So, Puff Pastry.
Day one (yesterday), was spent making the dough, rolling the dough, oh, and, rolling the dough some more. Sidenote: Have you ever eaten a desert, be it a delicious puff pastry apple streudel or otherwise, and thought to yourself, "oh, it can't be THAT bad for me, it's homemade!" Well, let me describe for a moment the method we used to make these delectable treats. First, you take your bowl of flour and your half pound of butter. Then, you combine those two items by hand, forming a parmesan-cheese-like texture. Then, you slowly add ice water (yay! nutritious!) and toss until batter is the right consistency (much drier than you would think). Wrap in saran and let the batter rest. Meanwhile, you take two pounds of butter and beat it (literally) into submission with a rolling pin, forming a delightful dairy square. In the complex series of events that comes next, the butter gets wrapped in the dough like a fatty little christmas present, rolled out, then folded in many strange positions. That, my friends, is just the dough.
Day 2, we filled the dough, cutting it and twisting it into varyingly simple or complex pastries--palmiers, sacristains, pailletes, herb straws, tresses, coques, and tartlets. After an egg wash, some received cheese and herbs, some apples and butter, some prociutto and mozzerella, and some (my favorite) a heaping mound of cinnamon and sugar.
Day 2 1/2, friends suddenly appear at my house, asking for leftovers. I oblige, pulling out a bag full of flaky goodness.
(Hint: if you grab pre-made Dufours puff pastry, you can play until your hearts content without that giant looming mound of butter)
Be back later this weekend, promise.
