Puff pastry with no puff lol

[Stephen Booth]

Hi,I tried making puff pastry sausage rolls tonight I’ve never made puff pastry before so I googled it .2cups of flour (strong bread flour) 1 and a bit cups of grated lard,pinch of salt and half a cup of water. I kneeled it into a smooth pastry,rolled it out made the sausage rolls then put them in the freezer for 10 mins. I pre heated the oven at gas mark 6 put diagonal slits in the top of them so the moisture could escape from the meat,brushed on egg yolk and water mixed and baked them for 15 mins..ish,although they are edible there’s no puff going on any help gratefully recieved. Thanks.

 

[Baking Bad]

Hi,I tried making puff pastry sausage rolls tonight I’ve never made puff pastry before so I googled it .2cups of flour (strong bread flour) 1 and a bit cups of grated lard,pinch of salt and half a cup of water. I kneeled it into a smooth pastry,rolled it out made the sausage rolls then put them in the freezer for 10 mins. I pre heated the oven at gas mark 6 put diagonal slits in the top of them so the moisture could escape from the meat,brushed on egg yolk and water mixed and baked them for 15 mins..ish,although they are edible there’s no puff going on any help gratefully recieved. Thanks.

My goodness! Where on earth did you get that recipe for Puff Pastry?!?!

Firstly, lard – if used at all – should represent a small proportion of the fat which should, predominantly, be good quality (normandy-type) BUTTER;

then: you make no mention of the notorious “turns”, of which there should be at least Five, preferably Six.

If you want to see some really good explanations of the technique required, may I draw your attention to three videos made by “Retired Baker”, which can be found in a thread called “Sponge Biscuits Misbehave” on the “Deserts” Forum. He has posted three excellent demonstrations, respectively, on 3rd December 2022 – 6th December 2022 – 9th January 2023.

Admittedly, Retired Baker being a past master, is rather virtuosic and his nonchalance, encouraging though it is, can be a bit misleading; to ALL accounts and from personal experience, puff can be very tricky and should not be attempted in warm to hot conditions.

Hoping this helps – good luck – and looking forward to your results!

 

[retired baker]

Hi,I tried making puff pastry sausage rolls tonight I’ve never made puff pastry before so I googled it .2cups of flour (strong bread flour) 1 and a bit cups of grated lard,pinch of salt and half a cup of water. I kneeled it into a smooth pastry,rolled it out made the sausage rolls then put them in the freezer for 10 mins. I pre heated the oven at gas mark 6 put diagonal slits in the top of them so the moisture could escape from the meat,brushed on egg yolk and water mixed and baked them for 15 mins..ish,although they are edible there’s no puff going on any help gratefully recieved. Thanks.

No good...that dough is for pigs in a blanket.... American style.

Sausage roll, the traditional British version is puff dough rolled around sausage meat, best if you blend in a panade (bread and milk or bread/water paste)....to prevent the fat from flowing out.

The easy way is buy puff dough and cumberland sausages, slit to skin to extract the meat and use as is, maybe add finely shopped onion. Cumberland bangers already contain the panade.

This aussie woman knows how its done.

 

[Mona]

It sounds like you put in a lot of effort, but puff pastry can be tricky! The key to getting that nice "puff" is in the lamination process, which creates those flaky layers. When making puff pastry, you want to roll out the dough, fold it over, and then roll it out again several times, chilling it in between folds. This creates the layers of fat and dough that puff up in the oven. It might also help to use cold butter instead of lard, as the steam from the butter melting is what causes the pastry to rise. Don’t be discouraged puff pastry takes practice, and you’ll get the hang of it!