Blitz Puff Pastry

When I learned that we were going to learn how to make puff pastry in my Fundamentals of Baking class, I was ecstatic. I had grown bored of the typical "cookies and cakes" lessons and was ready for the challenge of French pastries. It seemed like a very daunting challenge, but when we were given the formula (yes, you use formulas, not recipes, in baking!) and instructions, the initial mountain of uncertainty crumbled into a small pile of dust.

The following recipe is a quicker method of making puff pastry because nowadays, we want things quick, and we want things buttery and flaky. So the Blitz version (which means "lightning" in German) fits that bill quite nicely. And once you complete your puff pastry, the possibilities are endless! You can make palmiers, turnovers, Dutch Letters, etc.  

Blitz Puff Pastry
Ingredients (remember to weigh using your scale)
Bread Flour 8 oz
All Purpose Flour 8 oz
Butter, slightly softened 1-lb
Salt 0.25 oz
Cold water 8 oz (I put ice in a cup and fill it with water. Let it get cold and then pour the water into a container on your scale.)

Directions Preheat oven to 375F.
1) Whisk two flours and salt together into mixing bowl.
2) Cut butter into flours with knife, leave about 1-inch lumps.
3) Slowly add cold water to flour mixture until water is absorbed.
4) Let dough ball rest in fridge for 15 minutes.
5) Roll out dough 3 times doing four-folds or three-folds. Be sure to refridgerate dough for 15 minutes between each roll out.