Rough Puff Pastry
Most of the lift of puff pastry in a fraction of the time
The butter goes in as cubes rather than a block, and the rolling and folding does the laminating as you go. Four turns instead of six, an hour and a half instead of a day, and perhaps eighty per cent of the rise.
For a tarte tatin, a sausage roll or a pie lid, nobody will ever know the difference.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound (4 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 3/4 cup ice cold water
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Toss the flour, salt and cold butter cubes together in a bowl. Do not rub the butter in — you want the cubes intact and coated.
- Add the water and lemon juice and stir with a knife until it comes together into a shaggy, lumpy mass. It should look wrong.
- Tip onto a floured surface and pat into a rough rectangle. Roll out to about 8 by 20 inches. The butter will streak; that is exactly right.
- Fold in three like a letter, give it a quarter turn, and roll out again.
- Repeat for four turns in total, chilling 20 minutes after the second if the butter softens.
- Wrap and chill at least 30 minutes before using.
Notes
- Cold hands, cold water, cold butter. Work near an open window in summer.
- The lemon juice relaxes the gluten slightly and makes rolling easier.