I’m not a food snob, really. I occasionally enjoy toasties with plastic cheese and white supermarket bread and I’ve been known to enjoy a mug of instant soup just as much as home-made (Cup-a-soup creamy chicken and corn, nyum nyum!). However, when it comes to things baked or sweet, for some reason I find myself blanching at the thought of buying instant or premade anything. I pale at the thought of biscuits from a packet (except the biscuits that I use for the base of my cheesecake and Tim Tams), I frown at the notion of cartons of pourable custard and I sniff disdainfully at the idea of buying puff pastry.
However, as I held a great fear of actually MAKING puff pastry, this also meant that I was left unable to try recipes that called for them. No mille-feuilles, no delicate little pies or tarts….*sniff* Simply put, this situation would not do! Being on holidays at the moment, I made up my mind that I’d make a careful venture into the world of puffiness, and therefore began hunting for an easy recipe that wouldn’t see me breaking down into tears.
As I had made up my mind to make puff pastry, I wondered what exactly I would do with it. I mean, it’s one thing to make the dough, but how exactly was I going to utilize it? I toyed with the idea of Portuguese custard tarts, but the recipe was far too involved. I wondered about a mille-feuille but once I saw the state of the berries at the supermarket I very quickly changed my mind. Vol-au-vants are cute but cliched - and really, when I was so nervous about the pastry, did I really want to much about with creating a complicated filling?
In the end, I decided to go with a red bean paste to make simple little pies, a tsp of filling sandwiched between two rounds of pastry, edges brushed with egg white and pressed together. Once again, I have fallen for Nigella’s charm and I thoroughly recommend this recipe to anyone who feels they’d like to give puff pastry a try, but want to take baby steps there like me 
Nigella’s Processor Puff Pastry
(from Nigella Lawson’s “How to be a domestic goddess“)
Ingredients
250g strong white flour
A pinch of salt
250g cold unsalted butter, cut into 5mm slices
A squeeze of lemon juice
5-6 tablespoons iced water
1. Pulse the flour and salt together in the processor, then add the butter and pulse 3-4 times, the butter should be cut up but still be in visible chunks.
2. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and the iced water, and pulse till the pastry begins to form a ball, then tip out onto the bench and form a ball. Wrap tightly in cling wrap and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
3. Dust the benchtop with flour, then roll the pastry into a long rectangle into a long rectangle three times longer than it is wide, then fold it in three like a business letter. Roll out again to the same length and repeat the fold and roll another 2 times (not rolling out after the last fold).
4. Wrap in cling wrap and rest in the fridge for another 30 minutes before using it to allow the gluten to relax. When baking, brush with a lightly beaten egg white and bake in an oven preheated to 200 degrees C till puffed and golden brown.
Technorati Tags: puff pastry, nigella lawson, domestic goddess, pastry, baking, recipes
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
Cheryl I thought they were regular biscuits until I saw the one that is broken open. What a lovely surprise. Well done.
Ed Tep Ellie - wow! I love the idea of red bean paste inside the puff pastry biscuits! Ingenious!
Truffle These look and sound outstanding. Fantastic choice of filling. I am so very impressed by your pastry skills. They look incredible!
Tanna So good! Great idea for the filling. Beutiful tarts.
Small steps make up a long journey! Onward!
Cris Hi Ellie, the Portuguese tart are sooo good, you won’t regret taking the time to make them, well, I never made those 
, I buy them, they are popular here too. This looks good… And for the creamy limeade, hum, I never used coconut milk to make those, how about condensed milk? Or why don’t you give it a shot with coconut milk and let mke know
Ellie Mandi - Hehehe, thanks hon 
This is the perfect recipe to try with - it seems TOO simple but you’ll love watching it puff up like crazy!
Lis - I’m working on conquering my fears, one by one Getting there slowly!
Cheryl - Hehehe, surprise! Glad you like ‘em!
Anh - Thanks hon 
Kat - Thanks sweetie
Ed - LOL! Not ingenious, it just happens to be what I had on hand 
Rebecca - Trust me, this recipe will make you a fan!
Truffle - Thanks sunshine They’re developing…slowly
Tanna - Slowly but surely, I’m travelling onwards and upwards
Cris - I looooove them so much, I would love to be able to make them at home! I think I’ll try the coconut milk first and if that doesn’t work, I’ll try mixing sweetened condensed with full cream milk and see how I go
Patricia - Thanks sweetie
brilynn I love red bean but have never baked anything with it, I don’t even know where I’d find here… maybe on my next venture to the city.
Aimee Wow, these look delish. Sometime I pick up some freshly made puff pastry at the local bakery to play around with, but the supermarket stuff just doesn’t do the job!
Callipygia I say boo to pre-made too… except for puff pastry. That scares me, but your recipe looks so simple! Thanks-
Helen Looks so good!!! Congrats for this first venture toward the “real” puff pastry: oh yeah! I am going to bug you until you make the traditional one, because I know you can and when you do, I know it will be a success! 
Ange These look & sound delicious, I love making home made pastry & its not that hard once you overcome your fear of it! I have to admit though that occassionally when I cant be bothered I do use the frozen stuff & find it ok even though they are worlds apart
Ellie Brilynn - The best place for it would be a Chinese or Korean grocery store, I’d say either would definitely stock it
Aimee - Thanks hon I’ve never bought it from the supermarket so I don’t know what it’s like, but I do think that properly home made would be superior in quality to machine made
Callipygia - This recipe is stupidly simple, I think almost anybody could do it!
Helen - Thanks honey I do want to give traditional puff pastry a try, I just need to work up the courage for it
Ange - Thanks hon I adore home made pastry, if I can overcome my fear of puff then it’ll just leave phyllo as the only kind I can’t make at home!
They look spectacular, Ellie. I have been wanting to give puff pastry a try for ages - once again you have inspired me!