Bold Baking Basics, Homemade Ingredients

How To Make The Easiest Puff Pastry Recipe

4.50 from 728 votes
Want to learn how to make the easiest Puff Pastry recipe? My Mum's recipe is so fast, requires no folding, and yields amazing results!

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Hi Bold Bakers!

WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE: Let this Easiest Puff Pastry Recipe show you how to make a flaky and butter pastry from scratch with very little effort. It does not require folding but works perfectly for tarts and hand pies! 

IMPORTANT NOTE: This recipe was updated and improved on 2/10/2023, to include additional step-by-step photography and answers to the most frequently asked questions.

Knowing how to make great pastry is baking 101, and I want to make sure all of you Bold Bakers are prepared for any recipe that comes your way.

So, I’m going to share with you my Mum’s recipe for an easy shortcut Puff Pastry, AKA rough puff pastry, flakey pastry, or blitz pastry. You can officially say goodbye to store-bought, frozen puff pastry sheets!

I highly recommend you check out my video for this recipe. Some of my recipes are a bit more detailed than others, and this is one of those recipes. I can explain to you the “whys” and “hows” here, but seeing is believing, and once you watch my video, you will 100% believe this puff pastry recipe will change your baking.

The best part about this shortcut puff pastry is that you don’t need to fold it like traditional pastry, but it still yields amazing results. 

How do I get away without resting and folding 100 times? The secret is grated frozen butter! The colder the butter, the better!

Table Of Contents

 

What Is “Easy Puff Pastry?”

My shortcut pastry is a hybrid of a puff AND rough puff pastry that is light, buttery, and flaky. It is so much faster than traditional; it doesn’t require folding on a floured work surface or resting to create layers! 

Instead, I grate in frozen butter to give you the same effect. The same results, but the technique is simpler and saves time.

The simple step of the grated butter makes sure you have tiny pieces of butter throughout your pastry without rolling the dough with a rolling pin and fold for hours to get them. Why take the long road when the shorter road gets you to the same place?

Tools You Need

Puff Pastry Ingredients

  • Butter: You need your butter to be frozen for this technique to work! So pop it in the freezer for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. I always use salted butter unless specified otherwise. You can use also unsalted butter here. 
  • Ice water: You want to keep everything as cool as possible to prevent the butter from melting before baking.
  • Lemon juice: Lemon juice helps to tenderize the dough.
  • All-purpose flour: AP flour will serve as the base of the puff pastry.
  • Salt: A little dash of salt makes everything taste better! 

How To Make Easy Puff Pastry Dough

This How to Make Easy Puff Pastry is so simple to follow and you’ll wonder why no one’s taught you before! Once you’ve learned how to do it, you’ll never look back at store-bought puff pastry (and don’t forget to get the full recipe with measurements on the page down below):

  1. Place butter in the freezer for at least two hours. Once the butter is ready, the whole process should only take 15 minutes to 30 minutes.
  2. Mix water and lemon juice in a jug.
  3. Mix cold flour and salt in a large bowl.
  4. Grate frozen butter into the same large bowl. Stir with a knife.
  5. Pour the water and lemon juice mixture into the large bowl. Bring the pastry together using your hands — you don’t even need a food processor.
  6. Bring the dough together in a ball, and seal it with plastic wrap.
  7. Either bake, refrigerate for up to three days, or freeze for later use.

How To Make Easy Puff Pastry How to Make Homemade Puff Pastry

 

Can I Make Puff Pastry In Advance?

You can make this puff pastry ahead of time, wrap it in cling wrap, and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. 

How To Freeze Puff Pastry

You can also freeze it for up to 1 month. Be sure to remove excess flour using a pastry brush then wrap it tightly! 

How To Make Easy Puff Pastry Puff Pastry Dough

 

Puff Pastry Troubleshooting And FAQs

Can you halve this recipe?

You can halve this puff pastry recipe by cutting the ingredients in half.

What do I do if I don’t have lemon juice?

Lemon juice is used to help tenderize the dough. If you don’t have any lemons on hand, use a few drops of white vinegar. If you don’t have vinegar, try to handle the dough as lightly as possible, and you should be grand.

Why didn’t my pastry rise?

Chances are, your pastry became too warm. Either you overhandled the dough, your kitchen was a touch too hot, or you didn’t get it into a HOT oven, letting it sit in a lukewarm oven for too long. 

Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips

  • Keep everything AS COLD AS POSSIBLE. Freeze your butter, use cold, cold water, and pop your bowl and your knife in the fridge. You don’t want your butter to get warm.
  • When baking puff pastry, bake in a HOT oven for best results. 
  • Be sure to watch my video going over this recipe. I promise it will help! 

How To Make Easy Puff Pastry Savory Treat Irish Sausage Rolls

 

What To Make With Puff Pastry

It’s great for sweet or savory treats:

IMPORTANT NOTE:This recipe was updated and improved on 2/10/2023, to include additional step-by-step photography and answers to the most frequently asked questions.

Watch The Recipe Video!

How To Make The Easiest Puff Pastry Recipe

4.50 from 728 votes
Want to learn how to make easy Puff Pastry? My Mum's recipe is so fast, requires no folding, and yields amazing results!
Author: Gemma Stafford
Servings: 1 lb
Prep Time 20 minutes
Chill for 1 hour
Want to learn how to make easy Puff Pastry? My Mum's recipe is so fast, requires no folding, and yields amazing results!
Author: Gemma Stafford
Servings: 1 lb

Ingredients

  • 14 tablespoons(7 oz/198 g) butter ,frozen
  • 4 - 5 fl oz (120 -148 ml) ice water
  • 1 tablespoon (½ fl oz/15 ml) lemon juice
  • 2 ⅓ cups (11 ½ oz/ 325g) all purpose flour
  • teaspoon salt

Instructions

  • Place your butter in the freezer for a minimum of 2 hours, but preferably overnight.
  • In a jug, mix together your water and lemon juice and set aside.
  • In a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Now I’m going to sound like a home economics book, but you need everything to be cold to yield great pastry, so feel free to put the bowl of flour in the fridge to chill.
  • On the larger side of a grater, grate the frozen butter directly into the flour mix. Stir the butter into the flour. Frozen butter is my secret ingredient. The colder the butter, the flakier the pastry. (Remember, this is a shortcut puff pastry, so we aren’t folding and doing that whole process. I’m all for process, but if you get a great result with less work, then I’m all for that too.)
  • Add in the water and lemon juice mixture, holding a little back just in case you don’t need it all. Bring your pastry together gently to form a ball. You want to add just enough water to bring the pastry together. Too much water will not yield you a flakey dough.
  • When the dough comes together, wrap it in cling film and place it in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour. You can refrigerate it for up to 3 days or freeze it to use at a later day. (Note: Once you put the pastry in the fridge and it relaxes, it will get a little wetter, so factor that in)
  • To use your pastry: Follow the instructions required by the recipe you are making. Always bake in a HOT oven for the best results.
4.50 from 728 votes (609 ratings without comment)
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LarissaJ
5 years ago

Oh my goodness, easiest and tastiest puff pastry recipe ever! I watched the video and did all the steps exactly, it came out amazing! Just to emphasize people – chill everything!! the bowl, the knife, and make sure the butter is really frozen for a few hours. This recipe saved our expat (in Brazil) Aussie day celebration ; ) We made meat pies and I came across this recipe after having no luck finding puff pastry in the stores. Workouted out for the better, now I can’t wait to try more of your recipes Gemma! Many thanks and wishing you… Read more »

Reyansh
Reyansh
4 years ago

Hi Gemma
Can we make half the recipe keeping the proportions same ?
Thanks

Nov
Nov
4 years ago

Hi Gemma,

Tried this recipe on a tart and it turned out quite flaky but very greasy at the bottom. It could be that my oven was not hot enough but could I also reduce the amount of butter in this recipe? I am using it to make Chinese tarts so I am rolling them out to 1-2 millimetre.

Another question, can I also fold the dough a few times to add extra layers?

Thanks for your help!

Regards,
Nov

Josephine
Josephine
4 years ago

Hi Gemma,
You have some amazing reviews!
Just a question.. after making the dough, obviously i need to roll it out, will this affect the puffiness when baking? And roughly what are the measurements and thickness i should be rolling it into?
Thanks so much!

Ximena
Ximena
4 years ago

Do you need Lemon Juice? If so what’s an easy substitute? Can you use Lime?

joan
joan
4 years ago

HI Thanks for putting this out there. I tried this puff pastry other day and had the same issue as I have had with the other recipes I have tried……they are all quite greasy. Butter melts out of them in the pan while cooking and they are not “light and fluffy” by any means. They do puff up some, but are not what I am looking for. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong? I tried to follow the directions very carefully (including everything very cold) – though I must admit I am not a very good baker… Read more »

Puja
Puja
4 years ago

I simply love you Gemma. Thank you for sharing your recipes in such easy ways. Always looking forward to more of them…God bless!

Luvcinnamonrolls
4 years ago

How can I measure frozen butter? Salted butter or unsalted?? Also the label on the butter doesn’t say its amount in tbsps or grams

Nancy Hawkins
Nancy Hawkins
5 years ago

Everything looks lovely. Too bad none of us who have to eat for diabetes and keto can use any of your recipes. I am disappointed that the world does not embrace serious disease when designing recipes….there is the challenge….besides, it is healthier eating. How about channeling your talents toward that?

Stephanie Longobardi
Stephanie Longobardi
4 years ago

Thank you for all your cooking tips. I just got into baking and am teaching myself by doing my own research. Your receipes are extremely helpful including this receipe. Now when I want to try something new, I look you up for the receipe. Thank you again from this self taught Baker.

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About Us

Meet Gemma

About Us

Meet Gemma

Hi Bold Bakers! I’m Gemma Stafford, a professional chef originally from Ireland, a cookbook author, and the creator of Bigger Bolder Baking. I want to help you bake with confidence anytime, anywhere with my trusted and tested recipes and baking tips. You may have seen one of my 500+ videos on YouTube & TikTok or as a guest judge on Nailed It! on Netflix or the Best Baker in America on Food Network. No matter your skills, my Bold Baking Team & I want to be your #1 go-to baking authority.

 

Weeknight Family Favorites Chapter from the Bigger Bolder Baking Every Day Cookbook