This is a second type of flaky pastry that I'm making after Danish party made last November.

A fun fact: in Polish it's called "French pastry". And Danish pastry is called "half-French pastry".
I'm not sure why, it possible matches our long-living tradition of naming food with names of other countries to make it sound more attractive despite the fact that those countries have never heard of it.

Puff pastry has layers and gets puffy when baked - as simple as that. Layers are made by repetitive folding of a dough that has a layer of butter inside. Experts bring the dough to a temperature in which its as hard as the butter and makes the butter spread out evenly. One starts with three layers (a triple fold), then 9, 27, 81 etc. It's key to wait for the dough to chill and to prevent it from getting too warm. Some people even cool the work surface with ice to extend the dough's time at an optimal temperature.

You may recall my take at Danish pastry for the St Martin croissants. Jest jedna zasadnicza różnica między there is one fundamental difference between that and puff pastry: yeast. You don't have to proof puff pastry, as opposed to Danish pastry - proofing exposes the layers much more.

I took the recipe from BBC Good Food.

Planning

It's worth saying that puff pastry isn't particularly time-consuming. It requires two-three hours most of which is waiting.
A fridge is a must - I make sure there is a free shelf for the flattened dough sheet. A rolling pin is also needed.
I used a mixer with a bread hook to knead the dough. It's quite beneficial as the hands heat the dough more than a robot.
You will also use some baking parchment and a cling film.

Ingredients

• 250 g strong flour (plus some for dusting)
• 150 ml cold water (this will save you time for dough chilling)
• a pinch of salt (about 5 g, a pinch is precise enough)
• 225 g cold but (I had a 250 g block and took it all; I think a 200 g block will also be OK) - it's important: the butter must be used straight out of a fridge

Preparation

1. First mix flour and salt together
2. As the mixer is running, gradually add 150 ml cold water till you get a uniform dough
3. Flatten the dough a bit, wrap it in cling film and put into a fridge for about 20 minutes
4. While it's chilling, take the butter out of the fridge, put it in between two sheets of baking parchment and beat it flat with a rolling pin (beat it, don't roll). Next split in half, stack up and beat again. You should get a roughly postcard shaped butter sheet
5. Roll the dough to an oval of approximately 25 cm in diameter, put the butter in the middle, fold the outstanding dough and seal it
6. Roll/beat the dough a little to form a stretched rectangle, roughly 20x40 cm, then mark three equal parts, fold the dough , make sure the corners are stuck together, rotate by 90 degrees. When rolling I put a loot of flour underneath so that the dough wouldn't stick, but then when folding I brushed it off the sides going inside
   
7. Repeat the previous step
8. Chill the dough in a fridge for 20 minutes
9. Repeat steps 6-8 twice
10. Before using, the dough needs to rest for at least an hour

I've read somewhere that puff pastry should be rolled to 2-3 mm thickness before using, mine was 5 mm and worked well. The flavor is incredible, much better than one of store-bought products which usually contain ingredients that shouldn't be there like margarine instead of butter, sugar, baking powder, sugar syrups, colouring and other stuff.

What can be made with puff pastry? Bread - not so much, but there are a couple options. I took some mascarpone cheese, strawberries and a pinch of sugar, folded them envelope-like and baked on 190 C degrees until they got golden-brown. You could also make:

• sausage rolls
• pate buns
• tartettes
• simple biscuits with sugar
• some swirls
• pasteis de natas
  ...and many many more.

I know I didn't get a perfect flakiness, but it's not that much of an issue, the biscuits were awesome anyway.

Enjoy!