5 Ingredients or Fewer

Quick Homemade Puff Pastry

May  8, 2012
4.7
3 Ratings
Photo by Ashley Rodriguez
  • Makes a lot
Author Notes

Puff Pastry can quickly and easily be made at home in this quick version. Freeze sheets of dough for quick appetizers, satisfying main courses and impressive desserts. —Ashley Rodriguez

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 3 1/4 cups unsalted butter, cold
  • 1 cup water, cold
Directions
  1. STEP 1: Combine the flour and the salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. If you don’t have a stand mixer you can do this by hand, which is the method I used for a long time until I realized how much quicker it is when using the mixer. My favorite tool when I make this by hand is a bench scraper. It’s how I keep the dough together and how I cut up the cubes of cold butter. Add all the butter to the bowl at once and mix for 30 seconds on low speed. You want the butter to just start to break up and incorporate into the flour. Add the cold water and mix for 15 seconds. This mix will not look like much of a dough and you may be cursing me for having got you into this mess but I assure you when you pull the puffed piece of dough out of the oven I will be your best friend.
  2. STEP 2: Roughly shape the crumbly “dough” into a rectangle. Fold over the right third of the dough to the center. It will likely fall apart through the first three turns, when it does simply use your hands to press the dough back together. Fold the left two-thirds over the dough and turn 90* so the dough. This was your first turn.
  3. STEP 3: Using the palm of your hands push the dough back to a flattened rectangle and repeat the process two more times for a total of three turns. If at any point you feel the butter getting soft or the dough becomes too tough to work with just place it in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes. After three turns, place in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 hour. You can leave the dough at this state overnight if time is an issue, just let rest on the counter for 10 minutes to remove the chill from the butter slightly before starting the turning process again.
  4. STEP 4: Once rested continue with three more turns. After this first rest the water will have hydrated much of the flour and it should resemble a dough. This is when I start to use the rolling pin rather than my hands to work with the dough. Let rest again for 30 minutes. At this point your dough is ready to use. Most often recipes call for a sheet of puff pastry. Roll out your dough to ¼ inch thickness and cut to any size that the recipe calls for.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Regine
    Regine
  • Margaret
    Margaret
  • Nancy Lawlor
    Nancy Lawlor
  • MissNewEngland
    MissNewEngland
Author of Date Night In (2015) and creator of the blog, Not Without Salt.

7 Reviews

Margaret November 25, 2018
We made this pastery for turkey pot pie, and it was delicious!
 
Nancy L. September 4, 2013
I love Woodstock! The leaves will be showing there beautiful colors soon.Check out this book "Fast Metabolism Diet" by Haylie Pomroy,Just saying...love to bake,hate to diet,Nancy
 
MissNewEngland September 3, 2013
Thanks Nancy--- I can't wait to try it. I'm on a diet constantly but I'll save up a day's points and let you know how it turns out! Virginia (Woodstock vt)
 
Nancy L. September 3, 2013
To Miss N.E., I really made up the recipe after buying it at Italian bakeries. I mad 3 sheets out of the puff pastry recipe from this site. Made Pastry cream for my filling,and thickened with cornstarch my strawberry jam 'with fresh berries cut and added.I didn't put it together until just before serving,so it stayed 5 hours at room temperature.I would like to make it again and use the puff pastry right after it cools.I had this in France and they served it still warm! Oh I did not split my layers as another site said to cover with parchment and lay a cookie sheet on top to get flat sheets,so thats what I did.I used whipped cream for my top but traditionally its powdered sugar sifted heavy over the top. I can't wait to make it again,maybe for my friends 80th birthday.You try it and let me know how yours comes out. Confectionally, Nancy,also from N,E.!!!
 
MissNewEngland September 3, 2013
Nancy, what recipe do you use? That "millefoglie" sounds divine!
 
Nancy L. August 22, 2013
Hi, I want to make a Italian pastry that is called "Millefoglie". Will I have enough dough to make two sheets of pastry and can it be split after baking and cooling into a total of four layers? I will be filling each layer with a heavy pastry cream and strawberries mixed with Jam.Will it be ok in the refrigerator for 2 hours??I am asking a lot of questions but if you could help, I would appreciate it! Confectionally yours Nancy Lawlor
 
Regine May 13, 2012
I gave this recipe to my mom who loves to experiment with different puff pastry recipes. She made individual puff pastry patties filled with smoked fish, and it was spectacular. Flaky and so buttery. A keeper!