Everything you need to know about puff pastry

Yeast-free puff pastry holds the record for the number of layers. Their number can often reach up to 280 . Although it is prepared faster and easier than yeast.

In order for the baked goods to come out fluffy and fragrant from yeast-free dough, you need to preheat the oven to 220 degrees and keep the dough there for no longer than 30 minutes. An ideal option if you have a modern oven with a steam humidifier.

Yeast-free dough does not spoil even longer, so it can be quietly stored for some time in the refrigerator or for a long time in the freezer, not forgetting to wrap it in cellophane so that it does not crack and does not absorb other odors.

But in addition to yeast and yeast-free dough, there are also a number of types of puff pastry , which can occasionally be found on store shelves, but you can try baking from it in cafes and restaurants virtually anywhere.

1st type - traditional puff pastry . To make it, use water and flour in equal proportions. It is used to make cheese sticks, various pies and cakes.

There is also curd puff pastry . To make it, as the name suggests, they also use cottage cheese. All ingredients are mixed in equal proportions. This dough is used to make sweet cookies with insides. Cottage cheese puff pastries are sold in any bakery store.

In addition, there is also a creamy puff pastry. It contains cream, which is used in equal proportions to the other ingredients. This dough is prepared faster than all other types.

Common tips for working with puff pastry

– Any type of puff pastry is always prepared without sugar, so if you plan to create sweet pastries, do not forget to sprinkle the puff pastry with sugar or add sugar to the inside.
– You need to work with the dough quickly.
The dough melts very simply and quickly even at room temperature. If you set it to defrost, be sure to check the puff paste after 15-20 minutes. There is no need to use additional means and methods for defrosting (for example, keep the dough in hot water or select the defrost mode in the microwave). – The dough is defrosted quite simply, just remove the film from it and unfold it (if you have the dough rolled into a roll).
– To make the dough airy and have a pleasant smell, it is better to add a little of any strong alcoholic drink to it.
– If you add a little vinegar to the dough, it will be the most elastic, but here it is important not to overdo it with it, as this will affect the taste and smell.
– If you nevertheless dare to create the dough on your own, use only premium flour for it.
– The water for making the dough must be clean and cool.
– To ensure that the baked goods get a golden crust, brush them with egg, but try not to touch the sides of the products.
– To prevent bubbles from forming on the baked goods during baking, make several punctures in advance with a fork on the bottom and on the surface.
– To ensure that the baked goods rise and remain tender, do not open the oven for the first 10 minutes of baking.
Cool air will prevent the dough from rising. – You only need to place the baked goods in a preheated oven, otherwise the dough will simply melt and flow.
– Before placing the baked goods on the baking sheet, brush it with cool water.
– It is best to bake puff pastry at a temperature of at least 220 degrees.
Otherwise, the dough will melt and will not be as fluffy. – When you prepare the dough, do not overdo it with flour.
This applies even to those cases when you buy ready-made dough and roll it out using flour. A huge amount of flour will not allow the dough to rise. – If you want to somehow decorate your baked goods, do it after it has cooled.
– If you are baking with sugar, try to press it into the dough, as the sugar will spread out and burn, forming a tasteless, bitter crust.

These are all the main rules on how to create puff pastry pastries that are delicious, fluffy and successful. Successful puff pastry dishes for you and a pleasant smell in the kitchen!

What to bake from puff pastry?

How to Create Truly Savory Puff Pastry at Home

Preparing yeast and yeast-free puff pastry is not very easy, but baking from it turns out magical. It's literally worth trying.

What to make puff pastry from

To make homemade puff pastry truly delicious, use premium flour. Be sure to sift it before you put it to work. Flour saturated with oxygen produces the most fluffy products.

The watery component of the dough is milk or water. Milk makes the baked goods sweeter, while water gives the dough elasticity. If you prefer a convention, use a mixture of water and milk in equal proportions.

You can replace the milk and water with egg yolks: they will make the dough fluffy. 1 glass of water or milk is equal to ½ glass of beaten yolks.

The highlight of puff pastry is that to create it you need a lot of butter or margarine (choose to your own taste). These ingredients should be at room temperature. If you take them straight from the refrigerator, the dough may break.

With all this, the fattier the butter or margarine, the more tender the baked goods.

How to make yeast puff pastry

This type of dough is perfect for desserts: buns, rolls and croissants. Baking with yeast comes out soft, tender and very light. Attention: according to sensations, not calorie content!

Ingredients

• 1 ½ teaspoons dry yeast;
• 2 tablespoons sugar;
• 1 ½ cups warm milk;
• 1 testicle;
• 4 cups flour;
• 2 tablespoons of milk powder;
• 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
• 100 g butter.

If you wish, you can replace milk in the recipe with water or egg yolks, and butter with margarine.

Manufacturing

Remove the butter from the refrigerator. Dissolve yeast and ½ teaspoon of sugar in a glass of milk. Wait 10 minutes for foam to form. Add the remaining sugar, beat in the egg. Stir thoroughly and leave at room temperature for 10-15 minutes.

Pour the flour into a bowl and make a well. Pour dry milk into this cavity, pour in vegetable oil, yeast mixture and remaining milk. Knead the dough well and cover it with a towel. Leave in a warm place for 90 minutes, then knead again and let sit for another hour.

Place softened butter between 2 pieces of cling film. Roll the butter into a layer 5 mm wide and put it in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.

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Roll out the dough into a layer 5–8 mm wide. Place the prepared butter in the center.

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Fold the edges of the layer so that the oil is inside.

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Roll out the dough into a long layer 5–8 mm wide, pressing the rolling pin with similar force. The oil should be distributed moderately.

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At the mental level, divide the dough into 3 parts. Fold it over ⅔ from the first narrow edge and cover with the rest of the dough. It must be folded in 3 layers.

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Wrap the dough in cling film and place in the freezer for 20 minutes. Then roll out the layer again, fold it into 3 layers and put it in the freezer for another 20 minutes. Repeat this function 2-4 more times.

How to make yeast-free puff pastry

Yeast-free (unleavened) dough is prepared much faster. It is suitable for hot appetizers, vegetable, meat and fish pies, pasties, pizzas. You can also create a dessert from it, but remember that such a product will turn out flat, narrow, and very crumbly.

Ingredients

• 1 glass of warm water;
• 1 teaspoon sugar;
• 1 teaspoon salt;
• 1 testicle;
• 1 tablespoon vinegar;
• 3 ½ cups flour;
• 200 g butter.

Manufacturing

Dissolve salt and sugar in water. Add egg and vinegar. Mix well. Add flour evenly and knead into an elastic dough. Roll it into a layer and butter it literally in the same way as in the case of yeast dough.

How and how long to store homemade puff pastry

Puff pastry can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Just wrap it in cling film and place it on the middle shelf.

The dough will keep in the freezer for up to six months. After defrosting, it must be consumed within 24 hours.

True puff pastry of 256 layers according to GOST

Story

The history of puff pastry dates back to France in the 17th century. In 1645, the young provincial pastry chef Claudius Gele tried to prepare unusual pastries for his ailing father, who was on a diet.

Claudius rolled out the dough, put butter in it and folded it a couple of times. Then he continued to roll out and lay out the dough again and again. After many layers came out, the pastry chef decided to bake the dough. Opening the oven some time later, he was taken aback when he saw an unusual, fluffy bread of an unusual shape.

Having completed his studies (a pedagogical process in which students, under the guidance of a teacher, acquire knowledge, skills and abilities) , Claudius came to Paris and got a job at the Rosabau Patisserie confectionery, where he continued to bake puff pastry pastries, which gave him popularity and fame. His baked goods were in great demand. But Gele didn’t stop there and went to Florence to conquer Italy with his culinary masterpieces. All this time he kept the puff pastry recipe a secret.

At the moment, the recipe for real puff pastry is available to anyone. In Russian times, puff pastry products became very popular. In the buffet you could always buy puff pastries, triangles, tongues and other goodies. According to GOST, butter was constantly used to make puff pastry. At the moment, stores mainly sell puff pastry and products made from it with margarine. This allows you to reduce the cost of the product, but gives a nasty aftertaste.

Homeland of “True puff pastry of 256 layers according to GOST”: France

Ingredients

• Wheat flour – 500 g (+ for sprinkling);
• Chicken egg – 1 piece;
• Salt – 3 grams;
• Water – 170 g;
• Butter – 315 g;
• Citric acid – 1 gr.

Video

Step by step recipe

Creating a real puff pastry consists of 2 steps, with the dough formation step occurring in 4 sub-steps:

1. Kneading the dough;
2. Test formation;
   1. 4 layers of oil;
   2. 16 layers of oil;
   3. 64 layers of oil;
   4. 256 layers of oil.

Almost any of the steps involves placing the dough in the refrigerator.

In addition to the above ingredients, to make puff pastry according to GOST from 256 layers of butter, you will need a rolling pin, a rolling surface, a refrigerator and dishes.

To make real puff pastry, follow the step-by-step recipe:

Step 1 - Kneading the dough:

1. Sift 400 grams of wheat flour.
2. Add 3 grams of salt to 400 grams of wheat flour.
3. Add 1 gram of citric acid to 170 grams of water - almost at the tip of a knife - and stir well.
4. Pour water with dissolved citric acid and 1 chicken egg into a cup of flour and knead the dough. A good dough should be non-sticky and plastic. After the dough is ready, wrap it in film and place it in the refrigerator with a rolling pin for 30 minutes.
5. Take 315 grams of butter and cut into pieces into a separate cup, then add 20 grams of flour and beat until smooth.
6. Place plastic wrap on the table and spread the butter on it, forming a square layer 2 centimeters high. Then wrap the butter and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. The oil must be plastic and not spill. If the butter has not yet frozen, keep it in the refrigerator for a little while longer.

Step 2 – Forming the Puff Pastry:

Step 2.1 – 4 layers of oil:

1. Sprinkle 25 grams of flour sparingly over the entire surface of the table to roll out the dough. Take the dough and rolling pin out of the refrigerator, and create an envelope from it that closes on 4 sides, while its central part should be slightly larger in area than the previously formed layer of butter. In other words, you should get a square with 4 petals curving inward. The edges of the envelope should be thinner than the middle and allow the oil to be completely sealed.
2. Take the butter from the refrigerator, remove it from the bag, sprinkle it with a little flour and place it in the center of the dough envelope, and then seal it well on 4 sides, alternately folding its petals inward.
3. Remove the rolling pin from the refrigerator and gently but moderately roll out the dough into a rectangular sheet 1 centimeter wide. Then, along the rectangle, you first need to fold one end of the sheet to its middle, removing excess flour, and then the other, and then fold the sheet of dough in half, in the end you should get 4 layers of butter.
4. Wrap the dough in film and put it in the refrigerator with a rolling pin for 30 minutes.

Step 2.2 – 16 layers of oil:

1. Remove the dough and rolling pin from the refrigerator and repeat the process of forming puff pastry - roll out the dough along a rectangle into a sheet 1 centimeter wide, fold the two ends of the sheet along the rectangle towards its middle, and then fold the sheet of dough in half, resulting in 16 layers of butter. .
2. Wrap the dough in film again and put it in the refrigerator with a rolling pin for 30 minutes.

Step 2.3 – 64 layers of oil:

1. Remove the dough and rolling pin from the refrigerator and, as before, repeat the process of rolling out the puff pastry, resulting in 64 layers of butter.
2. Also wrap the dough in film and put it in the refrigerator together with a rolling pin for 30 minutes.

Step 2.4 – 256 layers of oil:

1. Take the rolling pin and dough out of the refrigerator and literally repeat rolling out the puff pastry, which should result in 256 layers of butter.
2. Wrap the dough in film and put it in the refrigerator; it can be used to make a Napoleon cake only after 30 minutes. Puff pastry can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 days, and in the freezer for up to 1 month without intermediate defrosting.

True puff pastry is ready! Happy baking for you!

Puff pastry: 3 quick, yeast-free puff pastry recipes

Greetings, dear friends! Now I would like to continue the series on how to prepare dough at home. And we’ll talk about how to create a puff pastry base in almost a couple of minutes.

I remain true to myself and try to outline more exciting recipes, because I have a lot of desire to cook, but no time. Or you just want to relax after work.

This dough is very popular in cooking, and you can create all kinds of baked goods with it. And there is no need to be afraid to create it. I will offer you such ordinary recipes with detailed descriptions that you will be amazed.

The ingredients here are all ordinary and economical. The development is essentially ordinary. You need to put it in an envelope a couple of times and roll it out. And there are recipes that are so lazy that you don’t even need to create this.

Well, of course, you need to be in a good mood.

A quick recipe for kefir dough

An all-purpose recipe for the lazy. Suitable for all types of baking. Done in almost 5 minutes.

• Flour 4-5 cups
• Butter - 300 gr.
• Egg - 1 pc.
• Drink - 1 glass
• Salt - 0.5 teaspoon

Now let's start cooking:

1. Mix the egg and add salt. Pour the drink in there and stir.

2. Roll the chilled butter in flour and grate it on a large grater.

Some people replace butter with margarine. You can also use this substitute, but it seems to me that it will taste better with butter.

3. Then pour the egg-kefir mixture there and stir.

4. There is no need to knead the dough for a long time, otherwise it will not turn out flaky. Just gather it into a ball, carefully place it in a bag and put it in the refrigerator for at least two hours

5. After two hours, you can prepare baked goods from it. The dough turned out very tender.

Savory puff pastries, tongues, samsa, pies, shortcakes, Napoleon cake, and pizza are baked from it. It can be stored in the refrigerator for 5-6 days. For longest storage, place in the freezer.

Chopped Puff Base Recipe

Here's another recipe for quick production. The development differs little from the recipe above. But baked goods made from it are no less tasty, crispy and airy.

• Flour - 2 cups
• Butter - 200 gr.
• Water - 2/3 cup
• Sugar - 1 teaspoon
• Salt - 1/4 teaspoon

1. Sift the flour into a bowl. Then grate the butter on a large grater. It must be hard, right out of the refrigerator, so that it is comfortable to rub. To prevent it from sticking to the grater, sprinkle it with flour. Then stir with your hands, do not press too hard.

2. Then take cool water and pour sugar and salt into it. Stir them in water. Make a well in the center of the dough and pour in the water, stirring evenly.

3. Now start kneading it with your hands quickly so that the butter does not have time to melt.

4. Cover it with film or a bag and put it in the refrigerator for one hour.

5. Sprinkle the table where you will be rolling with flour. After an hour, take it out and start rolling it out on both sides, turning it over a couple of times.

6. Fold the edges on 4 sides inward. You will get an envelope.

7. Then roll it out again and wrap it in an envelope again. Do this a couple of times to create more layers.

Now you can put it in a bag and put it in the refrigerator for storage. Or bake something out of it right away.

Video on how to make puff pastry without yeast

Puff pastry prepared according to this recipe comes out tasty, tender and universally suitable. Again, there is a slight difference from previous recipes in the ingredients.

• Flour - 1 kg
• Butter or margarine - 800 g
• Testicles - 2 pcs.
• Salt - 1 teaspoon
• Vinegar 5% - 2 tablespoons
• Ice water - approximately 350 ml

Now watch the video recipe. Everything is carefully explained here.

This recipe yields 4 kg (!) of baked goods. So, if you don’t need that much, take smaller proportions. Although, the dough keeps well in the freezer.

What can be prepared from the finished dough?

Perhaps, while reading this article, you are thinking about this question. My friends, yes, all kinds of baked goods. I'll give you a few thoughts for now.

To get started, I’ll give you some useful tips:

• If your base is in the refrigerator, then you need to take it out beforehand to defrost it.
• Do not use a microwave for this, the product will only spoil.
• When it defrosts, you need to stand at room temperature for another hour.
• It is recommended to bake in the oven on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
• It is better to grease the parchment paper itself with oil.
• Before baking, the oven should be constantly preheated to 180-220 degrees.

Well, now I’ll give you a few quick recipes for baking from puff pastry.

Delicious flaky croissants

This French pastry comes out very airy from such a base.

• Puff pastry without yeast - 500 gr.
• Egg yolk - 1 pc.
• Sugar - 2 tablespoons

1. Roll out the defrosted dough and cut into triangles.

2. Make a cut on the wide side of the triangle, open it and wrap it in different directions.

3. Carefully fold the triangles to the smallest edge, as if wrapping dough. Then place them on a baking sheet, folding the edges inward. Mix the yolk with sugar and brush the croissants.

4. Place in the oven to bake for 15-20 minutes. Let them cool and you can try.

Look how golden brown they are, with a crispy crust and soft inside.

Rolls with sausage and cheese

They prepare very simply and quickly. And the taste is simply indescribably delicious.

Ingredients for the inside:

• Mayonnaise
• Sausage
• Hard cheese
• Greenery
• Testicle - for lubrication

1. Roll out the dough into a thin layer and brush it with mayonnaise. Spread grated cheese and finely chopped sausage over all surfaces.

2. Roll it up very carefully. Make sure it doesn't break.

3. Divide the rolled roll into several equal parts and let them stand for a while.

4. Then place them on a baking sheet so that they do not touch each other and place them in a preheated oven for 20 minutes.

These are the fluffy and rosy rolls you should get.

You can also create a pizza on a puff base. You can see the recipe for making it here.

Yes, there are a lot of recipes for all kinds of baked goods from this dough - all kinds of buns, pies, and cakes. And I would be glad to describe everything in one article, but this simply cannot be done.

I’d rather continue the series of articles about baking, and there you will certainly find many recipes for making them from various types of dough.

I conclude for this day and wish everything the best for you. I look forward to visiting you again.