Light and airy, mouth-watering and satisfying - puff pastries are different. Despite the various cooking options, novice cooks can cope with this dish.
Pick your recipe
Which dough to choose
Puff pastry for making pies can also be purchased ready-made, trusting the manufacturer and saving time. However, in such cases, the result does not always meet expectations, so the dough is best done independently, taking into account all individual preferences and choosing the highest quality products. In this case, you can make a margin for freezing and, if necessary, in the future, quickly bake delicious cakes with minimal costs. You can also store semi-finished products of your own execution in the freezer, then the dish can be prepared in a matter of minutes.
Depending on the form and filling, yeast or yeast-free puff pastry is used. For sweet cakes, for example, with cottage cheese, apples or jam, the first option is better - products from this dough will turn out to be lush and soft at the same time. But their layers are not too pronounced.
Those who carefully calculate calories, it is better to opt for a yeast test. The fact is that less butter or fats replacing it is put in it, because it rises in the oven thanks to yeast and a special formation formation technology.
Dough without yeast is recommended for baking tongues and other products without filling, often croissants are prepared from it, etc. However, experimentally, you can find the perfect option in which your favorite filling will be best combined with one or another test.
How to cook puff pastry at home
The basis for puff pastry is flour and butter. Many housewives prefer to cook puff pastries “from scratch” so as not to miss margarine and other butter substitutes on their table. On the shelves of stores now various types of semi-finished products are widely represented, but very rarely, they really include butter. Manufacturers of frozen dough often use them to reduce the cost of the product, so the price is often so tempting.
Recipe:
- wheat flour - 0.5 kg;
- butter - 100 g;
- water - 200-250 ml;
- salt - 1 teaspoon;
- chicken egg - 1 pc.
Before kneading the dough, you need to get the butter from the refrigerator so that it has time to soften a little and become room temperature. Having mixed the flour with water and the egg, adding a little salt, it is necessary to achieve the consistency of dumpling dough. Having received a volume ball, it must be left for some time, covered with a napkin or a kitchen towel. Having rolled out the rested dough, the butter cut into pieces (the size of a tablespoon) is laid out in the middle.
Having distributed soft oil on the surface of the dough, it is necessary to form a kind of “envelope”, wrapping the sides, lower and upper sides of the formation towards the center. The oil as a result is hidden inside, there it should remain in the process of further rolling out the dough.
Carefully smoothing the upper layer with your hands, the resulting dough is folded in half and neatly rolled out. Then all the manipulations are repeated again and again. The more time and effort is spent on this process, the more delicious and effective the pies will turn out. When baking, they will clearly distinguish the numerous layers, and the oil that has soaked them will make the pies melt in your mouth.
After some time, the resulting lump of dough should be put in the refrigerator for a quarter of an hour. After the oil “grasps”, the dough again begins to roll out, periodically folding it with an envelope to form layers. In principle, it is permissible to simply fold the formation in half and knead again well. It is important to ensure that softened oil does not start to leak.
When rolling out the yeast dough, you should be very careful, because it is very soft and delicate. If you overdo it with pressure and the oil is too hard, the formation may break. Conversely, an excessively soft oil or margarine will be difficult to hold inside the formation - it can easily leak out. Baking from such a dough requires more skill, inexperienced chefs should first try their hand at products from unleavened dough.
Having finished work with the dough, you need to return it to the refrigerator again and focus on the filling. After that. how the pies will be formed, some put them on the cold again for a while - it is believed that the products will turn out to be airier and the oil will better permeate the layers. However, in this case, the baking time may increase slightly.
Baking and frying
Products from puff pastry, given their structure, are baked quite quickly. Therefore, the filling, especially if it includes meat, chicken, fish and eggs, must be subjected to heat treatment in advance. As a result, in the oven or in the pan, the contents of the pies only "reach" the desired state.
At a temperature of 190 degrees, a quarter of an hour is enough for pies. Of course, the filling and size of the product are important, as well as individual preferences - someone likes rosy cakes, well-fried. Others try to get pastries early, without waiting for too dark shades of dough, as soon as the pies rise and become a pleasant golden color. The aroma, which begins to spread from the oven, also informs about the readiness of the dish - which means that very soon the dish can be served on the table.
Shortly before the end of time, the top of the products can be greased with egg white, then their crust will be appetizingly browned. Before serving, some grease the pastries with melted butter (a goose feather or a special brush is suitable for this). As a result, the pies will have a pleasant shine and will become even more fragrant.
Suitable for making puff pastries and a frying pan. The dish can be fried in butter or vegetable oil (depending on the filling), turning over alternately when ready. In this way, the product should be laid out on a napkin or paper towel before serving to remove excess fat. Only then the pies are transferred to the plate.
When deep-fried, the pies are very airy and even more crispy, but their caloric value also increases.
What are the fillings
Many recipes for puff pastries can be divided into two large groups - sweet and savory. which may include:
- meat (sliced or minced);
- chicken and its offal (chicken liver);
- sausages (sausage, ham, sausages);
- fish (fresh or canned);
- cheese and cottage cheese;
- vegetables (cabbage, potatoes, etc.).
The above products can be successfully combined, searching for new tastes and culinary experiences. For example, a sausage familiar to many from school years in a dough has acquired a new look - now it is called “student's.” Besides meat filling, mashed potatoes and sometimes even cheese are hidden in such a layer. The dish turns out to be very high-calorie and can really please those who, due to their studies, live in a busy schedule.
Cabbage is well combined with forcemeat and meat products. Chicken can be combined with mushrooms or potatoes, and fish with rice and onions. There are many options, and many of them are quite simple to prepare and quite economical to prepare.
Many housewives often cook puff pastry or fish pies. Fresh fish for this must be processed in advance, while products with canned fish are extremely simple to implement. Indeed, you just need to open the jar and mix its contents (with the exception of the liquid) with boiled rice and spices.
To diversify the home table and at the same time solve the problem with the remnants of lunch or breakfast, the so-called closed pizza will help. For its filling, you can use vegetables, meat products, and of course a piece of cheese lying around in the refrigerator, which has already dried out a little and is not suitable for a sandwich.
Suitable for the filling and chicken liver, which must first be lightly stewed or fried. To taste - add finely chopped onions and carrots, spices at this time. The consistency of the filling can be different - from small pieces to a paste-like texture. You can mix the liver with a small amount of rice cooked until half cooked or boiled potatoes with spices and fresh herbs (dill, parsley, etc.)
In recent years, samsa is gaining more and more popularity. At home, this dish, which originated in the countries of Central Asia, can be cooked as you like, and without doubting the quality of the products. The shape and filling of samsa are quite diverse and have many variations. The main thing is only puff pastry and meat filling. For such baking, both finely chopped meat and minced meat, which are pre-fried with onions and spices, are suitable. Some recipes also have potatoes. Boiled until half-cooked, it combines with the meat mixture and becomes a hearty filling for the lungs in the preparation of puff pastries.
Vegetable and fruit fillings
Puff pastries are a great way to diversify your table during the fall harvest. Cut apples into thin slices, carrot and pumpkin puree, zucchini with sugar and zest of lemon or orange, potatoes with aromatic fresh herbs, cabbage, cooked in various ways and with different additives - these are just a small part of the many options that can be easily done during this period whip up.
Finely chopped (preferably chopped) cabbage is allowed on a small amount of vegetable or butter. After it decreases in volume, add eggs or an egg-milk mixture, immediately intensively mixing. You can add fresh herbs and spices to your taste. When preparing the filling, you should not forget that it will still “reach” when baking, so you do not need to stew it for too long so that the vegetable texture is not lost.
Gentle and healthy is the filling of carrots. The medium-sized root vegetables need to be cleaned and boiled, and then mashed. Some people like to add finely chopped boiled egg, but without it it turns out very tasty. Serve these pies is hot, with butter.
You can especially highlight unsweetened pastries with cottage cheese. For such puff pastries, the filling is prepared with fresh herbs and spices, cheese is also suitable as an addition.
Creative pastries from puff pastry
Recently, open cakes with various slices (ham, bacon, cheese), which are laid out in a different order on the dough sheet, are becoming more and more popular. Then it folds and cuts. When baking, the filling melts, connecting and fixing the layers, and the products are obtained in the most bizarre form.
You can cook them in batches - cut the dough into squares or rectangles, lay on top a slice, for example, cooked sausage. Having rolled it into a cylinder and placing it into a mold, after fifteen to twenty minutes you can expect something similar to an edible rose. There are simply no boundaries for imagination in this business, so such creative pastries can be an excellent option for spending time together with children. At the same time, little culinary specialists will not only gain valuable skills, but also try to realize bold ideas.
Sweet puff pastry cakes
Among the fillers for such products can be identified:
- fresh fruits and berries (apples, pears, apricots, cherries, raspberries, strawberries, etc.);
- preserves, jams, jams and jams;
- cottage cheese with various additives (vanilla sugar, sour cream);
- dried fruits, whole or crushed (dried apricots, prunes, raisins - together and separately, as well as with the addition of nuts).
If the filling is too liquid and there is a risk of leakage in the oven, you can use a little starch to thicken it. Jam or jam will become denser when baking, if you add a small amount of natural thickener - finely grated apple. This will not particularly affect the taste, and the filling will eventually become denser and hold inside the product.
Slices of apples can be slightly sprinkled with lemon juice, then they will not darken during baking. For products with such a filling, cinnamon is also excellent, the taste of which goes well with an apple.