Puffed-Up Confidence

The fact that I started baking was because I want to know what goes into the food that we are eating. I try to cook healthy meals for the kids. Even when I'm cooking instant noodles for them, I choose the kind with the 'Healthier Choice' label, and without added msg.

Van loves the croissant from Giant. They sell it in a pack of 5 at around $2+ or $3+ I can't remember, and we don't shop there often. I thought to myself, why don't I learn how to make puff pastry so that Van can have croissant any time she wishes?

In my previous post, I talked about my unsuccessful puff pastry adventure(s). Every unsuccessful attempt makes me that much wiser. With a little prayer to St Jude (patron saint for lost, desperate cases) and a lot of love and sincerity as additional secret ingredients, I was able to turn out some decent pastries on my 5th attempt.

You might ask, "Is it worth the effort when you can buy a pack of frozen pastry off the shelf?" My answer to you is, "Yes, it's worth every bit of time and effort spent." Especially so when my dad finished every single croissant I made specially for him, and even more so when your husband tells you "Is there a word better than superb to describe the breakfast?"

Let me now reveal my lessons learnt from this whole experience.

Lesson 1

I lifted the recipe off from this blog. I wonder if the brand of butter used makes any difference. I tried Anchor, Emborg and SCS butter. My latest attempt was made using SCS unsalted butter all because Emborg was out of stock. SCS butter doesn't come cheap. Anyway, I didn't use the 260g of butter called for in the recipe, I just used the whole block of whichever type of butter I bought. Also, instead of melting the butter for the Détrempe dough, I cut the butter into 1 inch cubes and rubbed it into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.

Lesson 2

If you have an air-conditioned kitchen, good on you, because making puff pastry in a 32˚C kitchen not only melts the butter in the dough super fast, it also melts your patience. The initial wrapping of dough over the butter is the stage where things get a little messy. Always remember to seal up the part where the dough folds over the butter. Once the butter seeps out, it'll get extremely messy. Look out for signs of butter melting. The most we can roll and fold in our Singapore temperature is twice. Place the dough in the freezer for about 15 mins and start process all over.

Lesson 3

There's no need to dust flour on table. Work your dough between 2 sheets of wax or greaseproof paper. It's easier to lift dough off and also makes cleaning up easier (esp when you don't have a domestic helper to clean up for you).

Lesson 4

I wonder if the number of times you roll and fold makes any difference. In my previous attempts, in my eagerness to achieve the flaky and layered effect, I guessed I roll and fold until I lost count. Perhaps the ideal would be between 4-6 roll and folds.

Lesson 5

As I have mentioned in my previous post, never scrunch up the dough as the layers created by the roll and fold would all have been lost.

Try this if you have the time. I'm really proud of myself. I'm sure you would too.