by Julia Child
Storage, ahead-of-time notes, and freezing
You may wrap and store puff pastry dough in the refrigerator at any step during its manufacture; however, remember that if you have not completed 4 turns the butter will be distributed in rather thick layers. Thus if the pastry is very cold, the congealed butter will break into lumps and flakes unless you give it a careful and thorough beating with your rolling pin before you attempt to roll it out. Puff-pastry dough may be frozen for as much as a year, when wrapped airtight and kept at zero degrees or less; thaw at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator.
Forming and baking the dough—after a rest of 2 hours
A complete listing of recipes using puff pastry is in the index.
Use of leftover dough
See illustrated directions.
VARIATION
Pâte Feuilletée Fine
[Classic French Puff Pastry—for vol-au-vent, patty shells, fine desserts, and petits fours]
Classic French puff pastry has equal amounts of butter and flour, 6 rollings out and foldings, and develops 729 layers of butter sandwiched between 730 layers of dough. You may use it for any recipe requiring puff pastry, but its particular role lies in the realm of the patty shell, the fine dessert, and the elegant tea pastry. As you will see, the dough mixture contains butter rather than oil, and is made like pie dough; rather than being spread on, the main part of the butter is enclosed in the dough. Otherwise the technique for classic puff pastry does not differ too much from simple puff pastry. You must allow, however, a minimum of 6 to 7 hours from the time you start it to the time you can form and bake it. As usual, most of this time is taken up with rest periods; the actual work involved is probably not more than 30 minutes, and this can be spread over a period of several days.
For about 1 pound of flour, making 2½ pounds of dough, enough for one 8-inch vol-au-vent 5 inches high or 8 to 10 patty shells, plus leftovers which will make a 6- by 16-inch covered pastry, or 2 dozen of the cheese appetizers
1) La détrempe—the dough mixture
2¾ cups all-purpose flour and ¾ cup plain bleached cake flour, measured by scooping dry-measure cups into flour and leveling off with a straight-edged knife
A 4-quart mixing bowl, or the large bowl of an electric mixer
A rubber spatula
A ½-cup dry-measure cup (to reserve flour for Step 2)
3 ounces (¾ stick) chilled unsalted butter
A 2-foot length of waxed paper
Measure the 2 flours into the mixing bowl and stir thoroughly with rubber spatula to blend. Scoop out ½ cup and reserve for Step 2. Place chilled butter on waxed paper and cut into quarters lengthwise; rapidly cut quarters into ¼-inch pieces and add to the flour in the bowl. The butter is now to be cut into the flour and the liquid then added, just as though you were making pie dough. You may use an electric mixer as described in the pâte brisée recipe,
or rub the flour and butter rapidly together between the tips of your fingers until the butter is the size of small oatmeal flakes, or chop with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal. OR make the entire détrempe in the food processor, including next step.
2 tsp salt
1⅛ cups iced water in a 2-cup measure, plus a few droplets more if needed
A plastic bag
Blend the salt into the iced water and pour into the flour and butter mixture. If you are using an electric mixer, mix for just a few seconds, stopping the machine as soon as dough clogs in the blades. Otherwise blend with a rubber spatula, pressing dough firmly into a mass with spatula and then with cupped fingers of one hand. Lift massed dough out onto marble or board; sprinkle unmassed bits in bowl with droplets of water, press together and add to main body of dough.
Press dough firmly and rapidly into a rough cushion shape; consistency should be pliable, though not at all damp and sticky. Sprinkle lightly with flour, wrap in waxed paper, and slide into a plastic bag. Refrigerate for 40 minutes to relax gluten and firm the dough.
2) Preparing the butter—after dough has rested 40 minutes
12 ounces (3 sticks) chilled unsalted butter
The ½ cup flour reserved from Step 1
A pastry scraper or stiff metal spatula
Beat the butter with a rolling pin to soften it, smear it out with the heel, not the palm, of your hand, or a pastry scraper or spatula. When partially softened, work in the flour. Butter must be absolutely smooth and supple, yet still cold. Form into a 5-inch square, place at the corner of your working surface, and proceed to the next step.
3) The dough package
Roll the chilled dough into a circle 12 to 13 inches in diameter; it will still look rough. Place the butter in the center.
Bring the edges of the dough over the butter to enclose it completely, being very careful not to stretch dough because you want it to have a uniform thickness at the sides of the square.
Press dough well together on top of package and seal edges with your fingers. Dough will still look rough and uneven, which is as it should be.
4) Turns 1 and 2
You now have a package with a layer of dough on the top and the bottom, and a layer of butter in between. Your object is to roll the package out into a rectangle, extending the butter the whole length and width of the rectangle between the 2 layers of dough: beat the package lightly but firmly its length and width with your rolling pin to get the butter moving, dust flour on the bottom and top of the dough, and rapidly roll it out into a rectangle 16 inches long and 8 inches wide. It is now to be folded in three, as though folding a business letter.
Fold the bottom third up over the center of the dough.
Fold the top third down to cover it, making 3 even layers. By folding the dough in 3, you have made 3 layers of butter but only 4 of dough, because the middle layers, which touch, join to form a single layer.
Place dough in front of you so that top flap is to your right, as though it were a book.
Roll again into a 16-inch rectangle and again fold in three, making 9 layers of butter. Press 2 depressions in the top of the dough with the ball-ends, not the nails, of your fingers so that you will remember you have made 2 turns.
Wrap dough in waxed paper and slip it into a plastic bag. Refrigerate for 40 to 60 minutes to relax the gluten and to firm butter for next turns, which it is best to complete within an hour if you can so that layers of butter do not become too firm and congealed.
5) Turns 3 and 4—after a rest of 40 to 60 minutes
If dough is hard and cold, beat with firm even strokes to soften butter. Complete Turns 3 and 4 in the same way as the previous turns. You may find during the rolling out that the bottom layer of dough does not stretch out to meet the top and middle layers at each end: turn dough over and roll upside down to even the layers. Make 4 depression marks in the dough to indicate the 4 turns; wrap and chill again for at least an hour before starting Turns 5 and 6.
(*) DELAYED-ACTION NOTE: This is the best point to refrigerate the dough for several days, or to freeze it for several months.
6) Turns 5 and 6—after a rest of at least 1 hour, and 2 hours before you wish to form and bake the dough
Complete Turns 5 and 6 in the same manner. (It is here that if you have given the dough only its minimum rest period you may find it hard to roll out and inclined to retract rather severely when extended. If this happens, stop immediately; forcing it will only make the gluten more tenacious and the dough more balky. Wrap and refrigerate the dough for an hour more before continuing.) Make 3 pairs of depression marks in the top of the dough to indicate the 6 turns. Wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours before forming and baking.
(*) DELAYED-ACTION NOTES: When you are making the dough for a vol-au-vent, you will usually get the highest rise when you form and bake the dough about 2 hours after the final turn. For all other purposes, dough may be refrigerated for several days, or frozen for several months.
Forming and baking the dough—after a rest of 2 hours
Except
for the vol-au-vent and patty shells, which follow here, all other recipes using puff pastry will be found in their appropriate chapters, and there is a complete listing of recipes under puff pastry in the index.
Use of leftover dough
See illustrated directions.
Patty Shells
Bouchées et Vol-au-Vent
That beautifully sauced combination of sweetbreads, quenelles, truffles, mushrooms, and olives known as ris de veau financière has nowhere else to go but into a patty shell so light and airy it can fly with the wind, as the French title, vol-au-vent, suggests. Our litany ever seems to be “your own are so much better,” and how true it is when your own puff pastry makes shells so light, buttery, and flaky you can hardly believe they are real even while the pastry is melting in your mouth. Whether you wish to serve individual shells or one dramatic large one for the whole table, small and large shells are constructed in similar fashion.
You are aiming for a hollow cylinder of pastry. To achieve it, you make 2 layers: a ring of dough that is set on a disk of dough. The ring forms the sides of the cylinder, and the disk, its bottom. Both ring and disk puff up in the oven, and when the pastry is done, you cut an opening in the top, as you will see, fork out the small amount of uncooked pastry inside, and you have a case ready for filling with creamed lobster, shrimp, mushrooms, or whatever delectable mixture you may have concocted. We shall start with individual pastry shells.
DOUGH TALK
Both large and small shells require an extravagant amount of dough, and you will have as much left over as you have in the shells. However, the leftover dough is converted into puff pastry again as described and illustrated at the end of this section.
BOUCHÉES
[Patty Shells for Individual Servings]
For 9 shells 3½ inches in diameter
1) Forming the dough
The preceding recipe for 2½ lbs. chilled classic puff pastry
A pastry-cutting wheel or long knife
A 3½-inch plain, round cutter
A 2-inch plain, round cutter
A large baking sheet 12 by 16 inches at least
1 or 2 trays or baking sheets in the refrigerator for storing pieces of dough
A sharp, thin skewer (or large darning needle)
Because puff pastry softens so quickly out of the refrigerator, you will find it best to work on only part of the dough at a time, keeping the rest chilled. Each piece will make 3 patty shells. Roll the dough into a rectangle 18 inches long and 8 inches wide, cut into thirds crosswise using pastry wheel or long knife, and refrigerate 2 of the pieces of dough. Roll the remaining piece of dough into a 10- by 14-inch rectangle ¼ inch thick. Work rapidly from now on so that dough will not soften before you are through; if it does, stop immediately, refrigerate everything for 15 to 20 minutes and then continue. Soft, limp dough is impossible to work with.
With the 3½-inch round cutter, cut 6 disks in the pastry, spacing them half an inch from the edges of the pastry and from each other. With the 2-inch cutter, cut circles from the center of three of the disks to make 3 rings. (Carefully arrange all leftover dough in one layer and refrigerate; see instructions.)
Rinse pastry sheet in cold water, shake off excess water, and place the 3 disks upside down on the sheet, spacing them ½ inch from edge of sheet and from each other. Paint tops of disks lightly with cold water and press a ring of dough on each disk.
Seal each ring to each disk by making slanting indentations ⅛ inch apart with the back of a knife, going all around the circumference, and pressing the 2 layers of dough together with the balls of your fingers as you go.
Prick all over exposed center of bottom disks with the tines of a table fork. Plunge a skewer down through the pastry at 3 points in the center of the pastry and 4 around the ring; this, hopefully, will ensure a vertical, even rise in the oven.
With a 2-inch round cutter or a knife, press a circle outline 1⁄16 inch deep in each disk, where the inside edge of the ring meets it; this will then be cut out after baking and serve as a cover.
Pastry will probably have softened; refrigerate baking sheet for 10 minutes, or at least while you are rolling out and cutting the next 2 pieces of dough. When all 9 bouchées are assembled on the sheet, cover with waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 40 minutes before baking, so that dough can relax and bouchées will not shrink or bake out of shape.
(*) DELAYED-ACTION NOTE: The formed pastry may be frozen at this point, and taken right from freezer to oven.
2) Baking—20 to 25 minutes in a preheated 425-degree oven
Just before baking, paint top surfaces of bouchées, not the sides, with a double coating of egg glaze (1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water), and decorate with cross-hatch knife or fork marks. (See vol-au-vent, step 2.) Bake in the middle level of preheated oven about 25 minutes. They are done when risen and brown, and when the sides are brown and crisp. Remove to a rack.
With a sharp small knife held vertically, cut out covers with an up-and-down sawing motion. Delicately scrape out any uncooked pastry from inside with the back of a teaspoon or the tines of a small table fork. Cool on a rack.
3) Storing and serving
The sooner you can fill and serve patty shells, the fresher, lighter, and more delicious they will be. If you are serving the same day, keep in a warming oven or the turned-off oven. Otherwise arrange in a covered pan and freeze them. To reheat and crisp shells, either frozen or not, preheat oven to 425 degrees, place shells on a lightly buttered baking sheet and set in middle level of oven. Turn oven off and shells will be crisp in 5 to 8 minutes.
VOL-AU-VENT
[Large Patty Shell]
A large patty shell is somewhat reminiscent of the oldtime haute cuisine; it is wonderfully dramatic to serve and always greatly enjoyed by your guests just because it is an unusual treat. The decorative cover, which is formed and baked separately, is optional and depends on how your table serving works out. If you have a cover, the filled vol-au-vent with cover poised on top of the food is presented for all to admire, then the cover must be removed to a separate dish for cutting and serving.
For an 8-inch shell about 5 inches deep, serving 6 people
1) Forming the dough
The preceding recipe for 2½ lbs. classic puff pastry
An 8-inch and a 5-inch round vol-au-vent cutter, pan cover, plate, or saucer for cutting circles of dough
A heavy rolling pin with rolling surface at least 14 inches long
A baking sheet or round pizza tray rinsed in cold water and not dried
1 or 2 baking sheets or trays in the refrigerator for leftover dough
Place chilled puff pastry on a lightly floured marble or pastry board and roll rapidly into a rectangle ⅜ inch thick, 12 inches wide, and 20 inches long. (To insure that stresses and strains are equalized for even baking, be sure to roll dough crosswise as well as lengthwise.)
Work as rapidly as possible from now on so that dough will not soften and become difficult to handle; if it does soften, immediately stop whatever you are doing and refrigerate everything for 15 to 20 minutes, then continue.
Cut two 8-inch disks out of pastry, spacing them at least ½ inch from edges of dough and from each other. Lift surrounding dough off the disks and arrange in one layer on baking sheet or tray and refrigerate; see directions for re-forming it into puff pastry.
Roll one of the disks up on the pin and unroll upside down on damp baking sheet. (Damp surface makes pastry stick to sheet, giving it a grip so it can rise in the oven.) Paint a 1½-inch border around the top of the circle with cold water.
Using a round cutter or guide 5 inches in diameter, center it in the second disk of dough and cut around it to make the 8-inch ring for the second layer of the vol-au-vent.
So that you will not stretch the ring of dough as you remove it from the circle, brush lightly with flour and fold it in half, then in quarters. Unfold it on the dampened circumference of the first disk, pressing it in place with the balls of your fin
gers. (Refrigerate disk of leftover dough.)
Seal the 2 layers of dough with the back of a small knife, by pressing slanting lines ⅛ inch deep and about ¾ inch apart all around the circumference, also pressing top of circle with the balls of your fingers as you go. (It is now wise to cover and refrigerate vol-au-vent for an hour before baking; this will relax dough so that it will bake evenly.)
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: Unbaked vol-au-vent may be refrigerated for a day or so, or frozen, but you will usually get a higher rise if you bake it within an hour of forming.
2) Final decoration and baking—about 1 hour; oven preheated to 425 degrees