A simple tutorial showing you how to make puff pastry at home! This "rough puff pastry" is ready in 15 minutes and is the most delicious, buttery flaky homemade puff pastry you've ever tried!
Don't run away...pastry is not scary, I promise!! And once you can make puff (or flaky) pastry your dessert options are endless!!
This homemade puff pastry is more of a "rough puff" as inspired by Clotilde. As in, same idea, less fussing around. My kinda pastry!
But don't think that because we're not mucking around with chilling between folding and rolling we are sacrificing any of the magic that is puff pastry. This pastry is just as good, if not better than any other puff pastry I've had. And in 15 minutes! Seriously.
The only important thing you need to know is that the ingredients need to be cold. Butter straight from the fridge, and icy cold water. This help keep the butter in pieces, rather than melting during the pastry making process which is what gives you that flaky pastry when it bakes.
Add flour, salt & cold butter to a bowl and using a pastry blender (or 2 knives) cut it together until the butter is no bigger than peas.
Make a hole in the centre and pour in the ice cold water. Tip: to make sure the water is icy cold, measure ⅓ cup of water into a 1 cup measure. Top it up with ice cubes, stir it around, pour out ⅓ cup of icy cold water and use that.
Mix it together and shape it into a rough square. On a well floured surface, roll the dough out into a rectangle about 25-30cm long.
Fold up the bottom third
Then fold over the top third, like a letter!
Make a quarter turn
And roll it out again! Repeat this process 6 or 7 times - the pastry will become smoother each time. This process is creating layers within the pastry that will give you the flaky texture that you want.
And the end result? Pastry that is smooth and buttery and ready for you to make anything you dream up, sweet or savoury!
And nothing beats the feeling of accomplishment from making pastry from scratch!
Keep tuned for a recipe using this pastry later this week...what a tease!! But spoiler alert - it involves blueberries & lemon curd...yuuuuum!!
[mc4wp_form]
Recipe adapted slightly from Clotilde
15 minute Homemade Puff Pastry
Ingredients
- 1 cup (140 grams) flour
- 140 grams cold butter
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup ice cold water * see note 1
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, add the flour and salt. Mix together.
- Cut the butter into cubes and add it to the flour. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the dough until the butter is in pieces the size of peas. The dough will be quite crumbly.
- Make a hole in the center of the dough and pour in all of the water. Stir to combine the dough.
- Add the dough to a floured surface and pat it into a rough square. You will still be able to see pieces of butter and the dough may seem quite dry but it will come together with each roll.
- Flour the rolling pin, and roll the dough out into a rectangle about 25-30cm long.
- Fold the bottom third of the dough over the middle of the dough. Fold the upper third of the dough on top of the middle too. Rotate the dough one-quarter turn, roll out again, and repeat the folding pattern. Use flour as needed to stop the dough from sticking.
- Roll out, fold, and turn the dough at least 6 or 7 times.
- When done, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour, or overnight. At this point you may freeze the dough.
- Roll out with flour when you are ready to use the pastry.
Notes
Nutrition
How many square 'supermarket sized' pastry sheets would this be? Just wondering how much it makes.
I would say between 1 and 2!
I made puff pasty for the first time using this recipe. I must say it was simple and easy. I love this recipe and will use this recipe from now on instead of buying it. Excellent!
I tried to make this recipe but it didn't work out well. 140g of butter in 1 cup of flour made a creamy paste not crumble like the picture. It must depend what type of butter you are using. I was using spreadable butter not block butter. To rescue it I added nearly an extra cup of flour to get a crumble consistency, although it was still very yellow and butter heavy. The end result was very thin for a 24cm pie dish. I think in future I will use 100g butter and 2 cups flour, with Vodka instead of water to soften it and keep it strong for the filling.
Hi Bunny, yes you definitely need to use a block of butter, cold straight from the fridge for the recipe to work out with the quantities listed. I'm pleased you found a workaround!
I've made puff pastry before but nothing as quick and easy as this. And the result was a perfect vegetable pie. I will always use this recipe in future. Thank you Laura!
have you ever just made in a food processor? seems like it would be faster so less chance of losing the “chill”
I do make it in the food processor most of the time now and yes, it's super easy!
I made this but used gluten free flour, with my fingers firmly crossed, and it turned out great. Had a cheeky little bacon and egg pie in the pie maker for Sunday brunch 🙂
I’m new to making my own pastry, I like this recipe but do you use plain flour or self raising flour please? This maybe a silly question but I don’t have a clue.
Hi Sandra, plain flour in pastry! 🙂
hi Laura ,
how thick should this pastry be to make meat pies?
I work on making it about 2-3mm thick
Made this today for sausage rolls. Turned out perfectly and so delicious. Worth the time and effort!
Quick easy and absolutely delicious! I really enjoyed making this pastry the texture is amazing. I will making this again very soon. My family loved it 😍 a perfect pastry for our chicken, mushroom and bacon pie 🥓🍄🐔👌
This was so simple to make that I don't think I'll ever buy frozen puff pastry again. I used this as the crust for a chicken pot pie and it looked beautiful and tasted wonderful. Doing this little bit makes me wonder if, with enough practice, I could try homemade croissants as well!
Would love the recipe for your chicken pot pie filling. Sounds delicious 😋
Best flaky pastry I have ever made. Keep it cold must be the answer