Puff Pastry
the thread was getting a little largs and since i was adding pictures i started this one
LETS START WITH THE FLOUR
AP DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH GLUTEN to make a good pastry a brean flour with a good proten is required
the last puff dough i make was with king aurthr special patent NOT AVAILIBLE IN STORES but you can buy a 50 lb bag from a baker supply house
nex the roll in fat must be ether a good butter 85 percent butterfat which has more fat then your reg hotel bar of land of lakes. in bakery we use a fat called flakmor it is a special fat with hi water count and hi melting poing (higher than body temp which is why when you buy a pastry in a bakery you can sometimes feel the grease on the roof of your mouth while you eat it)
now for the dough
bread flour 4 lb
cream of tarter 1oz---or 4 oz of table vinegar or lemon juice (works as a dough relaxer)
salt 1/2-oz
shortening (not butter or margeren) 4oz
eggs 4 oz
water 2lb 4oz ( leave out the 4 oz if you use the vinegar or lemon juice since that counts as part or the water)
simple so far right!!!
now the dough must be well delevoped (which is why for the bread flour) you should be able to pull it thin with out tearing and comes out clean and not sticky from the mixer.
once done let it rest about 30 minutes
roll in fat 3lb-8oz
all buter or part flakmor anf buter or all flakmor (any fat will work but quality and volume will varie)
the roll fat should be plastic-meaning smoth and spreadable without being melty and not hard if you are blending fats then blend them in your mixer till they look like one fat and put them in the freg and let them get hard and mixthem in the mixer again to get them plastic
some bakers add about 4oz of flour to the fat to make them easer to roll out.
NOW STARTS THE WORK--- but ITS NOT THAT HARD IF YOU FOLOW THIS METHOD
roll the dough into a rectangle shape and using pieces of the fat about the size of a ping pong ball dot the fat over 2/3 of the dough (THIS ROLL DOES NNOT COUNT -this is the part tha most are not sure about) and fold the 1/3 of the dough ofer the part with the fat and then fold the other 1/3 that has fat ofer that creating a dough that has 3 layers of dough and 2 layers of fat
dough--fat--dough--fat--dough---5 layers
now roll it out to a rectangle again and folt it in three layers 5x3-15 layers
let it rest about 5 to 10 minutes and roll it again this time in FOUR layers 4x15-60 layers
brusk it lightly with oil and cover it with plastic and put it in the frdg for an hour but dont leave it in to much longer than that cause the fat will get to hard and break when you roll it out again
now roll it again and fold it into 3 parts 60x3-180 layers
let it rest about 15 minutes and roll it again into 4 parts 4x180= 720 layers
YOUR DONE
brush it with oil and cover with plastic put it in the frdg for at least 1 day before you want to use it
the finished dough will be ok in the fridg for about a week BUT IF YOU frezz it --it will last for 6-9 months just take it out and thaw in the frdg over night and the dough will be fine. in fact it will be much easer to roll out and makeup after it is frozzen.
In my home i make this whole mix cut the dough part in half and mix two times in my KA when the rolling is finished i cut the dough into 4 parts and frezz
i still have some frozzen that i made before christmas and it is still fine i will post some pic when i bake some off which should be in a few days.
bakeing temp should be about 350 too hot and a crust will form and prevent the dough from puffing to cold and the fat will melt out ether way and you will get small greasey patries.
when making up the finished dough sheet shoult be 1/4 to 1/8 thick DO NOT ROLL OUT TO THIN
pS there are some very good butter flavors on the market i allways add a little to enhance the tast of the butter
don't use something like Butter Buds due to the other ing in it such as salt and other chem it in that have a toughening affect on the flour
this dough was frozen since about 3 weeks befor christmass
The dough and filling
turnovers
turnovers being made up
turnovers ready for oven
ouff pastry pieces (note hight before baking
ready for oven
done and ready to be finished
finished
finished turnover