Healthy Puff Pastry- You Choose – Quick and Easy or Classic!
You can create a Puff Pastry that’s made with only healthy ingredients. Choose the amount of time you want to invest- a fast and easy version or the classic recipe.
I admit it, I am virtually a Puff Pastry Virgin, I made it to 69 years old, without making anything with puff pastry. Then, a recipe I found on the internet (yes, I use recipes from the internet) included Puff Pastry and I have never looked back. I fell in love with that tantalizing confection with its buttery crisp and luxuriously flaky layers. Perfect to encase a sweet fruit filling or a savory one the uses for puff pastry result in gorgeous delights. The uses are truly endless.
After looking up Puff Pastry recipes I found two Puff Pastry methods. Both use lots of butter integrated into flour. They differ in how the butter is applied to the dough.
Puff Pastry, Type 1– the Quick Make Method. Mix the cooled butter into a flour mixture, leaving pebble-sized blobs of butter intact, similar to making a pie crust. Roll out the dough, fold it over a few times and voila, puff pastry (or something like it). Go to the Quick PUff Pastry Recipe
Puff Pastry, Type 2- the Traditional Method. Layer slices of butter between layers of dough, folding the layers multiple times, refrigerating the dough between folds so the butter does not integrate into the flour mixture. This produces a nuanced, layered puff pastry. Go to the Classic Puff Pastry Recipe
To be fair, I tested both methods. I admit, I was rooting for Type 1. It took much less time than the other method. I mixed the flour and water and pinched in the blobs of butter. I folded and turned and folded and let the dough rest.
In the interest of a fair trial, I also made a batch of the more classic Puff Pastry. It definitely takes more time, it’s a lot more time consuming. You mix a flour/butter mixture (mostly butter) which is its own layer. You have to roll it onto the dough without it becoming too integrated. You roll the layers together, fold and roll again, then cool everything in the refrigerator 6 times. The distinct layer of butter is what creates the layers in the finished pastry. It’s devine. Yes, this method is more time consuming, the rests between rollings are longer than in the first method, you can’t skip them. And, creating the butter layer takes time.
Making Puff Pastry with the classic method, as time consuming as it is, is worth it.
Type 2- The Classic Puff Pastry Recipe Want a culinary treat? Take the time to create your own Puff Pastry Class (type 2). It takes many hours to make but much of that time is the dough cooling in the refrigerator, not requiring your attention. For Instructions for Classic Puff Pastry, click here. This recipe makes twice as much dough as the Type 1 recipe. This works even if you only need one sheet of Puff Pastry. No problem, extra dough can be refrigerated or frozen.
Type 1- The Quick and Easy Puff Pastry Recipe There might be times when you don’t want to invest a lot of time to your turnover. Type 1 Puff Pastry will give you a product that isn’t exactly Puff Pastry but is a decent, tasty, alternative. Want instructions for type 1 pastry? Click here for the recipe and step by step instructions.
The Major Differences in the Two Recipes The two recipes are similar. In the Quick and Easy Puff Pastry you add the butter by squeezing in little lumps of butter in a manner similar to making a pie crust. In the Classic Puff Pastry Recipe you to create a full layer ofa butter and flour mix. The second difference is the emphasis on chilling between each step. You do chill between some steps in the Quick and Easy recipe, but for less time than in the Classic Dough Recipe and you can skip some of the chilling to speed things up.
Purchased Puff Pastry Dough Want the taste and texture and don’t mind the not-so-healthy ingredients… purchase Puff Pastry in the freezer section of your grocery store. It gives a lovely, if not healthy, result.
How to Use Your Puff Pastry Puff pastry allows you to make wonderful dishes. Fill with a mushroom/onion filling sprinkled with thyme for a savory treat. Place chocolate chips between layers of puff pastry for a chocolate wonder. Place slices of apples raisins and sugar on your puff pastry for an apple piece. The possibilities are endless. Puff pastry plus almost any filling makes something special.
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