Puff Pastry

PUFF PASTRY: Originating in France, they call this as pâte feuilletée or feuilletage. Puff pastry is made by laminating i.e. repeatedly layering pastry dough and butter or another solid fat to form a thin dough that puffs in the oven.
Puff Pastry was invented in about 1645 by a French pastrycook's apprentice named Claudius Gele. At the end of his apprenticeship, Claudius wanted to bake a delicious loaf of bread for his sick father, who was prescribed a diet consisting of water, flour and butter. Claudius prepared a dough, packing the butter into it, kneading the dough out on the table, folding it, and repeating the procedure ten times, after which he moulded the dough into a loaf.
The pastrycook, who had watched the procedure, advised Claudius against baking the loaf as he thought the butter would run out of it. Nevertheless, the loaf was put in the oven, and as the loaf baked, both the pastrycook and Claudius became more and more surprised at the shape and the unusual size it attained.
Having finished his apprenticeship, Claudius left for Paris, where he found work at the Rosabau Patisserie. Here he completed his invention, which won the shop an enormous fortune and name. Claudius later went to Florence, where he worked in the Brothers Mosca's pastry shop. The brothers Mosca reaped the honor of having invented the Puff Pastry, although Claudius kept his secret to himself and always prepared his pastries in a locked room. Claudius died in 1682, a highly regarded artist.

Tools: -Pastry roller pin - Refrigeration -laminoire if available (Electric rolling machine) -sheet pan -parchment paper

Ingredients:- to convert - 1 tsp. salt -16 oz. butter at room temperature -5 oz. water -16 oz pastry flour

Steps: 1) Cut half the butter (8 oz) into small pieces and bind with flour and salt in Kitchen Aid with paddle or by hand. Work until butter is very fine and crumbly. 2) Add cold water at once and mix for 5 minutes. Make a big ball, cover, and put in the refrigerator for 15 min. 3) Put the remaining butter, between 2 sheets of parchment paper. Pound the butter to get it soft and give a square shape 6" wide. Dough and butter must have equal consistency. 3) Take the dough and cut an "X" half way down. Pull the four pieces toward the outside and roll into flaps (the flaps should be long enough to cover the butter block and dough, half the dough should be in the base and half in the flaps). 4) Fold the flaps back to reformed square block. 5) Roll in one direction evenly. 6) Fold into thirds, first toward you then away (rotate to the right, the top flap is always on the right). 7) Repeat the rolling and folding for 6 times, resting the dough in the refrigerator 15 min between two turns. 8) Let rest 1½ hour. Puff pastry must be rolled cold into 3/8" thick sheets

Cooking tips: To avoid shrinkage, sheets of puff pastry must rest in a refrigerator at least 1 hour before baking. Also, puff pastry must be started in a 400º oven for 5 min then finished at 300º. The process can be rushed by using the freezer between turns. If the dough is cold enough, a pasta machine could be use to roll it.