Basic puff pastry recipe:
200 g flour (all-purpose or pastry)
200 g butter (half for the dough, half for the layers)
120 ml cold water
Basic puff pastry recipe:
7 oz flour (all-purpose or pastry)
7 oz butter (half for the dough, half for the layers)
4 oz cold water
Hello my sweet cupcakes! Today we are learning the basics of pastry making.
Turn up the volume on your radio (put on some Prince, Madonna, Queen, whatever you like, I’m going with “pour some sugar on me”), ignore your neighbors’ new bought yacht and exercise your patience with some pastry! Because the children are seeking your attention, we need to be fast in the kitchen. We can’t read recipes all day long. Nobody got time for that. We need some clear stuff, right? Today we’ll make it fresh filtered polish vodka clear. Let’s get it on!
First, we’ll make 15-minute puff pastry! Nothing more or less, my cupcake. It’s great for all kind of desserts, and it’s plain simple. You can also buy it in the store, but this site stands always for homemade! Take out your butter, all-purpose flour (or pastry flour), and cold water. That’s it! It always goes like this, one-part flour one-part butter! No one will complain there, for sure. To get that puff in the pastry you need to get that trendy mosaic look in the dough. It’s important to divide half of your butter to mix it in the begging, and the other half to work it in the layers. That’s the big trick here. And then it’s all puffy! Puff, easy!
1. Mix together the flour, half of your total butter and cold water (because we want everything to be as cold as your ex’s heart on a cold winter day). You knead it till it’s all very smooth.
2. Now you roll the dough really thin! You cut the remaining butter into three pieces of same size. Every piece is for one layer. We’ll make three, but you can make how much you want. Just add the same portion of butter to every layer. Now you cut the butter really small and cover the whole surface of your dough.
3. Then cover your half of the dough and roll it out again. You add the second layer of butter on the surface and cover it again (try making a square shape this time). Then you roll it out again and add the last layer of butter. Cover it again in a square shape and roll it out to your desired thickness and form.
4. Now you see the mosaic structure of the pastry! You can put it on a baking paper, roll it in and put it in the fridge or even freeze it, so it’s always ready to use.
Always remember to flour your surface thoroughly! You can get this really easily done in 15 minutes! Just follow the steps and you’ll get the basic concept of it. You can use this pastry for all kinds of desserts, but also ham, cheese, salty/hearty recipes. Just be creative! Next week we’ll make the best dessert in the world with it! I guarantee it!
Now let’s jump to central European dessert pastry, or the traditional strudel pastry! If you made your puff pastry in 15 minutes, then your strudel pastry will be done in 5 minutes! The recipe is from my grandmother, and we all know, grandmas are the true chefs of the world. A real strudel pastry needs just 4 things: flour (all-purpose or pastry), oil, warm water, and vinegar.
Basic strudel pastry recipe:
200 g flour (all-purpose or pastry)
4 tablespoons oil (sunflower)
2 teaspoons vinegar
120 ml warm water
Basic strudel pastry recipe:
200 g flour (all-purpose or pastry)
4 tablespoons oil (sunflower)
2 teaspoons vinegar
4 oz warm water
1. It’s really simple, basically one step. You add the flour, water, oil and vinegar to a bowl. Mix it together so it gets a nice smooth surface.
2. When it’s smooth you cover the whole surface with oil. Put it in a plastic bag and let the air out of the bag. Put it in the fridge for at least 2 hours, and its ready to use! If you have no 2 hours, let it rest for 30 minutes in a warm place.
The difference in handling the strudel dough is the surface area and thinning. The surface area needs for all the time be covered with oil, so it doesn’t stick. Furthermore, you need to thin it out so you can see your shadow of the hand through it!
Today you learned some essential basic pastry knowledge. It doesn’t take more than 20 minutes to learn it for your entire lifetime. Whenever we’ll make recipes that need those types of pastry, just follow this few quick steps.
