Quick Puff Pastry

Puff pastry is one of the most versatile ingredients to have on hand when cooking and baking. It is a great way to impress guests, and you can really do a lot of different things with puff pastry. I've always purchased the Tenderflake variety, which works really well. However, I wanted to know how hard it was to make my own. Let me tell you, it is actually one of the easiest things to make, using ingredients you probably have on hand. This recipe is from Canadian Living, and again, they don't disappoint.

Quick Puff Pastry
- 1 cup cold unsalted butter
- 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup cold water




Cut butter into 1/2 inch cubes; set aside 3/4 cup in the refrigerator. In food processor, pulse flour with salt. Sprinkle remaining butter over top; pulse until indistinguishable, about 10 seconds. Sprinkle with reserved butter; pulse 4 - 5 times until pea-size pieces. Pour water evenly over mixture (not through tube). Pulse 6 to 8 times until mixture is loose and ragged, do not let form ball.

Transfer to floured waxed paper; gather and press into rectangle. Dust with flour; top with waxed paper and roll out into 15 x 12 inch rectangle. When you first transfer it to the floured waxed paper, fear not, although it looks like it won't come together, it definitely will!


Remove top paper. Starting at long edge and using bottom paper to lift pastry, fold over one-third. Fold opposite long edge over top, bringing flush with edge of first fold to make 15 x 4 inch rectangle. Starting from 1 short end, roll up firmly; flatten into 5 inch square. Cut in half; wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.

This can also be refrigerated for 5 days or frozen in airtight container for up to 2 weeks. You'll never want to buy store bought puff pastry again!

I rolled this out and used it for my Chicken and Brie Turnovers and the result was amazing!