Puff Pastry

[Lesley C]

Hi James,

Your puff pastry is legendary in these parts (Montreal) and I remember once giving a cooking class where the puff pastry supplied was from your bakery. Now I have made puff pastry for a good fifteen years, and I always thought I made it quite well, but I have never made anything as good as yours. Not only did it taste great, but it was smooth as butter, easy to roll out, and it rose very, very high. So...could you share a few secrets? Do you put any butter in the detrempe? Do you use bread flour? Rumour has it you work the base dough until it is quite elastic, something I was taught never to do because it makes rolling out so difficult. How long do you rest the dough between turns? Any other secrets you are wiling to share?

Thanks!

[James MacGuire]

Lesley:

Thank you for getting me into this q+a ( I only hope that it doesn't get you into trouble.

Puff pastry?

------- Some butter in the detrempe, it seems to me, is a good idea. I am not fond of feuilletage a l'envers, but the classic no-butter-in-the-determpe stuff can yield pretty good results.

-------- yes, it seems to me that some gluten development is a good idea....

-------- But above all, remember that our tenaciously glutinous North American flours are very different from French flours. The whole idea of making puff pastry in two hours ( make the detrempe. rest for 1/2 hour, 15 minutes between the rollings+ foldings) just didn't seem to work.

------- Bottom line: let the determpe both rest and get very cold in the fridge for a good chunk. Add the butter, and do the tourage over the course of a day. Keep things very cold always. Give the ready to bake pieces a rest so they don't shrink.

I hope this helps,

and once again,

Thanks,

James