Puff pastry

Puff pastry consists of two components. The beurrage which is the butter and the détrempe which is the dough. Let’s start with the beurrage.

350 grams	butter
75 grams	flour

Transfer the butter into a mixing bowl and also add the flour. Now mix this on a low speed until it’s a smooth and even mixture. You don’t want any air in the butter, so this will only take a couple of seconds. Then transfer it on some parchment paper and shape it into a square that 20 centimeters by 20 centimeters. Now wrap it completely and let it set in your fridge for 3 to 4 hours. Then the détrempe.

300 grams	flour
5 grams	sugar
5 grams	salt
125 grams	ice cold water
7 grams	white wine vinegar
65 grams	butter

Transfer the flour in the mixing bowl and also add the sugar, the salt, the ice cold water and the white wine vinegar. Now mix this on a low speed for a minute so all the ingredients can come together. Then add the butter and mix it for another 4 minutes. Once it’s a nice dough transfer it onto your worktop and press or roll it into a square that’s also 20 centimeters. Wrap it tight in parchment paper and let it rest in your fridge for 2 hours.

Then dust some flour on your worktop and lay the beurrage, so that’s the butter on there. Now roll it into a long rectangle that’s 45 centimeters. Then use a brush to remove any excess flour and place the détrempe in the middle. Now fold the butter around the dough. Then let it set in your fridge for 30 minutes. Temperature is key when making puff pastry. After that roll it into a long rectangle, remove any excess flour and then fold it in three. Then turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat the process that we just did. So, roll, dust, and fold. After that wrap it and write down the amount of fold that you did. Then let it cool down in your fridge for at least 3 hours.

After that take the dough out of the foil and turn it 90 degrees again. Roll it into a long rectangle, dust the flour off and fold it in three. Then turn it 90 degrees and repeat the process once more. Then wrap it again, write down the number of folds and let it cool down for at least 3 hours. Once it’s chilled again, we just do one more fold and then let it cool down for 3 hours. So, in total we fold it 5 times.

After that roll your puff pastry on a floured worktop into a big sheet. Then cut it to the desired size. Don’t slice it because then the sides would puff up like the middle. Now we can bake the dough. This time I’ll bake it between 2 wave molds for a nice effect. Click here for more info on the mold. You could also bake it between some silicon sheets. Then place a baking tray on top and bake it at 180 degrees Celsius for around 30 minutes till golden. While that’s baking, we can make our caramel powder that we’ll dust on top after baking.

150 grams	sugar
75 grams	water

Mix the sugar with the water and caramelize this on a medium heat till it’s a golden brown caramel. Once it’s a nice caramel pour it out on a silicon sheet and level it. Let it cool down completely. Then transfer it into a blender and blend it into a fine powder. Keep it dry and covered for later. Once the puff pastry is golden brown dust the top with a thin layer of the caramel powder and caramelize this for another 5 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. Once it’s caramelized and still hot gently portion it to the desired size. Now let it cool down completely and keep it dry and covered.

Recipe use in caramel & mango millefeuille