The puff pastry is one of the basic recipes to master for the Baking Technician certification. It will allow you to make delicious tarts and avoid the slightly heavy texture of sweet pastry. Puff pastry pairs very well with fruits and is used in many technical sheets at the Baking Technician level (especially the apple tart). While its preparation itself is not particularly complicated, it involves small details that will greatly simplify your life!
Preparation of the Puff Pastry
As I mentioned, making puff pastry is fairly simple on paper: you mix the butter and flour. This step is called "creaming" a dough. Then, add salt, one egg yolk, and very cold water (very important, this will allow the dough to amalgamate). When the mixture becomes homogeneous, stop kneading and wrap the dough in plastic film to refrigerate it for at least 20 minutes.
Success with Puff Pastry: Some Tips
To successfully make puff pastry and avoid ending up with a sticky mass that will shrink during baking, I strongly recommend applying the following tips. First, use T55 flour. It contains less gluten and is less likely to shrink. Second, stop kneading your dough as soon as it has amalgamated. If you are using an electric mixer, I advise finishing by hand, as I find this more effective.
Then, make sure to let the dough cool in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes. This is the necessary time for the gluten network to stabilize.
Cupcake Liner Filling
Once the puff pastry has rested, take it out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature for a few minutes (otherwise, it will crack). Then, roll it out evenly to 2 mm thickness (allow at least two cm margin around the circle).
Then place the pastry on the circle using a rolling pin (roll the dough around the pin and then roll it out over the circle). Make sure to press well, taking care to make a right angle between the bottom and the edge of the cupcake liner (and don't hesitate to lift the circle to give some play to the bottom). You should have a nice right angle at the bottom of your circle.
How to Chiffonade a Pastry?
Chiffonading is the act of making pretty decorations on the edge of a pastry. It's not mandatory and can even be considered outdated, but you will often be asked to do it for an apple tart at the Baking Technician level, so it's worth mastering the technique! To chiffonade puff pastry, you will need a pastry wheel (which is available in specialized stores).
To chiffonade a tart, start by creating a 1 cm rim inside the circle.
Then roll out the excess pastry with a rolling pin and bring the rim back up (which will cause the pastry to extend beyond the edge of the circle).
Next, use the pastry wheel to give regular teeth by pinching the pastry to create a pretty relief. Finally, put the pastry back in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes so it doesn't retract during baking. When I started my apprenticeship, this article from Rose & Cook was very helpful.
If you are making an apple tart, the filling will be added before baking. For other types of tarts like a lemon tart, you need to bake the bottom crust blind. To do this, prick the bottom with a fork and bake it for 25 minutes at 180°C.
