Kitchen Mysteries: What Makes Puff Pastry Puff? (2024)

FAQs

Kitchen Mysteries: What Makes Puff Pastry Puff? ›

In the oven, the water in the layers of dough (and some water in the butter) turns into steam. This steam has just enough force to puff up each thin sheet of dough before evaporating into the oven. What's left behind is a delicate shell of airy pastry.

In the oven, the liquid in both the butter and dough evaporates, causing the layers to puff. The butter melts into the dough giving it its golden color and crispy texture. The technique was perfected by the French but has been adopted by bakers all over the world.

Always preheat your oven for a minimum of 15-20 minutes before baking, because Puff Pastry depends on even heat to rise and puff. Place pastries 1 inch apart. If you want a flaky thin and crispy pastry that's not very puffy, prick the unbaked Puff Pastry all over with a fork, which lets steam escape while baking.

Temperature is a key factor in baking up puff pasty that actually puffs. Set the oven dial too low, and the pastry is likely to fall flat. Follow this tip: As a rule of thumb, a higher oven temperature (400°F is ideal) results in puff pastry with a higher rise.

The trick is to work large pieces of cold butter into dry ingredients and hydrate it all with ice cold water (as if you were making pie crust). Sometimes bakers grate butter into the mix or use a food processor. There's lots of ways to make rough puff pastry.

The terms full, three-quarter and half are used when describing the amount of fat in the pastry. Full has equal weight of fat and flour, three-quarter has three-quarters of the weight of fat to flour, and half has half the weight of fat to flour. More fat makes the pastry softer to eat but reduces its height.

Puff pastry can generally be described as flaky, light and buttery, good for pies and pastries, while shortcrust pastry has a more crumbly, biscuit-like texture which is good for tart or quiche cases.

Undoubtedly butter produces the most deliciously flavoured puff pastry and is recommended where first quality goods are demanded. Care must be taken in its handling, however. The paste must be gently rolled and preferably refrigerated between turns. Plenty of rest must be given and softer dough made.

Too much of water flattens your puff puff. it's good to have a specific amount of water you use for your measurements. To correct this, add mixed dry ingredients into the wet mixture and give it few minutes before frying....

How do you keep puff pastry puffy? ›

Always use a preheated conventional oven to bake Puff Pastry, never a microwave or toaster oven, as they can't achieve the right golden puffy effect. If bubbles appear on the surface while baking Puff Pastry, prick with a fork to deflate them.

The document lists common faults that can occur when baking pastries such as lack of volume, shrinkage, fat seeping, tough pastries, and excessive flakiness. It then provides potential causes for each fault including issues with ingredients, technique, and oven temperature.

As yeast cells feed on sugars, they produce carbon dioxide gas and ethyl alcohol in a chemical process known as fermentation. The carbon dioxide gas released by the process of fermentation gets trapped in the sticky, elastic dough, causing it to “puff up" or rise.

What's the difference between pie crust and puff pastry? Pie crust is a type of pastry dough made with flour, fat (usually butter, lard or shortening), and water. It's used as a base for pies, tarts, and quiches. Puff pastry is a type of light, flaky pastry dough made with flour, fat (usually butter), salt and water.

Flaky pastry relies on large lumps of butter (approximately 1 in or 2.5 cm across) mixed into the dough, as opposed to the large rectangle of butter in puff pastry. Flaky pastry dough is then rolled and folded in a manner similar to puff pastry.

A leavening agent is a substance that causes dough to expand by releasing gas once mixed with liquid, acid or heat. Rising agents give baked goods optimal volume, texture and crumb and can include baking soda or baking powder, whipped egg whites or cream, active or instant dry yeast, and even steam.