Homemade Puff Pastry Sheets from Scratch & Tuna Puffs with Home made pastry sheets !!

Puff pastry sheets are nothing but layers of flour separated by layers of butter and when it is placed in the oven, the butter creates the steam and puffs up the layers. Did you know a perfect made puff pastry sheet had 729 layers?? Though puff pastry sheets are easily available here in stores, yet I wished to try these to keep this as a keeper esp when we get back to India and to identify the amount of ingredients & efforts being put in it while making these sheets. And I must say am now addicted to these homemade puff pastry sheets. They were real buttery, flaky and delicious than the store ones.

This is my second attempt in preparing these sheets. In my first attempt, I forgot to click the step wise snaps and so this time could click some. The only thing I would like to tell is you need to have a lot of patience to roll and wait for the next fold. You may find the word 'fold' and 'turn' frequently used in making these sheets.' Fold' refers to folding the dough in third like a letter, and 'turn' refers to turning the dough so that it face you like a book (see pictures to understand better). Please do read the points to remember before you start making the sheets. The recipe is bookmarked from Naughty Curry, Thanx Deepa for the recipe so well explained that it was very easy to follow. Do check this out and enjoy baking them:-)

INGREDIENTS
FOR PREPARING PUFF PASTRY SHEETS
all purpose flour 2 cups(250gms)
unsalted butter 25 gms,2 tbsp (chilled and cut in cubes)
vinegar /lemon juice 1 tsp
salt 1/2 tsp
water(ice cold water ) 3/4 cup

to place in b/w layers
unsalted butter 2sticks (226gm) ,1 cup

FOR PREPARING TUNA PUFFS
puff pastry sheets 8 pieces
beaten egg white 1(for glaze)
tuna packet 180gm
onion 1 fine chopped
ginger-garlic paste 1tsp
tomato 1 small chopped
cilantro 3-4 sprigs
coriander powder 1  tsp
chilly powder 3/4 tsp
garam masala 1/2 tsp
pepper powder 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
salt

METHOD-
FOR PREPARING PUFF PASTRY SHEETS
-Sift the flours and salt together.
-Add the chilled,cubed pieces of butter in it.Gently rub the butter along with flour to get a coarse mixture or grainy with your hand or food processor.
-Add vinegar and ice cold water.Knead into a smooth pliable dough.Refrigerate immediately by wrapping in a cling wrap until next use.

Mixing the butter with flour & Whacking the other 2 sticks of butter

-Put the other unsalted butter(cold) mentioned in the list in between two layers of cling wrap or Ziploc bags and whack using the rolling pin into a mashed form or shape it in the form of a rectangle 5"* 8"(approx)
-Flour a rolling surface(refer notes) and roll out the refrigerated cold dough into a rectangle of 8"*12". Roll out in such a way that each side has a protruding dog ear. Brush off the excess flour using pastry brush.
-Place the whacked butter slab in between the rolled dough and fold the four edges of the dough to cover the dough & seal it completely such that the butter should not be visible.
-Gently press and rock the rolling pin back & forth over the dough, slowly stretching the butter and the dough to form a rectangle. Rock in between to stretch the butter but make sure the butter doesn't seep out the dough. Brush off excess of any flour.

'Fold' like business letter as shown on left & then rolling out after the final fold)

-Fold in third like a business letter(as in pic), make sure to brush excess flour and this completes the first fold.
-Wrap it in a cling wrap and refrigerate for half an hour.
-Remove the dough from the refrigerator and turn to place in such a way that it faces you like a book. Lightly dust with flour and placing it facing you like a book, roll using a rolling pin and stretch again to form a rectangle with rocking and pressing motion. And then brush the excess flour and turn it by 90 degrees to face you like a book and fold in third like a business letter as shown before. This completes the 2nd fold.
-Refrigerate again half an hour and repeat the same step until you complete 6th fold -7th fold. I completed in 7th fold.
-After the final turn, roll it out into half inch thick rectangle. Either store as it is or cut in small pieces of 4" squares and separate each with parchment paper to prevent sticking. Freeze by wrapping in cling film until next use.

Servings ~ 15 pieces of 4" square pieces (2 sheets)

POINTS TO REMEMBER WHILE MAKING PUFF PASTRY SHEETS

* Butter should be kept cold at all times. If you feel butter is melting or oozing at any point of time when rolling, refrigerate immediately.

* Winters or an air-conditioned room works best to prepare the dough. Use only your fingertips to handle the dough, or minimal handling when folding and turning. Our body temperature too transfers into the dough and the butter melts. The best temperature of the dough prepared is 16 degrees C or 60degrees F.

* Use a cold surface to roll out the dough. I usually use the back of a large tray so that I can leave it on top f it each time after rolling. Refrigerate both the rolling pin and the tray for best results.*The dough must be refrigerated after every fold for a minimum of half an hour to allow gluten in the flour to link up and retain layering.

* The vinegar or lime juice is used to make the dough more elastic and pliable so that it doesn't break while rolling & folding. I used vinegar.

* Keep an account of number of folds and turns so that you don't miss the number.

* For ideal results when baking, refrigerate the filled puffs for 15 minutes before placing in the oven.

* The original recipe uses 1 1/2 tsp of salt, though in my first attempt I found it was quite high . This time I reduced to 1/2 tsp and that was correct.

FOR TUNA PUFFS-
 Prepare the filling 

• Rinse the tuna under running water and drain in a colander.(I used the packet one with less water in it)
• Heat oil in a pan and saute the onions till translucent.
• Saute the ginger -garlic paste till raw smell disppears.
• Add the chopped tomatoes and add the chopped cilantro.Cook till slightly mushy.
• Add in the spices and toss it well.Add in the drained tuna and add about 1/3 rd cup water.
• Cook covered for 10 minutes.Then uncover the lid and dry up the water content.
• Remove from flame and cool.

Preparing the puffs-

• Thaw the pastry sheet for about half an hour -40 minutes outside or refrigerate overnight.
• Take each piece and place about 2tsp of filling in it.Seal all the edges using a little water and press down with a fork to make a pattern.place on a tray with parchment paper.

• Pre heat oven to 400 degrees F or 200 degreees C.
• Apply the egg white using a brush on top of each sealed puffs.
• Place it in the oven and bake for 15 mins.
• Remove from oven,cool a bit.Serve warm with tea !!

Just to tempt you all,a last one :-)