Quick Puff Pastry

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quick puff pastry
Quick puff pastry rolled out for pumpkin pie.

By now, you probably have the basic Pâte Brisée under your belt, both figuratively and literally, and, if you use the recipe we give (from Bouchon Bakery), you know that it tastes great, is nice and flaky, and easy to make and handle. Basically, it’s a perfect pie crust; we use it often. But, once you’re using it all the time, what do you do when you want to make an extra-special pie, say for a holiday, and you want a crust that goes to eleven? Hmm. A quandary, but we can help!

Now, when you make Puff Pastry, you know that you need to set aside the better part of a day. All that rolling out the dough, folding, chilling. It makes a great pastry dough. One that really can’t be beat, but what if you could get most of the benefits of puff pastry — the lightness, the flakiness — with far less work? Would you jump on it? Of course.

So, fellow scratchers, let’s make some Quick Puff Pastry. It’ll take 40 minutes from the time you start to when you can use the dough, and it’ll be nearly as flaky as puff pastry, too.

We based this recipe on the one in Pie It Forward, by Gesine Bullock-Prado, who, as far as we’re concerned, is the undisputed Queen of Confections.

Quick Puff Pastry

Servings: 2 (9-inch) crusts
Author: Shawn

Ingredients

  • 227 g 1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
  • Pinch kosher salt
  • 1 cup 2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 70 g scant 1/3 cup ice water

Instructions

  • In a large mixing bowl, swish together salt and flour.
  • Add butter and rub into flour until you're left with chunks of butter about the size of a dime.
  • Add water and knead until the dough just holds together.
  • Turn out onto a work surface, shape into a rough rectangle, and cover with plastic wrap for 10 minutes.
  • Roll out into a long rectangle, fold up the bottom third, fold down the top third (as if you're folding a letter), and turn 90°. Repeat this rolling and folding 3 more times.
  • Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 20 minutes before using.

Ingredient discussion:

Wow! Four ingredients, and all common. Use unsalted butter, of course. With such a small amount of salt, don’t sweat it if you don’t have kosher. While we give volume measurements, we suggest that you might want to weigh these to keep the proportions the same. That is, if you have a scale; otherwise, wing it. You’ll still be light-years ahead of those people who buy pre-made crusts.

Procedure in detail:

Sorry about the colors; we made this late in the evening, and those pesky fluorescent bulbs throw everything off, color-wise.

Prepare ice water. Place a couple of ice cubes in a measuring cup, then fill with water. Presto, ice water. Measure it out later, when it’s cold. Who knew pie crust could be this easy?

weighing flour
Using a scale makes the measuring easier and more accurate.

Mix dry ingredients. Get out a large mixing bowl, about 3 quarts in size, measure in the flour, add the pinch of salt, and swish it all around with your hands. Who knew pie crust could be this easy?

adding butter
We cut the butter into about tablespoon-size pieces, then rubbed it in.

Add butter. Cut the sticks of butter into tablespoon-size portions as you add it to the flour mixture. Get your hands in there and rub that flour into the butter, until you’re left with pieces about the size of a dime. Who knew pie crust could be this easy?

adding ice water
With the scale, we can just pour in the ice water. Otherwise, use a measuring cup.

Add water. The water’s chilled, so measure out the right amount and pour it into the flour-butter mixture. Reach in with your hands and knead the dough until it just holds together. Who knew pie crust could be this easy?

quick puff pastry
Just let the dough rest under plastic for 10 minutes. Looks like a mess, right?

Rest. Scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto your work surface. Press into something that resembles a rectangle. It will be messy and may not stick together. Don’t worry. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes. Who knew pie crust could be this easy?

quick puff pastry
On the first rolling, it’ll barely hold together. Don’t worry!
quick puff pastry
This is the dough folded like a letter. Looks as if a 3-year old got hold of it, right?

Roll and fold. Take a rolling pin and roll the dough out into a rectangle about 15 x 8 inches. Pieces will come off; just stick them back onto your dough. Use a bench knife or dough scraper and fold the top third of the dough down and the bottom third of the dough up, just as if you’re folding a doughy letter. Turn 90° so the narrow side is close to you. Who knew pie crust could be this easy?

quick puff pastry
Second rolling looks better!
quick puff pastry
After being folded and turned the second time, it’s starting to come together.

Roll and fold a second time. Repeat the previous steps. Who knew pie crust could be this easy?

quick puff pastry
Third rolling looks pretty good. A bit like pie crust, actually.
quick puff pastry
Even after folding, the quick puff pastry is still looks good.

And a third. Who knew pie crust could be this easy?

quick puff pastry
By the fourth rolling, everything worked out. See, no worries!
quick puff pastry
Like puff pastry, but easier!

And a fourth. Who knew pie crust could be this easy?

Chill. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 20 minutes before using. Who knew pie crust could be this easy?

For quite a while, we avoided making this quick puff pastry. Why? We thought it would take much more time, and be harder to work with. Instead, it’s only a few minutes of work and the dough is supple, easy to roll and shape. Everything you want in a crust. And is it flaky? Absolutely, super flaky. Almost as flaky as a croissant. We used it as the crust for pumpkin pie (make sure to pre-bake it for about 20 minutes for maximum flakiness) and on top of a pot pie. Yummy! Five stars.

Worth the trouble?

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