Caramelized Puff Pastry

(перейти на русскоязычный блог)

Since my childhood I've been in love with the puff pastry! And particularly with the cake 'Napoleon' (a puff pastry cake with vanilla butter-creme). This cake is very difficult to bake as the pastry should be crispy, puffy, full of air and not buttery. It very much looks and tastes like a French 'Mille Feuille' (thousands of sheets): each of thousands 'feuille' is very thin and light, very crispy and delicate... And the creme should not be too heavy to make the combination work perfectly.

After several weeks of improving my skills with choux I found that it is time to move forward and switch to the puff pastry. My wish was to find the favorite recipe for the caramelized version and here is what I have achieved:

The best ever inverse puff pastry recipe by Pierre Herme ("Pâte feuilletée inversée") was taken and it worked for me perfectly. My aim was also to achieve the deep caramel color and the thin caramelized layer on top. I do not know how the professionals do that, so probably I've invented the wheel once again...

Anyway, below are the steps you need to follow in order to get the same result!

(This Recipe in Evernote)

First we need to make the inverse puff pastry by Pierre Herme! 

It's called inverse as you need to use the butter on the outside...

For the Butter Block:

375g Unsalted butter

150g Flour

Mix the flour and the butter until it forms a smooth dough, and make a 'brick' (20cm*20cm). Wrap in plastic. Refrigarate for 2 hours.

For the Flour Block:

350g Flour

15g Salt

110g Unsalted butter, melted and cool

150g Water

½ tsp White vinegar

Flour for dusting the work surface

Mix all the ingredients and form another 'brick' which is smaller than the previous (18cm*18cm), wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1,5 hours.

Rolling the dough

1) Take both of the blocks out of the fridge. Roll the Butter Brick to the size that's large enough to fully cover the Flour Block (almost twice as big as it was).  Place the Flour Brick in the center of the rolled butter disk and fold, sealing it fully (you should get a square ca 20*20). Refrigerate for 1 hour.

2) Start flattening the square by banging all over its surface with your rolling pin (this is a good way to make it easier to roll). Use the rolling pin and roll gently to form a rectangle three times as long as it is wide. Fold the bottom and top short ends of the dough towards the center of the rectangle. Fold it once again in halves (so it should be 4 folds in a shape of square). Wrap in plastic and put in a fridge for 1 hour. 

3) Repeat the previous step twice. 

4) Roll a rectangular again but this time fold it into thirds like a letter (or brochure). 

You may store the dough, wrapped well in plastic and keep in freezer.

Baking

One hour before baking take the dough out of the freezer and let it stay for 15 minutes. Then roll it to 2-3 mm thickness, cut the edges using a very sharp knife (this will prevent the sheets from glueing with each other at the edges) and let the dough set in a fridge for 40 minutes. 

Bake at 200C in preheated oven (use convection if possible) until the pastry is almost ready (ca 15 mins).

For caramelization you need to sift powdered sugar on top and put the prebaked pastry under the grill: the sugar will melt and the smooth and shiny caramel layer will form. Take out the pastry, carefully turn it up side down and repeat the caramelization with powdered sugar sifted on top of the other side.

Let the pastry cool on the rack before using.