Demo: Puff Pastry

[Wendy DeBord]

Wow, thank-you .....what a great description.

Can I ask you what aproximate percentage of the book pertains to baking verses cooking? ......even though I already know I must buy this.

[kitwilliams]

Quote on The Cook's Book from Amazon.com:

"Technically, this is more than just a cookbook, but the recipes (with luscious photos) for dishes like Paul Gayler's Venison with Cherries, Cinnamon & Walnuts; Peter Gordon's Vanilla & Duck Broth with Rice Noodles; and Dan Lepard's Flatbread with Pumpkin, Green Olives & Shallots are worth the price of the book alone.

Can't wait to see it, Dan. Sounds fabulous.

And thanks ever so much for the fabulous lesson. What do we owe you?

[danlepard]

Wendy,

12 pages Ferran Adria on foams at the beginning, then 150 pages on desserts/cake/bread/patisserie bits (say 150 pages out of 633 pages), and that includes 72 pages on pastry, sweet dough, and desserts by Pierre Herme, and 30 pages on cakes by Stefan Franz - Shaun Hill and I make up the rest of the section. There are also the odd recipe from other chefs (Rick Bayless has a dessert in the Mexican section) who contributed the bulk of the book.

It's very much a how-to volume rather than an inspired collection of recipes, and aimed at enthusiastic beginners, or cooks that want to learn about things other than what they already do well. As every page is filled with colour photography, and every recipe broken down into little steps, it looks like would make a good present for someone starting out. Weighs a ton.

But you learn more about specific pastry, baking and dessert techniques from this forum, and in more detail. Very happy to help.

regards

Dan

[KarenS]

Another book to buy! I remember the "dry" butter in France- it has only 6% water, and makes great puff pastry.

[MobyP]

Do go and try the puff pastry made by Patrick Lozac, the original B&S viennoiserie chef and the originator of the recipes, at a place called Feit Maison, at 3 Stratford Road, Earls Court.

←

I went today, and the pastries were superb. The croissant were certainly better than anything I've had in France for a very long time.

[danlepard]

So we've talked about butter, but what about flour? What sort of flour do you prefer for crisp pastry? All-purpose, or a mixture of bread flour and all-purpose, or even a dash of some other flour (cornflour, rice flour)? Occasionally I've read about the inclusion of a dash of cream of tartar in the dough. Has anyone tried this?

Dan

[MobyP]

Dan - I think this is just the feeble excuse we were all waiting for! Do you have a puff recipe you can share with us? Possibly with glossy photos and free samples upon receipt of a s.a.e?

To your question, I have to say my knowledge of flours is miserable, but the pastry definitely improved once I started using the Doves organic all purpopse (after reading that Sean Hill used it). Something that intrigued me: I saw a video of a pastry chef preparing puff in a Parisian 3 star (L'Ambroisie) and his uncooked pastry was the most beautiful creamy white. In contrast, mine tends to have miniscule specks interlaced throughout the dough. I don't know whether it's ash or some other contaminent. What's the secret? Is there a better combination of flour to use in the UK, and would it be different in the US?

[danlepard]

I don't really have one, not a favourite one. I think the recipe you're using, plus an egg yolk in the dough, maybe a touch of sugar, perhaps lemon juice rather than vinegar.

I'm really curious about the types of flour board users around the world prefer for their puff pastry - given that you want a certain amount of elasticity yet finish with a crisp texture. I remember when I lived in New York years ago that their were beautiful creamy white pastry flours available from Millers somewhere in the south. Just wondered if there has been any experimenting...

regards

Dan

[kitwilliams]

Okay, you guys are making me awfully curious and wanting to experiment. The recipe I use is the one I learned in school and I haven't deviated from it because I've had nothing but praise for it. And for the same reason, I haven't even looked at many other puff pastry recipes, so the addition of acid is new to me. Anyway, my recipe is very straightforward: bread and cake flour, butter, salt, ice water.

I am very curious about the addition of cream of tartar. Found this on the internet:

"Some formulas will include an acid ingredient such as lemon juice or cream of tartar. This will relax the gluten, prevent the dough from souring and have a whitening effect on the dough."

So that may be your answer for the whiteness of the dough you were referring to, Moby.

Haven't figured out who this website belongs to, but this page on puff pastry will be very informative for puff pastry novices and may even be of interest to those more experienced.

I'm having hand surgery tomorrow but with the Hobart and the dough sheeter, I should be able to do some experimentation while recuperating!

[cookman]

If you have an instant thermometer, one trick that I've learned is to start with the butter block at 60 degrees, and the dough at about 42 degrees (usually right out of the refrigerator). This seems to be the ideal temperature for the initial incorporation of the butter into the dough.

Edited September 30, 2005 by cookman (log)

[miladyinsanity]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but this is the second time I'm making puff pastry from scratch, and this is also the second time the butter packet's tried to explode out of the dough.

Any ideas? I'm following MobyP's instructions.

[rickster]

My guess is that the butter is too cold?

[miladyinsanity]

It's definitely not too cold. It's not Hard Hard. It sort of smushes out?

Maybe it's too soft?

But it's not splitting out of the four corners.

[srhcb]

Sorry to interupt, but this idea came up on another thread, and I wonder if anyone had ever tried it?

SB (rolling challenged)

[miladyinsanity]

I don't think I dare to try that, not with my tiny pasta machine.