CookEat Recipe
Puff Pastry with Half-Weight Butter
Laminated pastry using butter equal to half the flour weight, plus a small extra piece worked into the initial dough.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: 200 g fine wheat flour, plus a little for dusting; 100 g butter for enclosing and laminating, equal to half the flour weight; 15 g additional butter for the initial dough; 1 tablespoon brandy; About 90 ml drinking water, adjusted as needed; A little salt.
Step 2
Mix the flour, salt, brandy and the extra 15 g butter with enough water to form a dough that is neither stiff nor soft. Start with about 75 ml water and add more as needed. Knead thoroughly for about 30 minutes, as directed in the preceding source recipe. Shape into a rectangle, cover and rest for about 15 minutes.
Step 3
Work the separate 100 g butter into a smooth, cool, pliable rectangle. Keep both dough and butter cool; the butter should bend without cracking or melting. Use clean baking paper and refrigeration as needed, rather than immersing the butter in water.
Step 4
Roll the dough just large enough to enclose the butter rectangle. Put the butter in the middle, bring the dough edges over it and seal carefully without trapping air.
Step 5
Roll gently into a rectangle about three times as long as it is wide. Fold into thirds. Repeat to complete six turns folded in thirds, resting for about 10 minutes between turns and chilling whenever the butter softens. Dust lightly to prevent sticking. If butter starts to break through, stop and chill before continuing; dust the small exposed spot with flour.
Step 6
After the sixth turn, make the final seventh fold in half and roll to just under 1 cm thick, or the thickness required by the preparation that will use it. Keep covered and refrigerated until use.
Step 7
This is raw pastry dough. Bake fully in the recipe that uses it and never taste it raw. If that recipe calls for an egg-yolk glaze, brush only the top and keep cut edges clear so the layers can rise. Baking time and any filling or sweet finish belong to the chosen final preparation, not to this raw base.
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