French · serves 2
Puff Pastry from Scratch
Rough puff — butter cubed straight into the flour. Five folds and it laminates itself.
Ingredients
- 250g plain flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 250g cold butter, cubed but not rock hard
- 100ml cold water, plus up to 50ml more
Method
- Sift flour and salt, add the cubed butter and toss lightly to coat. Leave the cubes whole — those become the layers.
- Water in, mixed to a firm, rough dough.
- Press into a square, wrap, 30 minutes in the fridge.
- Roll in one direction only into a 20x50cm rectangle. You should see streaks of butter through it.
- Fold into thirds, turn 90°, roll out again. Repeat five times, chilling 20 minutes whenever the butter softens.
- Chill an hour before using. Warm butter means no layers, so stop the moment it feels greasy.