- Roll back into a flat rectangle.
- Sprinkle the last of the cold butter onto ⅔ of the dough.
- Repeat the folding process.
- Once you have another dough book, rotate 90 degrees again.
- Repeat the rolling into a rectangle, and folding into a book 3 more times. (You will not have any more butter, but fold the thirds the same way.
- Cover rough puff pastry dough in plastic and place in fridge to chill for 3-4 hrs. before using.