Puff Pastry

Ingredients for 1 pound:

• 14 tablespoons(7 oz/198 g) butter ,frozen

• 4 - 5 fl oz (120 -148 ml) ice water

• 1 tablespoon (½ fl oz/15 ml) lemon juice

• 2 ⅓ cups (11 ½ oz/ 325g) all purpose flour

• ⅙ teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. Place your butter in the freezer for a minimum of 2 hours, but preferably overnight.

2. In a jug, mix together your water and lemon juice and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Now I’m going to sound like a home economics book, but you need everything to be cold to yield great pastry, so feel free to put the bowl of flour in the fridge to chill.

4. On the larger side of a grater, grate the frozen butter directly into the flour mix. Stir the butter into the flour. Frozen butter is my secret ingredient. The colder the butter, the flakier the pastry. (Remember, this is a shortcut puff pastry, so we aren’t folding and doing that whole process. I’m all for process, but if you get a great result with less work, then I’m all for that too.)

5. Add in the water and lemon juice mixture, holding a little back just in case you don’t need it all. Bring your pastry together gently to form a ball. You want to add just enough water to bring the pastry together. Too much water will not yield you a flakey dough.

6. When the dough comes together, wrap it in cling film and place it in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour. You can refrigerate it for up to 3 days or freeze it to use at a later day. (Note: Once you put the pastry in the fridge and it relaxes, it will get a little wetter, so factor that in)

7. To use your pastry: Follow the instructions required by the recipe you are making. Always bake in a HOT oven for the best results.