Can You Make Puff Pastry Appetizers Ahead Time
With its decadent layers of butter, light and airy skilful looks, and endless versatility, puff pastry is something every home chef should learn how to utilise. Making it from scratch, still, is intimidating—with all the folding and rolling of dough, not to mention the serious fourth dimension commitment required, homemade puff pastry makes very few appearances exterior restaurants and banquet halls.
The good news is that frozen puff pastry delivers all the specialness of puff pastry without all the hours and elbow grease. This freezer-aisle favorite tin be dressed upwards in myriad sweet and savory means to create quick and easy hors d'oeuvres, master courses, and desserts. And there's admittedly no shame in using frozen puff pastry: many cooks always keep a package on hand to make palmiers, cheese straws, turnovers, pot pies, pizzas, and tarts. And frozen puff pastry is particularly great for dwelling entertaining, as well-nigh recipes tin be assembled alee and baked merely earlier the political party starts.
If you're new to frozen puff pastry or looking for artistic ways to cook and broil with information technology, read on for shopping and prep tips, plus our best recipes for this supermarket staple.
eight Puff Pastry Tips
one. Be a Savvy Shopper
Looking for the best puff pastry brand? In that location are three principal choices: Dufour Archetype Puff Pastry, Trader Joe's All Butter Puff Pastry, and Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets. The first two are made from all butter, and Pepperidge Farm's version contains vegetable shortening. Some cooks prefer the flavor of all-butter pastry, and think the shortening leaves an unpleasant aftertaste. We find that both options taste best hot out of the oven, but all-butter versions go along their fresh flavour longer than those with shortening.
Packages vary in weight, but most are in the 1-pound range and contain either one or 2 sheets of pastry. Your recipe will signal how much to utilize, but a general dominion of thumb is that ane sheet will make a sweet or savory tart to serve four to six, or about eight to ten hors d'oeuvre servings. If your box comes with one large sheet and your recipe calls for a single canvas, just halve the large sheet crosswise and curlicue it out to the desired thickness; wrap tightly and freeze any leftovers to use later.
When shopping, brand certain you buy puff pastry and not phyllo dough, which may exist in the aforementioned freezer case and in similar packaging. The phyllo will probable work in some puff pastry recipes, but instead of one thick sheet of pastry, it consists of many very thin, frail pieces, so it's more fragile and won't hold its shape nearly as well.
2. Prep Your Pastry
Near frozen puff pastry comes in folded sheets. Let the pastry thaw completely, either overnight in the refrigerator or for 45 minutes at room temperature, before using it. Unfold the pastry gently, and if you lot come across any tears or holes, use your fingers—and a little water if necessary—to gently squeeze the pastry back together.
To prevent sticking, gyre puff pastry out on a lightly floured surface, using a lightly floured rolling pin. Afterward, gently castor off whatever backlog flour. If you're making a sweet recipe, you tin use sugar or cinnamon sugar in lieu of flour, and for recipes made with cheese, you lot can use finely grated cheese.
Be careful not to curlicue puff pastry too thin, especially if making any kind of pizza or tart—the pastry needs to exist sturdy enough to support the toppings and stay crisp.
Puff pastry + cheese = appetizers that won't last very long!
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell3. Keep Absurd
Puff pastry is easiest to work with when it'due south common cold, and then stow any yous're non using in the refrigerator, and if the pastry gets too soft while you're rolling or cutting it, only return it to the fridge or freezer to firm it up. If you're trying to create a specific shape, keep the pastry as common cold as possible and it volition be easier to brand precise cuts. Use a sharp knife, a pizza wheel, a pastry cutter, or simple cookie cutters, and if you're after actually straight lines, pull out a ruler or use a straight-edged baking sheet equally a guide.
4. Customize Your Puff
If y'all're blind-baking a pie or tart vanquish and want to keep the inside from ascension equally much equally the edges, utilise a fork to prick the surface of the dough (like you would a regular pie crust). The pastry will even so exist light and flaky—it just won't have as many layers. If y'all need straight, even sheets of puff pastry for making a napoleon, broil the puff pastry betwixt two blistering sheets then it bakes into completely flat pieces.
v. Finesse Your Fillings
Puff pastry is fragile, so be careful not to counterbalance it down with excessive toppings or ingredients that could release a lot of liquid and make the pastry soggy. Exist particularly cautious with mucilaginous fillings or ones that could overflow and make a mess of your baking sheets. And no thing what you're baking, line your blistering sheets with parchment or a silicone baking mat, such every bit a Silpat, to prevent sticking.
6. Get in Shine
Just before baking, brush your puff pastry with an egg coat (one big egg lightly browbeaten with almost ane teaspoon water) to give it an attractive sheen. An egg glaze can besides be used like an edible glue to seal the pastry edges for turnovers, empanadas, or whatever blimp pocket-style pastry; merely brush a sparse layer forth the edges and printing them together gently.
7. Broil Now or After
Puff pastry is at its best fresh out of the oven, so if possible, broil information technology in small batches and serve immediately. If you lot like to entertain, note that most recipes can be assembled and kept in the fridge for a couple of hours then baked simply before the party. Some recipes can even be prepped but not baked, wrapped well, and frozen for a week or 2. (Check your recipe for specific baking and defrosting instructions.) If you desire to avoid terminal-infinitesimal prep and don't mind sacrificing some of puff pastry'due south signature lightness, bake your puff pastry and then cool it completely and keep it in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple of hours. And if your pastry gets too soggy, simply popular information technology into the oven briefly to bring information technology dorsum to life.
8. Save Your Scraps
If yous have any pieces of puff pastry left over, combine them and ringlet them out to make palmiers or cheese straws. Leftover pastry won't puff upwardly quite as much and it may exist a petty uneven, but that'south less important with smaller shapes.
Our Favorite Puff Pastry Recipes
- Chocolate Raspberry Turnovers
- Spiced Cheese Straws
- Apple tree "Pizza"
- Guava and Cream Cheese Pastry
- Alsatian Cheese Tart
- Miniature Camembert Walnut Pastries
- Raspberry Crème Fraîche Puff
- Asparagus Parmesan Pastry Rolls
- Sweet Palmiers
- Spinach Puffs
- Baked Pears on Sugared Puff Pastry with Caramel Sauce
- Butternut Squash Tart with Fried Sage
Source: https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/how-to-use-puff-pastry-tips-recipes-article
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