Name: Quickest Puff Pastry
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Ingredients: 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour , about 9 ounces (255 grams); 20 tablespoons unsalted butter , cold, cut into 1/2-inch dice (4 tablespoons kept separate); 1 teaspoon table salt; 6 tablespoons cold water , plus a tablespoon more, if necessary

Why This Recipe Works

We wondered if we could eliminate the repeated rolling and folding called for in the conventional puff pastry recipe, but still create multiple layers in our quick puff pastry dough recipe. We discovered we could do this by folding the dough and rolling it up jellyroll style in just seconds. Mixing the dough in a food processor also helped to speed things up. The dough puffed as well as any quick puff pastry we've ever made. Not only that, it definitely lived up to our hopes for saving time; the whole process—from measuring the flour to wrapping the dough and refrigerating—took only 15 minutes.

Before You Begin

This dough will keep in the freezer for at least three months. Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap, then seal in zipper lock bag. Thaw by placing in refrigerator overnight. We offer a number of suggestions for using puff pastry in the related recipes, which can also be found in the Illustrated How to Guide "Making Puff Pastries."

Instructions

Place flour in workbowl of food processor fitted with steel blade; add the 4 tablespoons butter; pulse until butter is absorbed, about 10 to 12 pulses of 1 second each

Add remaining butter; pulse once or twice to distribute. Dissolve salt in water and add to flour mixture; pulse 3 or 4 times, until dough just starts to form a rough ball (see illustration 1, below) - do not overprocess. If mixture remains very dry, add a teaspoon of water at a time and pulse again.

Turn dough onto floured work surface and shape into rough rectangle, then place on top of sheet of well-floured plastic wrap measuring at least 12-by-18 inches. Lightly flour top of dough and cover with another sheet of wrap. Press dough with rolling pin to flatten, then roll back and forth several times with rolling pin to make 12-by-18-inch rectangle of dough.

Peel away plastic wrap and invert dough onto floured work surface, long side facing you. Peel away second piece of wrap. Fold top third of dough down and bottom third up (illustration 2) to make 4-by-18-inch rectangle, then roll up dough from one end (illustration 3). Press dough into square, wrap in plastic and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.