I attempted the beloved French pastry classic, Palmiers, this week. I was in it to win it from the beginning, but alas, they just didn’t form the way they should have.
Palmiers?
Truth be told, I have been going back and forth on whether I should post my failures on this blog. You see, my 20th high school reunion is coming up in a few weeks. Stop calculating my age in your head… I am 38. Anyway, I share my blog posts on Facebook, so most of my old high school friends get to view my baking creations. Do you see where I am going with this? That means they’ll see my disastrous Palmiers, they won’t be able to stop thinking about it, and I will be the laughing stock of the whole school!
In an effort to stay true to the original intention of this blog, however, I have decided to keep working puff pastry until I have mastered it… or at least have been happy with the finished product. And I will blog about every single upset and victory along the way.
Here are a few little tid bits I have learned about Puff Pastry thus far:
1. The dough and the butter should be of the same consistency. If the dough is soft, the butter should be softened. If the dough is chilled the butter should be chilled.
2. A “turn” consists of rolling out chilled pastry to a 6″ by 12″ rectangle, and folding it like a letter.
3. After each turn, always refrigerate the dough. I have found an hour of chilling works well.
4. Begin each “turn” with the folded pastry dough placed like a book in front of you.
5. A minimum of six “turns” is required when working with puff pastry.
6. Six “turns” yields 729 layers of buttery, flaky goodness.
Below, I have posted the puff pastry recipe I used for these Palmiers. I intend to use the same recipe again, until I get it right. It was that yummy. Now, sit back and relax while I show you my Palmier Adventure through pictures. Enjoy!
It all began in my food processor. Here the flour, salt, iced-cold water, and a little butter are mixed together.
I then formed the dough into a ball.
I scored it…
Rolled it out into a rough rectangle…
Placed my flattened butter in the middle…
And I began to wrap it up.
I folded all the flaps over the butter.
And then I chilled it for an hour.
I rolled the chilled dough into a rough 6″x12″ rectangle.
Then I folded the dough like a very important business letter. Once again, I chilled it for an hour.
I began the next “turn” with the folded dough placed like a book (binding on the left).
After I completed the 6 “turns”, I rolled out the chilled dough to about 1/3″ thick, and 7″ wide.
I Sprinkled with sugar on both sides, and folded an inch in on each side until both sides meet in the middle.
Here is where I went wrong… I don’t think I rolled the dough thin enough, therefore, the dough was too thick to fold properly.
My cute little heart-like Palmiers …
Became sad little Palmier rainbows devoid of color and happiness. They still taste yummy, though!
- 1 cup (227 g) Unsalted Butter
- 1 1/2 cups (227g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp. (3.5 g) Salt
- 1 1/2 cup (118 g) Water, chilled
- 1 tsp. (5 g) Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed
- In a food processor, pulse together the 1 and 1/3 cups of the flour, salt, 2 tablespoons of the butter until it is a grainy mixture. Add the lemon juice and 6 tablespoons of the water. Pulse 5 times. If necessary, add some of the remaining water by droplets.
- Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and gently knead only until the dough holds together and looks fairly smooth. Cover the dough and allow it to rest for 20 minutes at room temperature or up to 24 hours well wrapped and refrigerated.
- Place the remaining 3 tablespoons of flour on a sheet of plastic wrap and place the reserved butter on top.
- Sprinkle a little of the flour on top of the butter and cover with the plastic wrap.
- Pound the butter lightly with a rolling pin to flatten and soften it, then knead the butter and flour together, using the plastic wrap and your knuckles to avoid touching the butter directly.
- Work quickly and, as soon as the flour is incorporated, shape it into a 4- to 41/2 inch square, no thicker than 3/4 inch. Use it at once, or keep it cool. The butter must not be colder than 60 degrees F. when rolled into the pastry, or it will break through the dough and not be evenly distributed.
- Roll out the dough on a well-floured surface to a 6-inch square.
- Place the butter square diagonally in the center of the dough square.
- Moisten the corners of the dough lightly with water, and wrap it securely, stretching the flaps gently to reach across the dough package.
- Refrigerate the dough/butter package for 30 minutes.
- Once the dough has been chilled, place it on a lightly floured surface and gently roll the dough into a 6" by 12" rectangle.
- Brush the extra flour off of it, and fold it into thirds as you would fold a business letter. This is the first "turn". Before each subsequent turn, position the dough so that the closed side is facing to your left. Chill the dough between turns. 1 hour has worked well for me.
- Refrigerated, up to 2 days; frozen, up to 1 year.
