500g (1 lb) sieved flour
315g (10oz) softened butter, cool
pinch of salt
water
extra flour to roll pastry
It will take approximately 3 hours all up to finish the pastry.
Put flour in a bowl, create a well in the middle then add salt and some of the water, you want to obtain a firm dough, not too moist but not too dry either. Its called ‘the detrempe’ – that’s the base of the puff pastry. Put it in the fridge to rest for 1/2 hour.
Meanwhile take the butter, put between to baking paper sheets and with the rolling pin gently soften it to obtain a square of 10-15cm, not to thick.
Take pastry out of the fridge, flour bench top and roll the pastry into a cross leaving a square in the middle the size of the butter, and slightly thicker than the four side of the pastry.
Put the butter in the middle of the pastry, fold all four sides on top and roll the pastry gently in a long bend, fold that band in 3, starting from the top towards you then the bottom over the top you just folded, give it a quarter turn to your right and roll and fold again as previously. Put in the fridge to rest for 1/2 hour, and repeat the same again. You have to do it 3 times in total giving 1/2 hour rest between each turn.
At the end put in the fridge for 1/2 hour to finally rest then your ‘pate feuilletee’ is ready to use.
Tips for making pastry and baking
Roll evenly, always from you, with short, sharp movements. The object is to keep all air in and not to press any out.
Pastry improves by chilling and resting some time before baking, this helps avoid shrinkage during cooking – wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Roll out pastry to 3mm thick for pies, two-thirds is required for the base, the remaining for the lid.
Roll pastry bigger than the dish it is to line, then roll the rolling pin over the top of a straight-edged dish, or alternatively use a knife at right angles to the edge of the dish, to gently cut away the pastry.
Don’t stretch the pastry when lining pie tins. Instead, gently ease it into place – this will prevent the pastry shrinking during cooking.
Refrigerate the finished pie before cooking to allow the pastry to rest and therefore avoid shrinkage during cooking.
Bake in a hot oven; open oven door as little and, as gently as possible.
An adaption of Laurent Loudeac’s recipe. Laurent trained in classical French cuisine in the Loire Valley, and can now be found at the Hippopotamus Restaurant, Wellington.