Welcome back, friends of Erre4m, to this new post. Today we carry on talking about PUFF PASTRY.
In the previous post we looked at the main feature of this outstanding base, namely the layering, which gives puff pastry products their volume and flakiness. We also introduced the classic puff pastry recipe and the ingredients that make up its initial structure, the DÉTREMPE and the BUTTER BLOCK.
The détrempe is the portion that generates the steam that will make the puff pastry rise, while the butter block is the fatty portion that traps the steam inside the pastry.
Let's round off our discussion of puff pastry by turning to the mixing of the détrempe and the butter block and to their assembly, rolling out, resting and baking… let's get going!
The détrempe — made of flour, water and salt — is mixed at low speed until the ingredients come together, then run at a brisker speed to develop the gluten network. The détrempe is then wrapped in cling film and left to rest for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.
The butter block is made by mixing the cold butter (10 °C recommended) with the flour at low speed, just long enough for the two ingredients to come together. The dough is then shaped into a 2 cm-thick square, covered and chilled for at least 30 minutes.
METHODS FOR INCORPORATING THE BUTTER INTO PUFF PASTRY
These consist of joining and then rolling out the butter block and the détrempe together.
There are various methods for joining the détrempe and the butter block, but the most important and widely used are the following:
- CLASSIC METHOD: roll out the détrempe to the same width as the butter block but twice its length. The butter block is laid in the centre of the stretched détrempe, which is then folded over the butter block to enclose it.
- REVERSE METHOD: in this case, the butter block wraps around the détrempe. You score the surface of the butter block and lay the détrempe on top of it. From here you proceed with the usual rolling out and folding of the pastry.
This method is harder to carry out than the classic one because the butter block, being on the outside, heats up more during rolling, so it calls for solid technical and practical skill on the part of the pastry chef.
Puff pastry made with this method turns out more stable and flakier than the classic version because the fatty part, enclosing the détrempe completely inside it, also holds the water of the détrempe itself, producing an even flakier pastry.
LAMINATION AND FOLDS
The operation that follows the joining of the two components of the pastry is its elongation (LAMINATION in technical jargon) and the making of the folds. This phase is the heart of preparing puff pastry.
By rolling the pastry out to the right thickness and then folding it in the correct way, it must ALWAYS return to the initial size of the butter block.
The importance of this operation is that, done in the right way, it produces precise, even layers of butter block and détrempe, which will allow the pastry to leaven perfectly. Moreover, rolling out must be done by lowering the thickness of the dough slowly, to prevent the layers from tearing.
We now come to the folds, which are also necessary for layering the pastry. The folds can be of two types: SINGLE FOLD and DOUBLE FOLD.
The single fold, or simple fold, consists of dividing the elongated pastry into three equal parts and folding them towards its centre, obtaining a three-layer block with the initial dimensions of the butter block.
The double fold, or book fold, consists of bringing the two ends to the centre of the elongated pastry and then folding them over each other.
Today's puff pastry, as prepared nowadays, compared with the one devised by de La Varenne, normally requires four sets of folds plus 1 hour of resting in the fridge at each fold or turn. After that, it should be left to rest for 24 hours before its final use.
The number and sequence of the folds can vary according to the pastry chef's needs, the characteristics of the raw materials and the final result to be achieved. It is worth knowing that as the number of folds — and consequently the number of layers — increases, the physical leavening of the pastry decreases. This is because the thinner layer of détrempe generates less steam and therefore less development of the puff pastry.
One last thing, but by no means less important, about rolling out and folding the pastry is this:
BETWEEN ONE FOLD AND THE NEXT, THE PASTRY MUST ALWAYS BE ROTATED BY 90°. This operation makes it possible to stretch the pastry evenly, to prevent it from shrinking during processing and baking.
FINAL ROLLING AND BAKING
Once the folds and their rests are finished, you move on to the final rolling out and the shaping of the products. The pastry is normally divided into pieces, since the finished products may call for different thicknesses. The pastry should be cut in the direction of the folds.
The final rolling out demands the utmost care from the pastry chef, because during the passes the pastry may become too moist and stick to the rolling pin or the table, making the product unusable. It is therefore necessary to flour the pastry now and then.
A very useful tip for rolling out is to use a piece of baking paper or a silicone mat as your work surface.
Once the products are prepared, they must be left to rest to avoid deformation during baking.
This final resting period ranges from 30–40 minutes for moulded products such as pizzette and sfogliatine, up to 12 hours for cannoncini.
The pastry is baked at a starting temperature of 190 °C.
Baking is carried out keeping this temperature for the whole baking time. For those products dusted with icing sugar, however, the baking temperature is raised to 205 °C for the last 10 minutes, to allow the sugar to caramelise.
We can conclude by saying that puff pastry is a preparation for enthusiasts without fear and beyond reproach.
Try it and see for yourself.
That said, all that remains is for me to wish you happy baking… until next time!
Blog by Enrico Gumirato, pastry chef and trainer
