Puff Pastry

01/16/2015

3 Min Read | 4 Hr Prep | 0 Min Cook Time

Comments

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Making homemade pastry, be it puff, flaky, choux, etc., is a definite skill that is only perfected with practice. Pastry of any kind is possibly the hardest item to make gluten free, I dare say "much harder than bread." Also, likely for this reason, one of the more rare prepackages GF items to find in a store. This can cause server withdrawal for this who loved to go their local bakery and buy a danish, sausage rolls, or crescents rolls prior to staring a GF lifestyle. Well this recipe, like all pastries takes some dedication to prefect, but trust me it will be worth it in the end.

From my experience there are three keys to pastry: 

1. Keep everything ice cold (not coldish, but as freezing cold as you can get). For this reason I recommend making pastry in the winter or fall. Freeze your rolling pin, spoons, measuring cups, work dough quickly so as not to let it warm up in at room temperature, wash your hands with cold water, and handle the dough as for as little as possible.
2. In as far as it depends on you keep from ripping/tearing/cutting dough.
3. Try not to "heal" any tears in the dough by smoothing them over this counteracts all your labourous work to roll it out 4 times (this process of rolling and folding is suppose to achieve something like 8,000 thin distinct layers).

So here's to trying!

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READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING

PREP.
First combine into a container, with a tight fitting lid:

• 3/4 cup Oat Flour
• 3/4 cup Sorghum Flour
• 3/4 cup Arrowroot Starch
• 3/4 cup Potato/Tapioca Starch

Shake vigorously until uniform (this is a great job to give a child).

MAKING THE DOUGH
Sift into a food processor:

• 2 cups Flour mixture

Add and pulse to combine:

• 1/3 cup Pureed cooked beans

Scatter over the flour:

• 4 tbsp. Butter, salted and very cold cut into 1 cm. cubes

Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle over:

• 2/3 cup Ice cold water

Pulse just until the dough begins to come together (stick to its self instead of the food processor walls) this will take 10 to 15 seconds. Scrape dough unto a sheet of plastic wrap and form a 5-inch square. Wrap the dough and refrigerate for an hour.

THE BUTTER PACKET
Cut into 1/2-inch cubes and freeze for 5 minutes:

• 1 1/2 cups Butter, salted

Sift into the food processor:

• 1 cup Flour mixture

Distribute the butter cubes over the flour and pulse just until mixture looks like gravel. Scrape the side of the processor and process just until smooth. Scrape onto a sheet of plastic wrap, cover, and shape into a 6-inch square. Wrap and refrigerate while the other mixture refrigerates.

ROLLING THE PASTRY
Remove the dough square from the refrigerator (leaving the butter packet in the refrigerator) and place on a sheet of lightly floured parchment paper (or wax paper or plastic wrap). Flour the top of the dough square and place another sheet of parchment paper on top of the dough. Roll out dough into a 13x8-inch rectangle, with the 8-inch side  facing you. Brush off excess flour. Remove butter packet from the refrigerator, unwrap it, center it on one half the dough. Fold the over the butter, completely covering it (remove the top sheet of parchment paper and try lifting the bottom sheet half way the loosen dough). Turn the dough so that the folded edge is on the left, with one of the sealed sides (where the dough was pressed together) on the right, to change the direction for the next roll.

Flour as needed from here on. Place the top sheet of parchment paper back on. Roll the dough package into a 17x7 1/2-inch rectangle, keeping a short facing you. Slide a metal dough scraper or spatula or a large knife under the bottom of third of the third of the dough and fold it up over the center of the dough. Slide the knife under to third of the dough and fold it down on the top of the first third, as though you were folding a business letter. This rolling and folding is called a single turn.

Rotate the dough so that the folded edge is on the left, and roll the dough out once more into a 17x7 1/2-inch rectangle. This time fold the bottom end up and the top end down to meet the center (do not overlap), then fold the dough in half, to make 4 layers of dough. This double fold is the second turn. Mark your dough with two finger imprints to remind you that you have given the dough two turns. Wrap up the dough and refrigerate for 45 minutes.

With the folded edge on the left, roll the dough out again to 17x7 1/2-inches. Make another double fold, for the third turn. Mark your dough with three finger imprints, wrap the dough, and refrigerate for 45 minutes.

Roll the dough out and make another double fold for the fourth turn. Mark the dough with 4 finger imprints, wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour before using.