Food & Drink
How To Make Puff Pastry In 20 Easy Steps!
Want to know how to make a puff pastry? Here are the best ways to bake it, store it, and the meals to use it in once it’s done.
March 25, 2022
If you asked us to name our top desserts, we’d have to mention puff pastries as one of our favorite options.
Light, flaky, and buttery, these pastries are unmistakable with their golden-brown color and delicate texture. You’re sure to recognize them in the grocery store, and you may even be interested in baking your own. You can use puff pastry to wow dinner party guests with fun appetizers, the main course, or even dessert.
Here’s how to make a puff pastry in twenty easy steps and a list of recipes to try.
What is puff pastry?
A puff pastry, or pâte feuilletée, is a method of French pastry making. Hundreds of paper-thin layers of dough are folded flat over one another, then baked.
As the pastry bakes, it rapidly loses water, causing the dough layers to rise. The butter melts onto the dough, turning the layers a crispy, golden brown.
Overall, the process of evaporation and raising the pastry is known as “laminating the dough.” And, because puff pastry dough isn’t the easiest to make, many opt for buying pre-made pastry options instead.
But you can learn how to make this dough through a relatively simple method if you have some time on your hands. “Leaning” is the act of wrapping a piece of dough around a block of butter, then rolling the dough-and-butter flat, folding it up, and flattening it again.
Let’s break down how to make a puff pastry sheet step-by-step.
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How to make puff pastry
Recipe adapted from Kitchn
Preparation time: 3 hours to one day, depending on chill time
Cooking time: 20 to 30 minutes
Total time: 3.5 hours to one day, depending on chill time
Servings: One large puff pastry sheet
Ingredients
1 cup cold, unsalted butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
8-10 tablespoons ice cold water
Tools
A large bowl
A whisk
A French rolling pin, or a “tapered” pin. These are preferable for making puff pastry from scratch because regular rolling pins with handles are too cumbersome for the delicate dough. The good thing about owning a tapered pin is that it can be used for recipes like a homemade pizza crust or a beef Wellington — not just desserts.
A pastry scraper. This scrapes the dough off the counter, lifts it, and folds it without stressing the muscles in your wrists.
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Preparation instructions
Assemble your supplies and puff pastry ingredients.
In the bowl, mix your flour with a teaspoon of salt. Pour the flour mixture onto the counter in a pile, then create a trough in the center of the pile with your fingers.
Add a small amount of water to the trough. Fluff the flour over the water in a loose scooping motion, using your hands.
Gather the dough for pastries into the center again, make another trough, and add another small amount of water before fluffing the flour a second time.
Repeat this process until the flour is wet enough that the dough forms and doesn’t fall apart.
Press the rough puff pastry dough into a square. Cover it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
While the dough cools, slice your cold butter block into large pieces. Coat the butter with a fine layer of flour so it won’t stick to the counter. Next, use the end of your rolling pin to pound it flat, sprinkling more flour as needed.
Use your pastry scraper to pound the butter the rest of the way flat, then fold. Each time you fold, sprinkle with a bit of flour, repeating the process until the butter is very soft and doesn’t fall apart. Make sure you keep the butter cool to prevent melting.
Shape the butter into a roughly 4-inch square, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 10 minutes.
While the butter is chilling, grab your dough from the fridge and roll it flat, into a 7-inch square.
Place your butter square in the center of the dough. Fold the corners of the dough over the butter so they meet up, and pinch to seal.
Turn the folded dough over so that the seams are facing down. Roll it flat until the dough square is approximately 12-inches long, then fold the top and bottom thirds of the dough over the center, like a piece of paper.
Turn the dough lengthwise and roll it out to 12-inches long on the short side. Fold it again.
Chill the dough for 30 minutes in plastic wrap. After it’s chilled, take the dough out and fold it two more times (for a total of four folds). The dough should be smooth, soft, and easy to roll by this point.
Chill again for 30 minutes.
Remove the dough from the fridge, and fold it two more times, bringing the total tally to six.
Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrapped in plastic. Chill for an hour or overnight.
Afterward, roll the dough flat until it’s one-eighth inch thick. Cut out the pastry shapes you need, such as tart cups of pre-made pie crusts.
Transfer the pastries to a new pan, and bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes. At the 10 minute mark, lower the temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep baking until the dough is golden brown.
Remove your easy puff pastry from the oven. Let it cool. Enjoy.
Baking notes:
The butter should be cold but soft to shape for the dough-making process; room temperature works well.
Make sure you have a floured surface like a counter to stop this easy puff pastry from sticking.
Nutritional values per serving*
Calories: 256
Carbohydrates: 19.7 grams
Fat: 18.6 grams
Sodium: 149 milligrams
Fiber: 1 gram
Sugar: 0.1g grams
*This varies depending on the size of the serving and what recipe you make with the completed puff pastry.
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5 tips to make puff pastry
Don’t use margarine as a butter substitute. It can melt during the laminating process.
Be careful when laminating the dough in a hot, humid environment. The puff pastry can fall apart.
French butter is preferable to regular butter. The high-fat content will produce a better end result. French butter works equally well in other baking projects like your favorite cookies, too.
If you freeze the dough to use at a later date, thaw it in the fridge before you attempt to fold it. If you don’t complete the process gradually, the dough will crack.
Don’t use more flour than required to dust your work surface. Too much flour can make your pastry layers stick together.
How to store puff pastry
You can store your puff pastry in the refrigerator for a couple of days, so long as it’s sealed in plastic wrap.
If you want to freeze your puff pastry dough, wrap it in plastic first and then put it in a freezer bag to protect it from freezer burn. You can store it in the freezer for up to a month.
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How to use puff pastry
Looking for other ways to use this up? Here are some delicious homemade puff pastry recipes:
Apple turnovers.
Apple strudel.
Palmiers.
Croissants.
Rhubarb Tarts.
Napoleons.
Are you hoping to use your homemade puff pastry in your favorite recipe but have run out of flour or eggs? Gopuff has you covered and can deliver right to your door.
