The Chinese Puff Pastry Recipe is the easiest puff pastry recipe you’ll ever find. It requires no resting and can be used immediately after it’s made. Although this dough is usually fried, so that it puffs up to reveal beautiful layers of flaky pastry, it is also delicious when baked, crisp on the outside with tender layers in between. Use the pastry the same day it is made, or it will dry out. It can be made quickly, especially once you get the hang of the technique.
Makes 32 small pastry rounds
Ingredients:
2 cups (101⁄8 ounces/288 grams) cake or all-purpose flour
3⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (5 ounces/140 grams) canola, vegetable, or other neutral oil
1 tablespoon sugar
Method:
1. Put 2⁄3 cup of the flour and 1⁄4 teaspoon of the salt in a mixing bowl and combine with your hands. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil and mix well with your hands. Continue adding oil 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough holds together and forms a ball when you squeeze it; you should need about 1⁄4 cup. Roll the dough into a 16-inch-long log. Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside.
2. Put the sugar, the remaining 11⁄3 cups flour, and the remaining 1⁄2 teaspoon salt in a mixing bowl and combine with your hands. Add the remaining oil and mix well with your hands. Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough holds together and forms a ball when you squeeze it; you should need about 3 tablespoons total. Roll the dough into a thick 16-inch-long log.
3. Cut both logs into 1-inch pieces, so that you have 16 smaller pieces and 16 larger pieces. Roll a larger piece into a ball and flatten it into a 1⁄4-inch-thick 3-inch disk. Put a smaller piece of dough in the center of the disk, fold the disk over to make a half-moon, and seal the edges tightly.
4. Flatten the half-moon until it is 1⁄4 inch thick, then roll out into a 1⁄8-inch-thick 4 × 8-inch rectangle. Starting from a short end, roll up the rectangle as you would a jelly roll, squeezing the dough firmly with each turn and then sealing the seam; you should end up with a 4-inch-long log. Cut the log in half into 2 cylinders.
5. Turn one cylinder cut side up and flatten it into a 1⁄2-inch-thick disk, then roll it into a 1⁄4-inchthick 3-inch round. Repeat with the remaining dough, keeping the completed rounds covered with plastic wrap.
6. Use immediately in Peanut Turnovers or Passion Fruit Dahn Taht.
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| Chinese Puff Pastry Recipe |
