Fruit turnovers

[TdeV]

This afternoon, I am planning to make some turnovers with commercial frozen puff pastry. I have some perfectly ripe peaches and blueberries. And a splash of maple syrup.

 

I wasn't actually planning on cooking the fruit. Should I?

 

I'm wondering if there is some powder I could lightly sprinkle on top of the fruit to keep it from getting too wet?

[Lisa Shock]

The sugar in the maple syrup is still sugar, and will act as such -it's hygroscopic and will pull liquid out of the fruit, making bottoms of the pastry wetter and increasing the likelihood that juice will flow out of the pastry entirely.

 

You could use raw fruit, but it will be a very inconsistent result varying from piece to piece, and should probably be sliced very, very thinly.

 

Because of the relatively brief baking period for a turnover, there won't be as much time for a thickener to fully develop and thicken. If you just sprinkle cornstarch, arrowroot, etc. on the fruit (which only gets heated during the last few minutes of the 15-20 minute bake time) you'll probably wind up with lumps of starch floating in juice in wet bottoms.

 

The pre-cook with sugar and starch for fruit used in turnovers is to: ensure a consistent outcome across the entire batch, reduce the liquid content thus ensuring a crisp pastry all around, ensure consistent flavor, create a concentrated fruit flavor, thicken the juice so it stays inside the pastry, and to prevent burning.

 

Also, 95% of Pinterest is comprised of lies created by photoshoot stylists.