I had seen umpteen versions of the 15 minute puff pastry all over the blogosphere (hmm , for lack of a better word!) before I started blogging. Making Puff pastry from scratch seemed a little uncomprehendable in the initial stages of my baking. And when I did muster up enough courage to experiment with it , I of course wanted to try the authentic , albeit time-consuming manner in which it was meant to be prepared.
Now the thing about making puff pastry the regular way is that – yes it takes hours , but most recipes give you enough and more that freeze beautifully for the longest time. But of course there are times when you don’t want to spend half your day rolling pastry and the waiting by the fridge. Or those times when you just want some puff , and not another package taking up precious freezer space ( if you are anything like me , freezer space is precious!)
This 15 minute , 4 ingredient puff pastry to your rescue! There s a 2 hour resting period of course. Off the bat , I want to tell you that it isn’t as “puff” as the regular puff pastry. So if you want many many layers like in stuffed puffs or patties, I think you may want to try the old fashioned way. Some things just take time. BUT… and this is a BIG BUT …. it works ! And works beautifully. It does great in Palmiers and twists and tart shells and things like that – in patties too, it may not give the same look but tastes great. Its buttery and flaky and rises to golden brown gorgeous puffiness in the oven .
I am not sure who gets the credit for the original recipe here as too many blogs have it , and I got tired of backtracking. The way of making the puff is pretty much the same as usual puff pastry , leaving out the resting time between folding. Start off with frozen butter (which is hell to grate!) and the idea is to keep it cold throughout .
I think I m talking too much for a recipe that is supposed to be quick, so here goes!
So now you know ! No more scouring for that super expensive frozen pastry sheets in that one upscale supermarket across town. And no more rolling , folding and waiting for six hours when you want to make some puff right now! I threw together some quick, jam palmiers to test it out .. this is one baking hack that works!
15 minute puff pastry
Ingredients
- 125 grams or 1 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 125 gramsor little more than 1/2 cups unsalted butter , frozen
- 80 ml or 1/3 cups water cold
Instructions
- Whisk or sift the flour and salt together in a large bowl.
- Grate in the frozen butter into the bowl .
- Stir with a knife until all the butter is covered with flour .
- Add the cold water and stir with a knife until a dough forms. It will look rough and shaggy.
- On a well floured surface, roll out the dough into a rectangle ( around 10 inch long) . Fold the bottom third over the middle third , and then the top third over the middle third (like a letter)
- Rotate the dough one quarter of a circle, roll it out again and refold as above.
- Repeat for 6-7 times. The dough will start out crumbly , but will get smoother as you carry on. Chill for 15 minutes if you feel the butter is melting and then continue.
- Cover with cling wrap and chill for atleast one hour in the refrigerator. Use as needed!
Notes
- You can use this for any recipe that asks for puff pastry sheets .
- This can be frozen for 6-8 months.
- You will see bits of butter in the dough in the beginning , do not worry !
Ma’am I tired the recipe. But it was not flaky as yours n was uncooked from the center.
Hi Saloni… sorry to know the puff didnt turn out as expected ! Did you chill the dough enough while making? was the butter melting ? and if it was uncooked from centre , bake it at 180 c for longer . Hope it turns out better if you try it again !
Hi 🙂 so when I am making puffs out of this,should it be rolled into a rectangle and then cut into smaller pieces and stuffed n baked ? 🙂
Hi… yes,,, cut into squares or rectangles.. place filling in centre and seal the edges …:-)
I took your advice and tried this today. It was easy but I still need to get a hang of it through practice. I made jam palmiers. They weren’t too crispy even after 15-20 minutes of baking each side. I used baking paper. But still tasted good. Like the French hearts from the bakery. Will retry and let you know. Thank you.
hey Anjali.. glad you liked the taste of the palmiers. The jam makes the palmiers take more time to get crisper. you could just use sugar instead of the jam . Or if you use an OTG, bake with top rod on too ( if you didnt last time ). Thanks so much for reaching out !