31 Puff Puff Pastry Recipes You'll Wanna Pass Around (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to baking puff pastry? ›

Always preheat your oven for a minimum of 15-20 minutes before baking, because Puff Pastry depends on even heat to rise and puff. Place pastries 1 inch apart. If you want a flaky thin and crispy pastry that's not very puffy, prick the unbaked Puff Pastry all over with a fork, which lets steam escape while baking.

Puff pastry is a laminated dough that gets its signature airy puff from layers of butter, while phyllo dough is comparatively low-fat. Phyllo dough is mostly flour and water and can dry out easily. The fine sheets of pastry dough create a crispy, crackly effect when layered and baked.

Once the butter is added the pastry is rolled and folded into 3 five or six times. The best puff will probably have 6 rolls and folds which will produce pastry with 729 layers.

We are Team Egg Wash (or Cream Wash). While melted butter adds more flavor than the washes, it is less effective in look; it gives a speckled appearance to pastry.

Adding vinegar tenderizes the pastry. It inhibits gluten from forming there by making the pastry tender and flaky.

The terms full, three-quarter and half are used when describing the amount of fat in the pastry. Full has equal weight of fat and flour, three-quarter has three-quarters of the weight of fat to flour, and half has half the weight of fat to flour. More fat makes the pastry softer to eat but reduces its height.

In the oven, the water in the layers of dough (and some water in the butter) turns into steam. This steam has just enough force to puff up each thin sheet of dough before evaporating into the oven.

If you're making a tart or filled Puff Pastry, place it on the baking sheet before adding toppings or fillings. That way, you won't have to transfer the dough with the extra weight and risk tearing it. For extra-thin, crisp Puff Pastry, set a second baking sheet on top of the filled pastry before baking.

Shortcrust pastry: This is a type of pastry made from flour, butter, and water that is usually used for sweet desserts but can also be used as a substitute for puff pastry in savory dishes like pot pies. Biscuit dough: You can use biscuit dough as a topping for pot pies to ad.

Are crescent rolls puff pastry? ›

The crescent-shaped croissant is a flaky pastry with buttery layers whereas a puff pastry is a drier composition of dough. Both use similar ingredients and preparation work.

Even better, switch your pastry from shortcrust or puff to filo. This is the lowest-fat pastry by far, with 2.9g fat per 100g. This compares with 26.2g for puff or 31.4g for shortcrust. Filo is the lowest-calorie option too, and it's easy to use.

Docking means to pierce lightly with a fork, or a docker (looks like a spiked paint roller), to make small holes in dough that will let steam escape during baking. This helps the dough to remain flat and even.

While all-purpose flour is fine and can be used successfully for homemade puff pastry, we recommend using strong bread flour like this for best results. Bread flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour, and therefore, contains more gluten.

About halfway through baking, peek into the oven to see how the pastry is baking. Always bake Puff Pastry Shells in a preheated 425° F oven. Bake Puff Pastry Cups in a preheated 400° F oven for 20 minutes. Do not bake either Shells or Cups in a microwave or toaster oven.

Bake the pastries at 375°F until done: Lower the oven temperature and continue baking until the pastries are dry, crisp, and deep golden-brown. Cool and serve: Let the pastries cool slightly, then serve. Or if you're filling them after baking, let them cool completely, then fill and serve.

Do I need to blind bake pastry cases when cooking with wet fillings? As a general rule, you do need to blind bake when cooking a dish with wet fillings. For example, if you're making a quiche or frangipane, blind baking the crust first will help ensure the pastry case stays buttery and retains its crunch.

Warm pastry: Your pastry should be cold, cold, cold going into the oven. It's worth reiterating: Cold butter equals flaky layers. If your pastry is warm, the butter can easily leech right out during baking. For best results, work quickly and keep your hands off!

Partially cooking your pastry before adding moist fillings will seal the surface and result in a crisp pastry case – it's necessary, because it means your precious pastry won't turn soggy when it's filled and baked.