Puff Pastry Recipe

Close up of strips of baked puff pastry.

Light and flaky, homemade Puff Pastry comes together with 5 pantry staples and a little effort! You’ll love my no-fuss shortcut method to easily make this laminated pastry from scratch.

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 40

Chill Time 3

Total Time 3 40

Servings (11-inch) square sheet

Calories 2584kcal

Author John Kanell

Equipment

Rolling Pin
Whisk

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter cold (227g)
2 cups all-purpose flour (240g)
1 tablespoon sugar (12g)
½ teaspoon kosher salt (2g)
8 to 10 tablespoons cold water (120-150 mL)

Instructions

Place butter in the freezer for 10 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt.
Grate the frozen butter into the flour. (Dice the remaining end of butter that you can’t grate.) Toss the butter into the flour mixture with your hands until well coated.
Drizzle 6 tablespoons of water over the mixture and begin folding the mixture together until the mixture starts to clump together. Continue adding water a tablespoon at a time until a loose and crumbled dough forms. (It should hold when squeezed.)
Gently knead the dough a few times in the bowl until a cohesive mass is formed. Shape into a 1-inch thick square and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill for 1 hour.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough into a 1/2-inch-thick rectangle. Fold the dough in thirds like a letter. Turn 90 degrees. Repeat rolling, folding, and rotating 3 more times.
Fold back into thirds, wrap tightly, and chill for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days, or placed in a freezer bag and freeze for up to 2 months.

Video

Notes

Only use as much flour as necessary to roll out the dough. If you are over-flouring your surface, you will incorporate more flour into the dough than needed. Too much flour leads to a tougher pastry and prevents the layers from sticking together when laminating.

Nutrition