Lazy Bakers Puff Pastry

My husband and I have been eating 100% organic in all things. From grass fed beef, cage free eggs to heirloom tomatoes. It is pretty easy for the most part because we have a Jimbo's two blocks from our house. They are part of the non-gmo project and all ingredients are clearly marked on all of their products. So when my husband wanted Beef Wellington. I thought, no biggie, I will get some grass fed filet mignon and I am sure Jimbo's has some puff pastry. Wrong. No puff pastry. So I went and got some organic unbleached flour that Bob's red mill makes, and set out to be courageous and make my own. 

Thankfully I had just been sent a book called "Baking by hand". 

What if you could create those beautiful artisan loaves in the most traditional way possible: with just your own two hands?

Baking by Hand shows you how to do just that. Keep your mixer in the closet as Andy and Jackie King teach you long-forgotten methods that are the hallmarks of their exceptional bakery. They’ll take you through all of the steps of making amazing bread, from developing your own sourdough culture, to mixing by hand, traditional shaping techniques and straight on to the final bake. Most importantly, you’ll learn the Four-Fold technique—the key to making the kind of bread at home that will simply be top tier in any setting.

I was so pleased they had a quick way to make puff pastry. It turned out perfectly. I will be sharing with you the beef wellington recipe. For now, here is the recipe for the Lazy Bakers Puff Pastry. It really is almost effortless. No mixer required. 

Don't forget to check out the book Baking By Hand.

Lazy Bakers Puff Pastry

from Baking By Hand.

11 oz all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp fine sea salt

13 oz cold unsalted butter

6.5 oz cold sour cream

Let me start by saying measurements are very important when dealing with pastry. So get out that kitchen scale! 

Place the flour, baking powder and salt into a container that will easily fit in your freezer. Chill the mixture for 30 minutes or overnight. You can't chill it for too long, the colder the better.

Once flour mixture is chilled, cube your cold butter and place in a large bowl with the flour mixture. With your hands, rub the butter through the flour, until the butter is broken down but has the consistency of large peas. 

Add the sour cream and mix by hand until dough forms. Don't overwork the dough, you still want butter pieces in it, this is what makes the dough flaky.

Turn the dough out onto a floured counter and form into a rough rectangle. Roll the dough out until it becomes a larger rectangle. Sprinkle the rectangle with flour and fold over the ends, overlapping them to make a small rectangle again, and fold over the ends again. Roll out again, sprinkle again, and repeat 2 times. This is the four fold technique.

Roll out to a very large rectangle, Cover with saran wrap and keep in the fridge. You can freeze the dough and save for a later use. Keeping this in your freezer makes for easy meals at a later time.