No question this recipe is so mind blowing that my students cannot get over it. I have taught it many times over the years in an array of different applications. Sweet or savory. Always a success.
A handful of ingredients and a few easy steps will guarantee the best imitation of a store-bought puff pastry.
A few notes before you start:
1-Always use UNSALTED butter. The main reason is quality.
2-Always start with cold ingredients,
3-Don’t skip the steps, the refrigerator does most of the work 🙂
4-Don’t use low fat cream cheese….seriously…what’s the point? 🙂
5-Make sure the dough is cooked. Don’t rush. It’s easy to get a gummy pie.
6-Don’t use ingredients with a lot of moisture for the filling, will make the pie very soggy.
So, isn’t this the best Puff Pastry Impostor you have ever seen?
Let’s get started!
QUICK PUFF PASTRY
makes a 10″ round pie or 8×12 or about 24 Vol au vent
Ingredients:
2 Sticks of Unsalted butter (8oz, 16T)
1 8oz package of Philadelphia cream cheese
10. 5 oz (300 g AP flour)
1 t sugar
1 t kosher salt
Directions:
Place the flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Mix to self sift.
Add the butter, cubed, and with a pastry cutter or your hands work quickly to cut it into the flour.
When the butter resembles pea size pieces, add the cream cheese and, using your hands quickly create a cohesive mass.
DO NOT throw away the butter paper wrapping.
Use it instead on the dough. Shape the dough the same size of the paper and place one on the top and one on the bottom.
At this point the dough won’t be smooth.
Refrigerate for 30 min.
Roll the dough out to about a 12×12 rectangle.
Perform a book fold as shown below.
Rest 30 min in the refrigerator
Repeat 2 more times (total 3 times)
My trick to keep track of the folds is to
make an indentation with my thumb on the
dough. At the end of the folds should look like
the dough in the picture here below:
At this point you have a few options:
1~ Place the dough in a zip lock and chill overnight
2~Chill the dough 30 min to 2 hours and use right away
3~Freeze the dough until needed
For the CHEESE PIE:
Divide the dough in half, roll each half into a disk about 8 to 10″. ( or a rectangle)
Place the cheese and meat of choice over the bottom disk/rectangle
Cover with the second round and pinch the two together.
Brush with Egg wash : (1 yolk 1 T water)
Bake at 375F static for about 30 to 45 min. The pie needs to be amber color, deep golden on top, and lightly toasted on the bottom. Internal temperature over 165F. Remember to follow the tips at the beginning.
Enjoy!
