Variation: Chocolate Blitz Puff Pastry
Also known as quick, rough puff, and half pastry, Blitz Puff Pastry usually called “quick” because it is a way to abbreviate the lengthy process of making puff pastry. It is a cross between classic puff pastry and basic pie crust and is ideal for crisp, buttery pastries and crusts. cheese straws, and cream horns, or use it as a crust for tarts, quiches, and pot pies.
When making rough puff pastry, the butter is cut into the flour as if making a pie crust and then a scant amount of water is added and combined to make a smooth, workable dough. To make it, simply roll out the dough and give it a quick series of turns and folds as you would for classic puff pastry to produce the layering and flaky result in the dough when baked; the dough need not rest in between.
Though this Blitz Puff Pastry results are not quite as spectacular in terms of height as reached with our Puff Pastry Recipe, it is just as irresistibly flaky, buttery, and tender.
PASTRY RECIPE HELP
INGREDIENTS
10 ounces all purpose flour and extra, if needed; SARAH SAYS: preferably bleached
1 teaspoon salt
10 ounces unsalted butter, very cold, cut into 1-in pieces; SARAH SAYS: rechill the cut butter in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes, again, before using in the recipe
90 ml water, ice cold: SARAH SAYS: Prepare water and ice, and then measure the amount needed for the recipe when the water is called for. The amount of water used will vary
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Fit a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Add the flour and the salt and turn on the mixer to low to combine. Add the butter and mix on low speed until the mixture is shaggy and resembles cornmeal, with visible larger pieces of butter still showing.
SARAH SAYS: DO NOT OVERMIX so the flour and butter turns into a solid ball of dough.
2. With the mixer on low, slowly drizzle the water at the side of the bowl until the dough JUST starts to come together; again, don't let the dough turn into one solid lump.
SARAH SAYS: DO NOT OVERMIX. There should still be little pieces of butter showing and the dough should be sticky.
3. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and form into a square. If the kitchen is warm and the dough is very soft and sticky, place it on a sheet pan and chill in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes until it firms up enough to work with.
4. Using pinches of flour on the countertop, as necessary to keep the dough from sticking, roll out the dough about 1/2 inch thick and in the shape of a rectangle.
SARAH SAYS: It is important to try to keep the edges straight and square with each other so when you fold the dough over the edges will line up evenly.
5. To do a single turn on the dough, imagine the long side of the rectangle divided into thirds. Fold one end third over onto the middle third, then fold the other end third over on top, making a trifold.
SARAH SAYS: It is important to make sure the edges are lined up as evenly as possible.
6. Roll the trifold out again to about 1/2″ thickness and in the shape of a rectangle, switching the directions of the long and short sides – in other words, the folded sides of the trifold should become the long side and the open sides should become the short side.
7. Repeat Steps #5 and #6 two more times EACH,, so you have done a total of three turns. If at any point the dough starts becoming very soft or rubbery, let it rest in the freezer, as is, for about 10 minutes – no longer – before working on it some more.
8. For the final step, roll the dough out into a rectangle. This time, do a double turn – imagine the long side of the rectangle divided into fourths. Fold both end fourths over onto the center fourths, then fold the two sides together again so all four layers are stacked on top of each other.
9. Wrap the dough up completely in plastic and refrigerate for 60 minutes until ready to be rolled and shaped to make the pastry of your choice.
STORAGE
Refrigerate for up to 3 days, or wrap it in 2 layers of plastic wrap and freeze it up to 1 month.
If the dough has been refrigerated more than 1 or 2 hours, gently beat it with a rolling pin before rolling it into its final shape. If it is frozen, defrost in the refrigerator for about 3 hours.
VARIATIONS
Chocolate: For chocolate puff pastry, add 1/2 cup cocoa powder to the flour before combining with the butter.
This recipe is adapted from Sherry Yard. Sherry Yard recommends CraftyBaking.com (baking911.com)!
