Getting Familiar with Puffed Pastry

Apparently, Puff Pastry and Croissant Dough are two slightly different things. 😲

Who knew?

After watching both of these being made at different times on The Great British Baking Show, it all looked so simple and straightforward. I had to give it a try. One of them, at least. I opted for Croissant Pastry. So, what's the difference?

While both these pastries rely heavily on the proper encasement of the butter rolled and folded multiple times, creating steam while baking to make the pastry rise, Paul Hollywood's recipes indicate that Croissant Pastry uses sugar and a little yeast, while Puff Pastry uses eggs, but no sugar and no yeast, relying on the  lamination of butter, properly folded to create the lovely rise we expect from this type of pastry dough.
 

Croissants using Paul's Recipe

That said, I tried Paul's Croissant Pastry (click on the link for his recipe) as my first attempt. For one, I really wanted to try a homemade all-butter croissant, and for another, I wanted to be pretty sure my efforts would not be wasted, so I used croissant pastry with its little bit of yeast to give the rise a boost, just in case I should not be able to execute all that rolling and folding quite expertly enough. Either dough gains its beautifully puffed layers from properly rolling and folding the butter within the dough. And so, I call my recipe "Puffed Pastry."

A (Very) Young and Intrepid Baker

As of this writing, I am more than halfway through my 68th year of life. I state this to give some perspective. I attempted making a puff pastry a very, very long time ago. When I was in Guatemala, and still in my 20s, I was an intrepid baker. Not everything came out well, for sure. Still, I had no one to say to me that something was a difficult thing to do, or that I should be fearful of outcomes. I had my trusty Joy of Cooking, and armed with that book and its well-explained, instructional recipes, I forged ahead and made things like Choux Paste, with never a thought to anything other than a belief that I could follow directions with the best of them.

When it came to trying out a Puff Pastry recipe, well, I will say it did not have a great outcome. Looking back on that time, I am pretty sure that I would have used margarine in the recipe, and that would certainly be mistake number one! I can still recall to this day how much difficulty I had with the rolling and folding, and most particularly with keeping the margarine encased in the dough. I can still see, in my mind's eye, how it leaked at the edges or worked its way through the dough to spurt out in spots. These are definitely no-no's, when making a puffed pastry. The most important rule, outside of using a really high-quality butter, is to keep that butter well chilled and encased in the pastry at all times. 

Back to Current Day

I attempted to make Paul Hollywood's Croissants back in February of this year. I felt that at this time in my life, I certainly have had a lot more experience under my belt and surely I should be able to make this pastry turn out. I certainly know better than to use margarine! As it happens, it worked wonderfully well. 

Masking Tape and Rolling Pins

I will say up front, getting the pastry rolled into a fairly strict rectangular shape took a whole lot more work than initially anticipated. Lots more. This is of utmost importance, because it makes the folding come out neat and tidy, and getting all those flaky layers later on depends on this neat, tidy rolling and folding, a process called "lamination." What I did was to measure out the size on my countertop using masking tape at the corners of the rectangle sized areas (one for the butter and one for the pastry itself). This gave me the guide I needed; just keep rolling, neatening and tugging until it reached those corners I had marked out. Having those marks on the counter helped immensely.

I had also invested in a good maple wood, straight, 19-inch long rolling pin. I had never used any rolling pin but the one with handles on the ends, given me by my Mom for my Bridal Shower back in 1970. Getting used to a rolling pin without handles was interesting, for sure. The one really good thing was having a pin long enough so I didn't leave marks in the dough, as would have happened with my golden-oldie of a rolling pin. I will not say it would be impossible to make puffed pastry dough without that 19-inch straight rolling pin, but it wouldn't have been quite as neat. Maybe. I think. 

My Pastry, Second Time Around😚

My Croissant Pastry and Rolling Pin

When I opted to try out Paul's Croissant dough, I did so because I really wanted to try making croissants first. I had never had, outside of buying some at a local "patisserie," croissants made with butter. I had rolled some Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry into croissant shapes, and used that commercial puff pastry dough for innumerable applications. But that being the ONLY puff pastry available where I live, and it being made with shortening or some such, while delicious, I wanted to know what the "real thing" might be like. 

I will say it right now. THERE IS NO COMPARISON. The butter makes such a huge difference in flavor, it's hard to credit. 

I used a couple of Paul's suggestions for making filled croissants, half of them using bacon and cheese and half using almond paste. Both of these were excellent. Would I use fillings again? Maybe. Not sure. They tasted most wonderful. But, I think in the end, I am just a purist. I would have preferred to have just the croissant to eat.

That said, Paul's recipe called for a fair amount of sugar in the dough itself. I wondered about that at the time, but just went with his recipe. The time for experimentation would likely come, but not at my first attempt. As it turned out, I felt that the croissants were just too sweet. I had never eaten a croissant whose pastry was sweet on its own. I cannot say I have such widespread experience of croissants to say that they should not be sweet like these, but to me (and me with a serious sweet tooth, mind), they were just too sweet. Duly noted, for next time.

I haven't yet gotten around to trying Paul's Puff Pastry recipe. But, in the meantime, my sister-in-law and I were watching Paul Hollywood in "City Bakes." In the episode where he is in St. Petersburg, Russia, he goes to a little pastry shop where they have an amazing assortment of savory pies, made free-form with a puffed-pastry of some kind and with a most amazing amount of decoration on them. They were stunning. I took a series of photos of the TV screen, just to have a reference, when I tried.

And, of course, I just had to try it out! 😃

As it happened, I had just made a roasted turkey breast, and we had lots of leftovers. Obviously, this would be a Turkey Pie. What else would go in was yet to be determined. 

But First, the Pastry

Now that I had an application, I had to sit myself down and determine what I wanted to do for the pastry. I definitely wanted a puffed pastry of some kind and not just a yeast dough. The elaborate decorations used on top of the pies in City Bakes would not be possible with just any yeast dough. I thought about making Paul's Puff Pastry recipe, but then got cold feet when thinking about how this would rely solely on the proper rolling and folding of the butter. I felt I would rather add a little yeast, just to be safe. I wanted the dough to be beautifully golden yellow, so I wanted eggs in the dough. And sugar? I opted to use a just a little; just enough to give it great flavor, but not enough to make it taste sweet.

My version came out spectacularly well. I used most of the pastry in the creation of the Turkey Pie, what with top and bottom crust and all the decorations. Whatever pastry was left was only bits and scraps, which I carefully piled atop one another and rolled out again, though this will never be as puffed as the first time around. Still, I cut some haphazard croissant shapes from this dough and while they came out all sorts of sizes and odd shapes, they were truly delicious, just what I wanted as a croissant in flavor, and they still puffed beautifully. No complaints.  

I have no beautiful photos of the whole process, but truly, it is a matter of following directions, nothing more. I used grams to weigh my ingredients. I feel it is important to use ingredients by weight, making it so much more fool-proof. And ultimately, working as quickly as possible to keep the dough and butter cold is of the utmost importance.

Puffed Pastry Dough

Makes 12 very large croissants, or use pastry for other applications

500 grams bread flour (about 3¾ cups)
10 grams salt (about 2 teaspoons)
40 grams superfine sugar (about 3 tablespoons)
10 grams instant yeast (about 3 teaspoons)
2 cold eggs plus enough cold water to equal 300 ml., total (10 ounces, total)
300 grams fine quality European butter (about 2½ sticks)

Place the bread flour, salt, sugar and yeast into a mixer bowl. Stir to distribute the ingredients evenly. Whisk together the cold eggs with cold water and pour into the dry ingredients. Mix to bring the dough together, then knead for about 6 minutes, either by machine or by hand, as preferred. Place the dough in a bowl, covered, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

On a counter or other surface, measure out two rectangles, using masking tape at the corners to mark the measurements. One rectangle will be the measurement for the butter; 40 x 19 cm (15¾ x 7½-inches). Another rectangle will be for rolling the dough; 60 x 20 cm (24 x 8-inches).

While the dough is in the fridge, get out the cold butter. Use 2 pieces of plastic wrap or two pieces of parchment, large enough to accommodate the measurement of the butter. Place the butter between the plastic wrap or parchment. Bash the butter with your rolling pin to begin flattening it out, then gently press and roll it to fit that smaller measurement of 40 x 19 centimeters. Keep the edges as straight as possible. This may require some work, tidying the edges as the butter is rolled. Keep it to an even thickness. Leave the butter in between the plastic or parchment, figure 2, set it onto a baking sheet and place the sheet into the fridge to chill. 

Once the hour has elapsed on the dough, remove from the fridge, lightly flour the surface you will be working on and quickly shape the dough into a long rectangle, figure 1. Roll the dough, straightening and tidying the sides and corners as needed, until it reaches 60 x 20 centimeters. Take the sheet with the chilled butter rectangle out of the fridge, figure 2, remove the paper or plastic from one side and flip the butter over onto one end of the dough rectangle, figure 3, where it should fit neatly almost to the edges of the top ⅔ of the dough. Remove the remaining parchment or plastic film from the top of the butter. Fold the exposed edge of dough up over half the butter, figure 3. With a knife, trim the butter, just above where the dough has been folded over, being extremely careful not to cut through the dough beneath, figure 4.

Lamination Sequence: Rolling and folding cold butter into chilled dough

Lift the free square of butter from the top of the dough and place it atop the lower fold of dough, neatening the edges, figure 5. Now, lift the remaining top flap of the dough and fold it down over the newly placed butter square, figure 6. The result is now a tidy square, figure 7. Figure 8 shows how the layers should look from the edges. Very carefully, press the edges of the dough to completely seal in the butter. Make a small indent in one corner of the dough with one finger to mark that this was the first roll and fold sequence. Wrap the dough in plastic film or place into a zip-top bag and into the fridge for 1 hour.

Second and subsequent turns

After the hour has elapsed, remove the dough from the fridge to the lightly floured surface, figure 9. Set the dough on the surface at a 90-degree angle from the last roll and fold, figure 10, so that the tri-folded edge is towards you, figure 11. Roll the dough again to a 60 x 20 cm (24 x 8-inch) rectangle, figure 12, then bring the bottom of the long rectangle up one-third, figure 13, then the top down, figure 14, to cover the top fold. Make two small finger indents in the dough to indicate the second "turn" and wrap and refrigerate the dough for one hour.
Repeat this last sequence twice more, resting the dough in the fridge for one hour between folds, then wrap the dough and refrigerate overnight. After its overnight rest, the dough is ready to be used for whatever application you might prefer.

When using puffed pastry, it should be rolled out again before working with it. Never drag a knife or twist a cutter, as this will damage the layers and cause the pastry to rise unevenly. Sharp cuts or straight down pressure from a cutter is best.

Once made, puff pastry can be frozen. Thaw completely in the fridge before using.

This amount of dough will make 12 very large croissants or 18 to 20 smaller ones.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Great Big Savory Pie to Try

Like many, I have been watching "The Great British Baking Show" (or "Bake Off" in Britain), and it has impacted me in a really big way. Ever since Season 1, watching them make savory "picnic loaves" piqued my interest. I had never heard of such a thing as a great big savory pie that is chilled and taken on picnics. I can't even remember when the last time was that I went on a picnic. And, I'm not British. 

One of the criteria for these "pies" or "picnic loaves" is that it hold together when sliced, so it's easy to pick up and bite into. Of course, it will be cold, or at least cool, on a picnic, so it's best to make ahead. Though, with temps hereabouts in the minus numbers, there will be no picnics outside soon! So instead, I tried this out yesterday to eat for dinner. 

Beef & Pork Pie in Hot Water Pastry

Conceptually, it should be made ahead and eaten cooled, if not chilled. But after working on this pretty much all afternoon yesterday, it was our dinner, and it was hot, having been taken from the oven only half hour prior. Still, it held together quite well, considering it had no chance to cool. It looked pretty and appetizing, with the layers I created. 

And the Crust!

Paul Hollywood used a Hot Water Pastry to make this sort of pie. And in all my cooking career spanning nearly 48 years, I had never even heard of a hot water pastry, so I was terribly intrigued. I must have read over 25 recipes for this sort of pie. Most of them used a hot water pastry, because it is stronger and holds up better. It gets crisp on the bottom, which was another criteria for these kind of pies on that baking show, despite being filled with things that could make it soggy. In many of the recipes, people commented that the crust had no earthly reason for being other than holding the fillings together while it baked and was sliced, as it had no particular flavor. 

Beef & Pork Pie in Hot Water Pastry

I don't know about that, or maybe my husband and I are just "crust lovers," but I found it a delightful addition to the whole outcome. My husband gave this pie a "Five-Thumbs-Up!" And I would agree. And there wasn't a scrap of crust left on either of our plates, I can tell you. Considering that in the show I watched called "Masterclass," Paul Hollywood made his Hot Water Pastry with the addition of butter, "just to make it taste a bit better," paraphrasing, I would say he meant it to be eaten. I wrote down the instructions as I watched the show, and made the recipe just as he did, and it turned out perfectly, both to work with and to bake. And I didn't take a single photo while making this crust. Possibly it was just my total absorbed focus on something so new. Possibly it was that my hands were mightily greasy while working with it. But, no photos resulted from this first attempt.

Hot Water Crust Pastry, a la Paul Hollywood

The recipe for the Hot Water Crust Pastry, taken straight from watching the TV show, consists of placing 150g lard and 200ml water into a saucepan and heating just to a simmer, when the lard will have melted. Granted, you do need a scale for this, though most measuring cups have milliliters marked on them. In a bowl, combine 450 grams of all-purpose flour and 100 grams of bread flour and rub in or cut in 75 grams of butter (⅓ cup). Once the lard and water are hot and melted, pour this into the flour mixture and mix with a spoon (it will be hot at first) until most of the flour has been mixed in, then use hands to bring it all together in a somewhat spongy-feeling ball. 

This pastry does not lend itself to rolling out to any great size, so to line a pan, first divide out about ⅓ of the pastry and set aside, then use the rest to pat or roll into a disc and set into a very well greased (with lard) spring-form pan, working it up the sides until there is at least a ½-inch overhang all around the top rim of the pan. Press the dough to close any holes or tears. Fill the crust as soon as it's ready in the pan. This means have all your filling ingredients all ready! Once you've layered all the fillings in and patted it firmly down, roll out the remaining pastry into a disc slightly larger than the pan diameter. Brush the top rim of the inner crust with egg wash, so the top crust will adhere properly. Carefully roll the top crust over your rolling pin and unroll over the top of the pie. Press into place, then trim the edges, having bottom crust and top pressed together, right at the top edge of the pan. Then crimp with fingers or a fork. Cut a hole in the center of the top crust to release steam. Use any scraps to cut out leaf shapes for the top of the pie.

The "Tin"

In the show I watched, and on some others throughout this series, they used a pretty, fluted, oval mold of a type used in Victorian times. Paul used one when he made the Christmas Leftovers Pie on the show. I was fascinated by this tin, partly because it is so pretty and results in such a pretty and decorative pie. Partly, I suppose just because I love new things and am acquisitive ( as well as inquisitive). 😀

Fluted Game Pie Mold

So I started hunting online to see if I could locate one, and wow, are they expensive. Meanwhile, when I decided to make my first attempt yesterday, all I had are spring-form pans. And, these work just fine. At first I thought of using my 8-inch pan, a true 8-inches in diameter. The more I looked at all the filling items I had going, the more I thought that a 9-inch would be far better, so 9-inch is what I went with. I was using 2 pounds of meat, plus vegetable layers, plus veggies added into the meat layers. The 9-inch pan turned out perfect for this particular size of pie. It can be made in a 10-inch spring-form pan as well, though it will be less tall, and possibly the cooking times would need adjustment.

Meanwhile, as I told my husband about the pretty, fluted Victorian style tin, called a "Fluted Game Pie Mold" or "Pate Mold," he said he would order one for me, if I sent him the links, so I happily passed on the links to him.  He went on to also get me a second one, in an oval shape without the fluted sides; more utilitarian, but simple to use, that link found here.

There is another option out there, for a smooth sided version of this kind of oval mold, and there is also a mini version that holds six mini pies and is adjustable. I liked the mini version of that kind, just because it gave options for the size of pie made. 

Beef & Pork Pie in Hot Water Pastry

Serves 8 to 10

Beef & Pork Pie in Hot Water Pastry

1 recipe (above) Hot Water Pastry Crust, fitted into a greased 9-inch springform pan
-----
1 sweet potato (about 7.5 ounces/215 grams)
1 - 2 small white potatoes (total weight about 7.5 ounces / 215 grams)
4 teaspoons salt, divided
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced, divided
12 ounces ground pork (356 g)
5 ounces bacon, minced or ground (145 g)
2 stalks celery, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh sage leaves
1 pound ground beef (450 g)
1 medium carrot, shredded
1½ teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
1 jar (12 ounces / 355 ml) whole roasted red peppers, drained
1.75 ounces / 50 grams fresh spinach leaves
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour, divided
1 egg +1 tablespoon water for egg wash

In a saucepan, place the sweet potato(es) and white potato(es) and cover with water to at least an inch above the tops of the potatoes. Bring to a boil, add in 2 teaspoons of the salt and lower to a simmer. Cook for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until the potatoes are easily pierced with a knife. Drain and set aside. Once cooled, peel or don't peel, as preferred, then slice across thinly. Set aside until needed.

Pour out the roasted red peppers into a colander and allow to drain thoroughly. Set aside until needed.

In a medium skillet, over medium low heat, fry the ground/minced bacon until nearly crisp. Strain out the bacon to paper toweling, leaving the drippings in the pan. Add in the onion and ½ teaspoon of the salt and fry until golden, then divide the onions evenly between two mixing bowls.

Add the ground pork to the pan and fry, adding in ½ teaspoon of the salt, ½ the minced garlic, with the celery and sage. If there is too much liquid in the pan, use paper toweling to blot it out. When no pink remains to the meat, sprinkle with two teaspoons of the flour and mix until no white flour remains. Pour this mixture into one of the bowls with onion, add in the fried bacon and mix well. Cool completely.

Cooked potatoes - drained red peppers - pork mixture - beef mixture - pie in oven

Return the skillet to the heat and add in the ground beef, along with 1 teaspoon salt, the remaining garlic, carrot, and rosemary. Cook, breaking up well, until the meat loses its pink color, again blotting with paper toweling if there is liquid in the pan. Sprinkle on the remaining flour and stir in, then turn the meat out into the second mixing bowl with the remaining half of onion. Stir well. Cool completely.

Wash the spinach leaves, then place the wet leaves into the skillet and toss until wilted. Drain off any remaining water.

Preheat the oven to 345 or 350 degrees, or 320 on Convection, for more even browning.

Place the ground beef mixture into the prepared crust, pressing well into the corners and making the meat a neat, level layer. Set the white potato slices over top, in a single layer. Over top, lay the red bell peppers, opening them flat. Next, layer in the ground pork mixture, again leveling the layer and pressing down to make the layers nicely compact. Over top place the sweet potato slices in a single layer, then set the spinach leaves over all. Press down neatly. Cover with the top crust, pressing into place against the lower pastry edge. Trim the top edges of pastry neatly with the rim of the pan, then crimp with fingers or a fork, keeping the edges inside the pan. Cut a ½-inch hole in the center of the top crust. Any remaining scraps of dough can be rolled out and cut into shapes to decorate the top of the crust.

Set the pan on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for about 70 to 75 minutes, and nicely golden. Remove from oven and increase oven temperature to 375 degrees, or 350 on Convection. Whisk together the egg and water for the egg wash. At this point, the pie should be strong enough to remove the springform rim. Unlatch and carefully remove and set aside. Brush all the top and sides of the pastry with the egg wash. Place back into the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, removing once more after 10 minutes to apply a second coat of egg wash, then return to oven for the time remaining.

Allow the pie to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing, or if time permits, cool completely. Refrigerate if you prefer to serve it chilled the following day.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.