Puff Pastry seems to panic people but it really shouldn't! I learnt at the WI Cookery School that real laminated puff pastry is actually incredibly easy, if just a little time intensive.
240gPlain Flour (All Purpose) - & extra for dusting
130gWater - yup - weigh it!
Instructions
Take 210g Salted Butter and cut it into slices. Place them to form a rough square on top of a piece of greaseproof paper. Cover with another piece of the paper.
Use a rolling pin to flatten the butter into a more even layer. You are looking to make a square about 20cm x 20cm. (Do note that these measurements will change if you have adjusted the recipe quantities).
To get a nice even square you will inevitably have to use a knife to take of some runaways bits of butter and squidge them back into any gaps.
Use the back of a long knife to press the edges back to the same thickness as the rest of the square.
Put the lovely and neat butter square into the fridge, still between the grease proof paper sheets.
Meanwhile, sieve 240g Plain Flour into a medium mixing bowl and add 30g Salted Butter cut into small pieces.
Rub the butter into the flour in exactly the same way you would when making scones or a crumble.
Add 130g Cold Water and mix to form a dough.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes until its a smooth and slightly elastic ball.
Pop the dough into the fridge for 5 minutes.
Take the dough back out of the fridge and roll the dough into a rectangle about 20cm by 30cm. (Just a little larger than a sheet of A4 (standard size printer) paper.)
Take the butter square out of the fridge, peel off one layer of the grease proof paper and lay it butter side down at one edge of the the dough rectangle. If all has gone well, the butter should be the same width and about 2/3 of the length of the dough.
Brush off any stray flour and fold the un-buttered dough third over the butter.
Then fold the whole thing in half. If you look at the end, you should now have layers of dough/butter/dough/butter/dough. This is called a 'normal turn' or 'half turn'.
Wrap the pastry in cling film and pop the dough back in the fridge for 15 minutes or the freezer for 5 minutes.
Gently roll the dough back out to its original size then fold again into thirds. Re-roll and re-fold again. You have now completed 3 folds.
Pop the dough back in the fridge for 15 minutes or the freezer for 5 minutes.
Repeat the rolling, folding and refrigerating twice more. You will end up having folded the dough 7 times in total.
Chill the dough for the final time before it is ready to use for whatever recipe you please.