Easy Puff Pastry

look at puff pastry dough folded together

Making puff pastry at home doesn’t have to be difficult or intimidating! My easy puff pastry recipe and method is simple enough for anyone to make and master.

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 5

Assembly Time 30

Total Time 35

Servings servings

Calories 294

Author Annalise Sandberg

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour (240 grams)
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups cold unsalted butter , cubed (2 ½ sticks, 283 grams)
½ cup cold water (118 grams)

Instructions

Combine flour and salt in a bowl and toss with the cold cubed butter. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into smaller pieces into the dry ingredients. Cut until smallest butter pieces are about the size of peas, it’s okay if some large butter pieces remain.
Add ½ of cold water to the bowl and mix until incorporated, then add remaining water. Use a spatula/spoon and then your hands to bring the dough together. It will be very crumbly and shaggy. Dump dough out on a clean surface and continue to work it together.
Shape dough into a rectangle, then use a floured rolling pin to roll out to about the size of a sheet of legal paper (8×14 inches). No need to be exact.
Fold the bottom third of the dough up onto the middle third, then fold the top third over on top, like you would fold a letter. Then flip the dough seam side-down, and rotate it 90° so the short edge is facing you. This is whole step completes your first “turn”.
Roll the dough again out to about the size of a sheet of legal paper. Fold into thirds, then flip and rotate again. Repeat this process until you have rolled, folded, and rotated 6 total times. Pause to chill dough as needed (see Notes).
Chill the puff pastry dough completely before using, at least 1 hour and up to 2 days in the fridge.

Notes

Notes:

Puff pastry freezes really well. Double wrap in plastic or a ziplock bag and freeze for up to a month or more. Thaw the in fridge overnight or at room temperature for 30 minutes before using.
It is possible to make this puff pastry in one sitting, as long as the butter doesn’t get too soft or appear melted at all. I usually pause somewhere in the process to put the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes or so to get the butter cold again before resuming with the folding and rolling.
In addition to using cold butter and water, chilling the flour, salt, bowl and pastry blender before starting will help keep things cold.

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