Perfect puff pastry, so much better than store bought. The quality of puff pastry which is available in stores is quite variable. Some is made using just hydrogenated oils as the fat content which is required to make the layers. Others do include some butter, in varying amounts, mixed with hydrogenated oil. Others are what […]
I wanted to make some brioche, as it is one of my favourite breads. So I checked out a few options and decided that a laminated version, using the brioche dough to make a sort of puff pastry would be a good challenge. Usually brioche has quite a lot of butter in the dough, but […]
When I recently made a Pesto Tear & Share Christmas Tree from puff pastry I mentioned that you could do the same with a sweet filling such as Nutella, or Cinnamon Sugaar. So today I decided to do that, except instead of making a Christmas Tree shape as I had already shown how to do […]
Pithivier is a French pastry, most often a sweet dessert. But it can also be made as a savoury dish, as in this instance. It is a puff pastry pie, basically, filled with whatever you wish. For my beef steak version I used beef skirt, though any cut of beef that you wish to use […]
I recently tasted my first Portuguese Custard Tart and it was simply wonderful. Now we do have custard tarts in England, usually made with shortcrust pastry. But these Portuguese ones, with puff pastry, are very different. Baked until the top is bubbling and with brown patches on the top, formed as the custard bakes, they […]
I decided to make two different sized Blueberry Hand Pies, using ready rolled puff pastry, as opposed to making my own which is what I usually do. Since the filling was to be some wild blueberry conserve added to frozen blueberries the use of ready rolled puff pastry makes these a very quick and […]
I have been wanting to make some Danish Pastries for quite a while, but I have put it off as the process is quite time consuming. However today I finally bit the bullet and made some. The lovely puff pastry that is so redolent of Danish pastries, in various shapes and filled with any number […]
On my way home from Prague I was at Ruzyne airport when I saw some Palmiers for sale. They were very large and looked scrumptious. So I bought one and just loved it. Crispy, crunchy and nice and sweet too. So I decided I would try to make some. They are also known as Elephants’s […]
After the success of my puff pastry for the Pithiviers I decided to make some more, and this time to use it to make Mille Feuille, known in the USA as Napoleon Pastry. Traditionally the layers of crispy puff pastry are filled with creme patissier. However since some of the ‘tasters’ are not so keen […]
Yesterday I decided to make Pithiviers, This involves a two day process as the dough needs to rest in the fridge overnight, before rolling and turning. I used the recipe from Le Cordon Bleu cook book again, though I actually also checked another recipe for making the puff pastry, which had some very good pictures […]