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Hi Bold Bakers!
Knowing how to make great pastry is baking 101. It’s essential to me that you know how to make it well. So, I’m going to share with you my Mum’s recipe for an easy, shortcut Puff Pastry recipe, aka rough puff pastry, flakey pastry, or blitz pastry. You can officially say goodbye to store-bought, frozen puff pastry sheets!
Do you normally watch my videos? For this recipe, you really should, and here’s why: some of my recipes are more detailed than others, and this being one of those recipes. I can explain to you in great detail the “why and how” of this recipe, but the video is so much better than a blog post. There are tons of great tips in this video, so I strongly suggest you watch it.
This recipe is fast to make without all the folding like a 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. And nothing is colder than frozen, so it works out well.
Do I Need To Fold Puff Pastry?
My pastry is a hybrid of puff AND rough puff pastry. If you read the comments below, you will see people love my recipe because it is much faster to make and it doesn’t require folding and resting to create the layers. Instead I grate in frozen butters to give you the same effect. Same results, but the technique is simpler and saves time.
The simple steps 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 (and smarter) road will get you to the same place?
What You’ll Need To Make Homemade Puff Pastry
- Jug
- Large bowl
- Knife
- Plastic wrap
- Measuring cups
How To Make Puff Pastry Dough
Making this shortcut pastry is so simple, you’ll wonder why you haven’t been working smarter instead of harder for years. Here’s how you do it (and don’t forget to get the full recipe with measurements, on the page down below):
- 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.
- Mix water and lemon juice in a jug.
- Mix cold flour and salt in a large bowl.
- Grate frozen butter into a large bowl. Stir with a knife.
- Pour the jug into the large bowl. Bring the pastry together using your hands — you don’t even need a food processor.
- Bring the dough together in a ball, and seal with plastic wrap.
- Either bake, refrigerate for up to three days or freeze for later use.
What To Do With Leftover Puff Pastry?
Because the beauty of this recipe is all its lovely layers, there is a rule that you don’t ‘re-roll’ puff pastry as it throws off its structure. This pastry, however, is a tad different because we don’t fold it like a book, so there isn’t as much of the same fear.
A good way to use up leftover odds and ends is to make Palmiers, or do what my mum used to do, which was cut the pastry lengthways, twist it, and sprinkle some cheese over it and called them Cheese Straws.
What To Make With Puff Pastry
Lucky for you there are countless ways to use this recipe. With my homemade puff pastry recipe, you can try my cheesy Caprese savory tart or my toaster oven breakfast tart for a perfect morning snack. And in terms of puff pastry desserts, try our homemade pop tarts. You can choose from strawberry, brown sugar cinnamon, or chocolate fudge!
Jump to these recipes, take out your baking sheets and start baking.
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And don’t forget to buy my Bigger Bolder Baking Cookbook!
Full (and printable) recipe below!