Hey guys! Today I’m shifting gears a little bit into project-bakes. I know a lot of us are baking more because we have more time, and it’s the perfect time to work on some bigger, interesting, rewarding baking projects. I’m starting today with a Shortcut Puff Pastry, and it’s also often known as a rough-puff pastry. To be honest, I think it’s better than what you can buy in stores, and every bit as flakey and buttery.
Traditional puff pastry is a project that I rarely take on at home. With so much resting and folding, I just find that’s it’s not really worth it. This version still takes a little time, but overall it comes together MUCH faster, and it’s honestly so good.
Literally, as I was testing and working on this recipe, I would just bake up squares of the dough rolled out with sugar on each side and snack on them because even it’s purest, simplest form, it’s that good. Let’s get to it!
How to Make Shortcut Puff Pastry
This recipe starts by making what is very similar to a pie crust dough. The first step is to grate up a ton of butter. If you have a food processor with a grater, this is an awesome time to use it. I usually do it by hand by freezing the butter first, and using a box grater.
We’re using a whole 1 1/4 cups of grated butter for the entire recipe, with 1/4 cup separated for the initial dough. Once you’ve grated one cup into a bowl, place it in the freezer to keep it fully cold during the process, and grate the remaining 1/4 cup into your dry dough ingredients. This recipe only uses 5 ingredients- starting with just flour and salt.
Working quickly, you’ll want to toss the grated butter into the flour mixture until it’s coated in flour. Then, add in the water and vinegar and stir together until a dough forms. It should be slightly tacky to the touch, and soft. Knead it together to form a ball, and then throw it in the fridge to rest for about 20 minutes.
This next part takes a little bit of elbow grease, and you’ll want to work very quickly! Take the dough out of the fridge, and roll it into a large, long, rectangle that is about 18-20 inches long and 6-8 inches tall. You don’t have to measure, and it doesn’t have to be perfect, but just shoot for around that size.
Then, sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of frozen butter onto the dough, covering about 2/3 of the dough, and leaving 1/3 without butter. Fold the un-buttered third over to the middle (we’re folding the dough into thirds here), and then fold the other side in as well. This should create several layers to get us started. Pinch up the sides a bit to seal in the butter.
At this point, you’ll need to work quickly. The butter is very cold, so the process will also require you to pound out the dough to make it pliable as you continue. Roll the folded dough out into another large rectangle. It should be large enough that you can once again fold it into thirds.
As you repeat this process, the dough will become smoother, and will be less messy than the very first folds. You want to roll the dough out into a rectangle, fold it into thirds, and roll it out again for a total of 5-6 folds. If the butter starts to come through the dough, don’t worry! Just pop the whole thing in the fridge for a few minutes, and then continue.
The whole process should only take about 20 minutes if you’re able to work quickly, and shouldn’t require any chilling between the folding process. Once you’ve folded the dough 5-6 times, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to chill for at least 1 hour.
After that, you can use the dough for any puff-pastry recipe that you’d like! These Chocolate Sugar Pastries are my fav so far, and I’ll be sharing the recipe in just a couple of days!
I hope you guys enjoy this one! It’s more time consuming than a lot of the recipes I post on here, but it’s so rewarding sometimes to just spend a little time working on something really special. Enjoy!
Shortcut Puff Pastry
Makes enough pastry for typical recipes- about 1 pound, or the equivalent of two sheets of store-bought pastry.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups butter, frozen
- 2 1/2 cups flour (plus more for rolling)
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup ice cold water
- 1 tsp. white vinegar
Instructions
-
Start by grating your frozen butter on a box grater or in a food processor grater. Once you have 1 cup of butter grated, place it in a bowl and into the freezer. Grate the remaining 1/4 cup of butter, and set aside.
-
In a large bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Add the 1/4 cup of frozen butter, and toss it to coat in the flour mixture. Add in the cold water and white vinegar, and stir until a dough forms. Knead it together gently until it forms a cohesive ball. Then, wrap in plastic and place in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes.
-
Remove the dough from the fridge, and on a floured surface, roll it out to a large, long, rectangle that is about 18 inches long and 6-8 inches tall. You don't have to measure- we're just going for a rectangle that will be large enough to fold into thirds easily.
-
Remove the remaining grated butter from the freezer. Sprinkle it onto the rolled out dough, leaving 1/3 of the dough un-buttered. Fold the un-buttered third into the middle, and then fold the other side in as well. This will create two separated layers of butter to start. Pinch the ends closed to seal the butter inside. The dough will be fairly bumpy and rough at this point- that's okay!
-
Working quickly, and beating the dough with the rolling pin as needed, roll the dough into another large rectangle, and fold into thirds again. Be sure to dust off any excess flour as you go. Repeat this process 5-6 times. As you continue, the dough will become more smooth.
-
If the butter starts to break through as you are working, you can place the dough in the fridge for a few minutes and continue. However, if your butter was completely frozen, and you are able to work quickly, you shouldn't need to do this.
-
Once you've folded the dough 5-6 times, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and chill for at least one hour, or up to 1 week. Roll and use for your recipe of choice!
Hello and welcome! My name is Nicole, and Dough-eyed is a food blog for people who want to bake for their family and friends in high-altitude areas. Think of me as a friendly voice there with you in the kitchen, here to give you confidence when you’re baking, and to help you with the struggles of baking at high-altitude. Come back every week for new recipes, tips, and advice on high-altitude baking!
I love to bake but for years I have been so intimidated by puff pastry. Kept doing anything but it. When I saw this recipe and instructions I took the leap and followed them. I made outstanding puff pastry. Everyone has complimented on how flakey and delicate it is. And the taste is wonderful.
Definitely 5 or 6 stars for this one.
So glad to hear it worked well for you!! This is one of my favs!!
This looks amazing. Will make this when home again. Had to go out of town,
Omg Nicole!!! I’m doing this today at 10k feet instead of traditional puff pastry! Thank you! Adding it to the top of chicken pot pie, as it’s my husband’s fave way to eat the pie. But now I want them just coated in sugar haha. Can’t believe how little time this will take, thanks again!
So glad you liked this one!!