Learn how to make rough puff pastry without investing the time and effort required for classic puff pastry. It can be used in sweet and savory pastries.
80mlice water, or as needed (Have more ready as you may need more to pull the dough together)
Instructions
Grate the 1 stick of butter or cut butter into small cubes and chill in the fridge. Actually grating works better IMHO. Mix the flour, salt, butter pieces and rub the butter into the flour to resemble coarse crumbs or use a pastry blender to cut in the butter into the flour. Add ice water and just stir to combine until all flour are hydrated and no bits of dry flour remains. If the dough seems to dry, add a bit more ice water, one teaspoon at a time. Don't overwork the dough too much. We don't want the butter to melt. The butter should remain visible
Place the rough dough in a plastic bag, flatten to a disk, and seal well. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes
Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. You want to flatten it out to a rectangle about 6 x 18 inches. The dough might be moist after being chilled, you can lightly dust some flour to keep it from sticking to the surface and your hand
Fold the long side of the dough, the top third over, toward the center, then, like folding a letter, fold the bottom third over that. Dust very lightly with flour and rotate 90 degrees, so that once more a short end is facing you. Roll out, rolling from the center outward, until once again the rectangle measures about 6 x 18 inches. Dust off any excess flour. Repeat this process 4 more times. A total of 6 times. If the dough is getting too warm and butter starts to melt, refrigerate the dough for 10-15 minutes and then resume working on it again
Wrap in a plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes before using
You can refrigerate the dough for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to one month. Just make sure the dough lies flat and that the edges do not get bent over. To thaw, place frozen pastry in the refrigerator
When ready to use it:
Dust the work surface with a little flour, because the dough will be moist. Use a lightly floured rolling pin to flatten the dough, then roll it out, rolling just to the edges, not over them
Roll it out according to the size calls for in the recipe. One of this recipe can make about 6 medium puff pastry squares or 12 small ones