Puff pastry easy recipe. How to make puff pastry at home: recipes and secrets

Not every housewife knows how to make puff pastry at home. After all, today such a ready-made semi-finished product can be purchased in any supermarket. However, the easy availability of this product is not the only reason that most people use store-bought base. Such popularity of puff pastry made in production conditions is also due to the fact that many housewives do not want to burden themselves with long and thorough kneading. But this is their deepest misconception, since there is nothing easier than making puff pastry yourself. And so that you can see this for yourself, we will present to your attention a step-by-step recipe for kneading it.

How to make puff pastry without yeast yourself?

To prepare such a fresh semi-finished product, you will need to purchase the following components:

• sifted wheat flour - from 2 glasses (add at discretion);
• cooled boiling water - a little;
• fresh butter or good margarine for baking - 260 g;
• large chicken egg - 1 pc.;
• citric acid - a pinch;
• fine table salt - a pinch.

Kneading process

Before making puff pastry at home, you need to mix two different masses. First, you need to beat a chicken egg with a fork, add a pinch of citric acid and salt to it, and also pour in cooled boiling water, bringing the products to a total volume of 270 ml. Next, you need to sift the wheat flour, make a notch in the resulting mound, pour the egg mixture into it and knead with your hands until the dough is smooth. During this procedure, you can add a little softened butter or margarine to the base. This will make the dough more elastic and soft. Finally, it needs to be wrapped in a bag and placed in the refrigerator for half an hour.

The second part of this base is done even faster. To do this, mash or margarine, and then add a few large spoons of flour so that you end up with a fairly thick mass. It is advisable to also place it in the refrigerator for some time.

To understand how to make puff pastry at home, you should remember that it’s not for nothing that this base has its name. After all, it consists of many thin layers, which rise during heat treatment, forming a lush, soft and very delicate product. In order to form such a semi-finished product, you need to take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll it into a rectangular shape. Next, carefully distribute the butter, previously mixed with flour, onto the prepared base layer. The resulting layer must be wrapped in an envelope so that you end up with a kind of square. It needs to be rolled out again into a rectangular shape and the procedure repeated. In total, such events are recommended to be carried out 3 or 4 times.

After these steps, it is recommended to place the finished base in the refrigerator for half an hour. We hope you now understand how to make puff pastry at home.

Of course, we mixed such a fresh base for a reason, but for culinary achievements. So what to do with puff pastry and how to bake it correctly? We will look at the answers to these questions below.

How to cook quickly and tasty

The puff pastry pizza recipe is especially popular among those who cannot imagine their life without this quick and satisfying Italian dish. To prepare it, you just need to mix the unleavened base as presented a little above, and purchase all the necessary ingredients for the filling, namely:

• aromatic ham - 150 g;
• olives or olives - standard jar;
• low fat mayonnaise - 90 g;
• ripe tomatoes - 3 pcs.;
• pickled cucumbers - 3 medium pieces;
• hard cheese - 180 g.

Cooking process

We described how to make puff pastry at home at the very beginning of the article; all that remains is to figure out how to apply such a base in practice. To do this, the semi-finished product must be removed from the refrigerator and then rolled out along one side into a thin rectangular shape. Next, place the dough on a baking sheet and lightly press it with your hands so that it is well distributed throughout the dish. After this, you need to distribute slices of fresh tomatoes, thinly sliced ​​pickled cucumbers, olives and similarly processed aromatic ham onto the base. At the end, all components should be covered with a mesh of mayonnaise and grated hard cheese. Pizza should be cooked in a preheated oven for about 40 minutes. It is worth noting that an Italian dish made in this way turns out to be very thin, tender, juicy and surprisingly tasty.

Step-by-step recipe for puff pastry pie

You can make a pie from this base using different fillings. Today we will look at a simple option for creating a dessert with fresh fruit. To do this you will need:

• seedless raisins (brown or black) - ½ cup;
• large ripe bananas - 2 pcs.;
• ripe sweet apples - 2 pcs.;
• soft pears - 2 pcs.

Cooking process

To create such a sweet pie, you need to roll out two bases from one of the layers. In this case, one of the layers should be slightly larger. It is this that needs to be placed on a baking sheet so that sides up to 4 centimeters in size are formed. Next, place thin slices of peeled apples, chopped pears, banana slices and steamed seedless raisins on the dough. After this, you need to lay the second part of the base on the fruit and beautifully braid the edges into a kind of braid. This dessert needs to be baked in a preheated oven for about 45 minutes.

Helpful information

Now you know how to make puff pastry at home and use it correctly to create delicious and tender products. It is also worth noting that to prepare the presented and other dishes (desserts), you can use not only an unleavened base, but also a rich semi-finished yeast product. In this case, your baked goods will be more nutritious, filling and fluffy.

If you decide to make real puff pastry, know that this is a job for a cook who is passionate about his work. Or for a masochist. The dough is difficult, capricious, and it’s not a fact that it will work out the first, or even the second time. And even if everything comes in a kit: puff pastry, recipe + photo, steps and details - it’s still not a fact that it will work out right away. And it takes a lot of time to prepare.

Perhaps you've already had a bad experience and have sworn off making puff pastry yourself. However, those who have made friends with technology and knead the dough in their kitchen inside and out know that their baked goods turn out fluffier and tastier. Yes, for some reason it melts in your mouth better. Faster, maybe :)

Perhaps the fact is that store-bought is made with margarine, while home-made is made with butter, and that at home you can manipulate the amount of butter. Or the warm energy of the hands (ready-made - it’s “machine-made”) matters. But be that as it may, let us have this skill - puff pastry at home. And we’ll go to the store for something ready-made when we’re in a hurry.

So, the puff pastry recipe. The oil should be soft and the water cold. The amount of butter, as well as the ratio of flour and butter, can be changed. Take less oil, for example, 400 g of oil per 1 kg of flour. But the proposed option gives the most delicate dough. Since we cook it for a reason, but in order to bake classic puff khachapuri, this is important.

Ingredients

• butter - 200 g
• flour - 250 g + for adding
• water - 130 ml
• salt - a pinch

Preparation

Sift the flour into a mound onto a cutting surface. Add salt. Put 30 grams of oil. Grind flour with butter.



Now add a little water little by little



and knead the dough.



When a ball is formed, knead it for about five minutes - the dough should become elastic, smooth, and not sticky.



Roll out this dough into a 13x25 cm rectangle, the middle part of which is slightly larger than 13 cm. As shown in the photo. (The numbers, of course, are arbitrary, it is not necessary to follow them, but this is GOST, if anyone is interested).



Place the butter in the middle and level it out: no more than 13 cm wide, lengthwise so that only the thickened middle is occupied.



Fold the “ears” over the butter (toward the center of the dough).



Fold the top of the dough over the butter.



Fold up the bottom.



Now turn the rectangle over to face you with the narrow side.



Roll out gently, delicately, so that the butter spreads a little. And then, with sharp movements, begin to roll out the dough in width and length, increasing it three times.

Add flour to make rolling easier and the dough does not stick to the rolling pin.



Fold the dough into thirds again. Wrap in cling film and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Repeat rolling and folding six times. If the dough melts during the process, put it back in the refrigerator for a short time (wrapped in film) before rolling it out again.



The finished puff pastry can be used directly for baking, or put in the freezer (just remember to lightly dust it with flour before wrapping it in film or putting it in a bag).

What is made from puff pastry?

Puff pastry is used for sweet pastries, such as tubes, puff pastries and pies with all kinds of fillings, as the basis of pastries and cakes (). But it is also great for savory baking: small meat pies, khachapuri, pizza.

And puff pastry makes impressive shapes for salads, vol-au-vents with fruits and.

Khachapuri made from puff pastry with a lot of butter

This is a wonderful dough, just a lifesaver. Cooking it is simple, probably 10 minutes is a lot... and the result is incredible, soft and at the same time crispy, flaky and tasty. You don’t need to layer or roll anything out, you don’t need a lot of movements. I just mixed everything one by one and put it in the refrigerator. If you are going to cook something for several days, it will be perfectly preserved in a bag in the refrigerator; if you are preparing for future use, you can put it in the freezer. Another advantage of it is that the ingredients are approximate, we can easily replace sour cream with kefir or yogurt, add flour if it sticks a little to our hands. We also use any fat or combine it, you can take margarine, butter, lard, whatever. Rolling out is very easy as the dough is soft and elastic. From this norm you will get puff tongues with a caramel crust, 4 baking sheets. My friend prepared kurnik from this dough and said that she would never cook with store-bought dough again, it turned out much tastier. The recipe is from my mother’s culinary notebook, for which I thank her very much.

Puff pastry is one of the most labor-intensive to prepare, but also one of the most delicious. Store-bought puff pastry will never compare in taste, texture and aroma to homemade one. Puff pastry is easy to use. By spending one day preparing it and freezing a sufficiently large amount of the product for a month, you will provide yourself with ingredients for pies, croissants and cookies. If you follow the instructions, you'll be sure to be able to make it right the first time. And the main secret of making pies is that you need to bake with a good mood and love.

The benefit of the puff body lies in its chemical composition. Considering the presence of simple and complex carbohydrates, products prepared on its basis quickly saturate the body and restore energy balance. This type of dough contains B vitamins, which have a positive effect on the condition of teeth, bones and nails, as well as on the activity of the nervous system.

How to make puff pastry at home

The flour should be “strong”, but even if it is “weak”, like domestic flour, you should not despair - add salt in a certain amount to this dough. It has a beneficial effect on its gluten. The acid added during kneading also has a beneficial effect - it is always added, no matter how “strong” the flour is. Butter used for layering is usually mixed with a small amount of flour - this is done so that the butter becomes more plastic and sticky.

Unleavened puff pastry

Unleavened puff pastry consists of flour, water and butter. Flour and butter are used in equal parts by weight. Vodka, salt and acid are added to the water, mixed, and then the sifted flour is gradually added. Knead the dough for 5-8 minutes. You can add 1-2 tbsp to it. l. butter. As soon as it becomes a dense consistency and begins to easily separate from the hands and walls of the dish, it is formed into a ball, which is covered with a damp cloth and cooled for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Next, the dough is prepared similarly to the classic one, consisting of 140-260 layers.

The recipe for unleavened puff pastry may contain eggs. In this case, certain proportions between the components are observed.

Ingredients:

• 2.7 cups flour
• 1 stick of butter,
• 1 glass of water,
• 1 egg,
• 1 tbsp. l. vodka,
• 3 tsp. 9% vinegar,
• 0.5 tsp. salt.

Cooking method:

First, an egg is poured into a glass. Then add water, vinegar, salt and only then vodka. You should not add vodka directly to the eggs, as this leads to the curdling of the white and deteriorates the quality of the dough. The contents of the glass are thoroughly mixed and poured into a bowl for preparing the dough.

Next, sift the flour and gradually mix it into the liquid. The dough should be stiff and easy to separate from your hands. The lump is wrapped in a damp cloth or cling film and cooled for 1-2 hours in the refrigerator.

Then it is rolled out into a rectangle 0.5 cm thick. The butter is softened and 2/3 of the dough layer is covered with it, leaving one part of the layer free and 1.5 cm away from the edges. The unspread part of the dough is covered with half of the one covered with butter.

Next, the free third of the dough with butter is applied to the resulting 2 layers. The result is a three-layer rectangle. It is rolled out with a rolling pin in one direction - lengthwise. The finished mass is stored in the refrigerator.

Instant homemade puff pastry

Ingredients:

• sifted premium wheat flour - 1 kg
• vinegar 7% - 40 ml
• chicken eggs - 2 pcs.
• ice water - 350 ml
• salt - a pinch
• margarine for baking - 750 g.

Cooking method:

Break the eggs, add salt, vinegar, ice water and stir well. After this, put the liquid in the cold. Pour about half a kilogram of sifted flour onto the table. Add margarine to it and mix well. We collect the dough into a mound, make a dimple in it and pour liquid from the refrigerator into it. Quickly knead the dough. We roll it out into a layer, fold it several times, put it in a bag and put it in the cold for at least 2 hours. This quick puff pastry can be stored in the cold for up to 3 days, and can be kept in the freezer for several months.

Yeast puff pastry

Ingredients:

• 500 g flour,
• 250 g butter,
• 8 tbsp. spoons of cold water,
• 1 teaspoon salt,
• 10 g yeast.

Cooking method:

Replace the yeast straight dough with 50 g of flour and leave in a warm place to ferment.

After an hour, roll out into a rectangle about 7.5 mm thick.

Spread cold butter, cut into thin slices, on one half of the rectangle. Cover with the other half and press the open edges tightly together. Roll out in the same way as when preparing unleavened dough.

What can you bake from homemade puff pastry?

We figured out how to make puff pastry at home. But now the question inevitably arises: what can be made from puff pastry? You can choose any recipe for making puff pastries, they are all simple and tasty. We offer you the most original and fastest recipes.

Raspberry and peach puff pastry pie

Having chilled (not frozen) puff pastry on hand, you can bake a light summer dessert with berries in literally 20 minutes - you just need to grease the base with jam, arrange the pieces of fruit, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and put in the oven.

Ingredients:

• defrosted puff pastry - 1 sheet
• apricot jam - 2 tbsp. l.
• peaches - 3 pcs.
• fresh raspberries - a third of a glass
• sugar - 2 tsp.
• ground cinnamon - 0.5 tsp.

Cooking method:

We take the frozen dough out of the freezer in advance and leave it in the refrigerator overnight. Preheat the oven to 200 C, line the baking tray with baking paper. Place the sheet on a baking sheet and spread apricot jam over the entire surface, not reaching 1 cm from the edges. Remove the pits from the peaches, cut the fruit into thin slices and spread in an even layer over the dough. Decorate with raspberries on top. Mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle the resulting mixture over the fruit. Bake until golden brown for 20-25 minutes. Serve the finished pie warm or at room temperature.

Puff pastry pies with cheese

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 500 g puff pastry dough
• 200 g hard cheese
• Ground white pepper to taste

Cooking method:

1. Roll out the mixture into a thin layer and cut out squares.
2. Cut the cheese into small cubes, place in squares, lightly pepper, roll in an envelope and bake in the oven at 180°C for 30 minutes.

Pizza with seafood and oregano

Ingredients (for 2 pizzas):

• 300 gr. puff pastry

For the tomato sauce:

• 1 tbsp. l olive oil
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 425 gr. tomatoes
• 70 g tomato paste
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp fresh oregano

For filling:

• 300 gr. seafood
• 100 gr. hard cheese

Cooking method:

1. Tomato sauce: finely chop the onion and garlic, grate the tomatoes on a coarse grater. Fry the onion in olive oil, add garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar and oregano and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Filling: grate hard cheese, boil seafood in salted water.
3. Roll out the dough into a flat cake. Grease the flatbread with tomato sauce, then lay out the seafood and sprinkle everything with cheese.
4. Bake at 200°C for 15 minutes.

Puff pastry technology

Puff pastry is kneaded using flour, salt, water, butter or margarine. Special preparation technology: properly kneaded dough must be stratified into at least 140 layers and can reach up to 240. This is achieved by kneading: butter is rolled in layers into a base of flour and water, rolled out, folded, frozen so that the layers do not stick together, rolled out again, folded and frozen again. This operation must be repeated 4-5 times. During baking, margarine or butter expands and releases the liquid dissolved in the dough. It turns into steam, lifts the layers, separates them from each other.

The mass is baked on a baking sheet, not greased, but moistened with cold water. When baking puff pastry products, it is important to ensure that the oven is tightly closed and the baking sheet is placed on the lower level. The optimal temperature for baking is 190-200 °C. Puff pastry always shrinks in size when baked, so the layers must be rolled out larger than when prepared. To prevent the mass from deforming, the products prepared for baking should be placed in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes.

1. When cutting puff pastry, you need to use sharp knives or gouges, as dull tools will wrinkle the edges of the dough, which prevents the dough from rising.
2. Products should be cooled before baking so that the butter does not have time to melt and leak out, and the dough has time to rise.
3. Before baking, prick the surface of the product with a fork or a sharp knife so that steam escapes during baking, the dough does not bubble and has a smooth surface.
4. At too low a temperature, it is difficult to bake puff pastry, and at a very high temperature it does not have time to rise, as the heat immediately engulfs it, and the dough quickly hardens, burns, remaining unbaked.
5. The mixture should be stored in a cool place, but should not be placed on ice, because when frozen, the butter does not mix with the dough or mixes poorly.

Puff pastry is an excellent basis for future culinary masterpieces. Homemade baked goods will fill your home with a wonderful aroma.

Tell you how to prepare chopped instant puff pastry at home for pies step by step? Then leave everything you are doing for 5 minutes and read this article to the end. After reading the recipe, you will be able to save not only time, but also money every time, since this dough is not very expensive, but the fastest puff pastry that I know of.

The composition of puff pastry is quite simple: flour, butter, water and a pinch of salt.

It is very often used for making pies, baskets and other types of baked goods, where puff pastry and even shortbread pastry can be used.

Quick puff pastry can generally be considered universal. It has proven itself excellent in tarts and pies. Baskets that can be baked from it can be filled with cheese, fruit custard, ice cream and other fillings.

By the way, you can look at various dough recipes.

Ingredients

• 200 g wheat flour
• 100 g butter
• 5-6 tbsp. water
• a pinch of salt

Basic tips for making quick puff pastry

1. Flour. We use regular bread flour for preparation. There is no need to be clever here and there is no need to look for flour with a certain percentage of protein. True, there is one subtlety that you need to remember. If the room where the flour is stored is quite dry, then during preparation it will be necessary to add a little more water than indicated in the recipe.
   Now it’s winter outside and I keep the flour near the heating radiator. I buy it in 5 kg packs, so I can quickly use it for baking. It’s dry near the battery and the flour definitely won’t spoil. But to prepare chopped puff pastry, I need to add more water and I know this in advance and send it to the refrigerator to cool not 6 tbsp, but 9 tbsp. for each serving.
2. Butter. It must be of high quality - this is the main criterion. I do not recommend replacing it with margarine. And the taste of the finished baked goods will not be as desired, and the dough itself will behave completely differently. The butter must be from the freezer, and it is better to knead the dough in a cool room or using a food processor so that the butter does not have time to melt.
3. Water. Everything here is generally simple - you need ice water from the refrigerator (you can even put it in the freezer for a short time). Its quantity may be slightly more or less than indicated in the recipe. It depends on the quality and dryness of the flour, which I wrote about a little higher.
4. Salt. Everything is also simple - a pinch of salt is added for taste and is a natural flavor enhancer. To make the dough tastier, in addition to salt for some types of baked goods, you can add herbs (thyme, rosemary, oregano), as well as nuts, peeled sunflower seeds, flax seeds, poppy seeds.

How to make quick puff pastry. Recipe with photo

1. To prepare the dough, all products must be cold. To ensure the dough turns out right, I even put the flour in the refrigerator 15 minutes before preparing the chopped puff pastry. The oil must be placed in the freezer for 20 minutes in advance. The main thing is not to overfreeze so that it can be grated or cut into small pieces with a knife. The water also needs to be ice cold. Only thanks to the cold will the dough turn out flaky and tender.
2. Cut the butter into cubes with a knife directly in the flour. You can grate it, constantly dipping it in flour. Or you can use a food processor. This one will cope best with chopping, since the warmth of your hands will heat up the food, and the cold blades of the knives will do everything more correctly.
   
   Personally, I used a grater, since this way the pieces of butter will be the same and they will be evenly distributed throughout the dough.
   
3. When the oil is distributed in the flour, you can add water.
   
   Its quantity depends on many factors (the moisture content of the flour, for example, I already warned you about this), so add water and form the dough. You need to knead quickly so that the butter does not start to melt. And don’t even knead, but sculpt a lump in which the butter should not disperse in the flour, but should remain in pieces. Don't overdo it - the entire process of preparing the dough usually takes about 3-5 minutes.
   
4. The finished dough should be flattened and wrapped in film. In this form, it needs to be sent to the refrigerator so that it cools well again and you can start working with it. If you use a food processor, the dough will be cold enough and does not need additional cooling, so you can start baking the pies right away.
   
5. To prepare a pie with chopped puff pastry, sprinkle the chilled dough with flour and roll out to the desired thickness (usually 3-4 mm). The flatbread rolls out quite well and does not tear, as the dough turns out to be plastic.
   
6. We put the rolled out dough into a mold that doesn’t even need to be greased. We press it against the sides and bottom of the pan to remove voids and the cake is of the correct shape after baking. Pierce the base in several places with a fork.
   
7. Then you can go two ways: bake the base for the pie, and then add the filling and put it in the oven again, or fill the base with the filling and bake the pie right away.
8. If you only need the base for the pie, then you need to cover the dough in the tin with baking paper and pour beans or peas inside so that the dough does not puff up during baking. Place the base in a hot oven, which we preheat to 200 degrees. Bake for about 15 minutes. Next, cool a little, add the filling and bake the pie until done.
   
9. If we bake the base immediately with the filling, then add the filling you have chosen to the raw base and bake the pie until ready for about 40 minutes (it all depends on the filling you have chosen).
10. You can store it in the refrigerator for 2 days or in the freezer for a month.

Why do you need to knead this way?

First, cold butter is rolled in flour (each piece), then ice flour is added to the flour crumbs with butter. During kneading, small pieces of butter are distributed in the dough, but remain in pieces and are flattened during rolling. These flattened pieces of butter in the dough separate it into thin layers.

After baking, the cakes are tender and crispy. This dough is still far from being a real puff pastry, but it is perfect for making pies, and it takes about 15 minutes to prepare. Many housewives loved it for its speed and accessibility. I hope you like it too, because in the coming days I will be sharing with you pies that can be baked with quick puff pastry.

The most frequently asked questions during cooking

1. Why doesn't the dough stick together well? — Because the flour was quite dry and you need to add a little more water. You need to add it 1-2 tablespoons at a time so as not to over-mix.
2. Why does the dough spread? — The reason may be a large amount of water. To fix it, add a little flour. The dough may spread even if the butter has melted during kneading. The situation can be corrected by adding a little flour, but the dough will no longer be so tender and flaky, since the main task is to prevent the butter from melting.
3. Why doesn't the dough flake well? — The butter melted during kneading or you forgot to add salt. If the filling was too liquid, it could soak the dough and it would flake less.
4. The finished product was tough. Why? — The kneading technology was not followed—the butter had time to melt or the dough was kneaded for too long. Another reason could be too much moisture. If we remove these reasons, then a product made from quick puff pastry, which is prepared at home, will be tender and crumbly.

Quick puff pastry - video