Rough Puff Pastry
With just four ingredients, this homemade puff pastry recipe creates tender, flaky, all-butter layers that outshine the store-bought stuff.
- Nutritional Analysis
- Per Serving
- Serving Size
- 1 of 10 servings
- Calories
- 280
- Total Fat
- 19 g
- Saturated Fat
- 12 g
- Carbohydrates
- 25 g
- Dietary Fiber
- 1 g
- Sugar
- 1 g
- Protein
- 3 g
- Cholesterol
- 49 mg
- Sodium
- 97 mg
Article by Alice K. Thompson
Buttery, melt-in-your-mouth puff pastry couldn’t be easier with Food Network Kitchen’s rough puff pastry recipe. Our shortcut method creates beautiful crispy layers with plenty of flakes in a fraction of the time it takes to make traditional puff— and with far less effort. All-butter flavor and zero additives means it beats store-bought hands down. Sweet or savory, it’s hard to believe pastry this easy can make every bake look and taste so impressive.
What is Rough Puff Pastry?
Sometimes called quick, blitz or cheater puff pastry, rough puff is a streamlined version of traditional puff pastry that’s light, flaky and deliciously buttery. In a classic puff pastry, a thick sheet of butter is encased in dough, then chilled, folded and rolled many times over the course of hours to create distinct layers. For rough puff, small chunks of butter are broken down and mixed with flour, salt and water to form a shaggy dough, then rolled and folded several times to distribute the butter throughout. Less handling and less resting time mean rough puff is ready in just a couple hours. Although it’s not as distinctly airy and layered as the classic, rough puff is a delicious and versatile dough for almost any sweet or savory use.
How to Make Rough Puff Pastry Like a Pro
Our recipe developers know puff pastry inside and out — they’ve folded, rolled and tested their way through countless batches. Here are their top tips for foolproof results.
Start with very cold butter. Keeping the butter cold ultimately leads to lighter, crispier pastry. Small (about 1/4-inch) cold cubes are easier to flatten with your fingers, which prevents the dough from warming.
Use sugar—even for savory recipes. A small amount of sugar helps the pastry brown in the oven. It doesn’t make the dough sweet, so it works for savory as well as sweet uses.
Mix with a fork first. Tossing in the water with a fork keeps the heat of your hands off the butter in the early stages of forming the dough. It also develops less gluten than aggressive stirring, and less gluten means more tender dough.
Handle the dough as little as possible. Overworking warms the butter and develops gluten, both of which reduce flakiness.
Don't skip the rests. Short chill times in the fridge are key to keeping the butter cold and gluten inactive. Longer refrigeration is fine if it suits your schedule during any step; just let the dough soften slightly on the counter or give it a few raps with a rolling pin if it’s too firm.
Chill the dough anytime the butter softens. If the butter ever seems to soften or the dough feels warm, pop it in the fridge for 10 minutes. (If you work quickly, you shouldn’t have to do this too often.)
Know your turns. Each folding step is known as a “turn” in puff pastry lingo. The first two in this recipe are “letter” turns consisting of three folds, like a business letter. As the dough progresses, you’ll make “book” turns consisting of four folds, like you were making a book jacket. Each turn works the butter pieces into layers throughout the dough, creating all the flaky layers in the finished pastry.
Square the edges as you roll. Use a bench scraper or the side of a ruler to keep the rectangle even so the layers stack evenly. This type of layering helps the dough rise evenly in the oven.
Know the yield. This rough puff pastry recipe creates 1 1/4 pounds, the equivalent of about two sheets of store‑bought puff pastry. If you want ready‑to‑use sheets, divide your rough puff before you freeze it.
How to Store Rough Puff Pastry
After the last turn, the puff pastry dough is ready to use after a 1-hour rest in the refrigerator. Alternatively, you can keep it well-wrapped in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.
You can also freeze this recipe for rough puff pastry for up to 2 months. Make sure the dough is snugly wrapped in plastic, then wrap it again in foil and label it. Thaw the dough in the fridge for 4 to 8 hours before using.
How to Use Rough Puff Pastry
You can use this rough puff pastry dough any way you would classic puff or store-bought puff: crispy appetizers, pie or galette pastry, impressive main courses, sweet pastries, showstopping desserts and more. Check out 50 Puff Pastry Treats for great puff pastry recipes covering everything from breakfasts to desserts.
Rough Puff Pastry
- Level: Easy
- Total: 2 hr 10 min (includes resting time)
- Active: 20 min
- Yield: about 1 1/4 pounds pastry (equivalent to about 2 sheets store-bought puff pastry)
-
- Nutritional Analysis
- Per Serving
- Serving Size
- 1 of 10 servings
- Calories
- 280
- Total Fat
- 19 g
- Saturated Fat
- 12 g
- Carbohydrates
- 25 g
- Dietary Fiber
- 1 g
- Sugar
- 1 g
- Protein
- 3 g
- Cholesterol
- 49 mg
- Sodium
- 97 mg
- Level: Easy
- Total: 2 hr 10 min (includes resting time)
- Active: 20 min
- Yield: about 1 1/4 pounds pastry (equivalent to about 2 sheets store-bought puff pastry)
-
- Nutritional Analysis
- Per Serving
- Serving Size
- 1 of 10 servings
- Calories
- 280
- Total Fat
- 19 g
- Saturated Fat
- 12 g
- Carbohydrates
- 25 g
- Dietary Fiber
- 1 g
- Sugar
- 1 g
- Protein
- 3 g
- Cholesterol
- 49 mg
- Sodium
- 97 mg
Ingredients
Directions
- Cut the butter into small cubes and add to a large bowl. Refrigerate while you gather the rest of your ingredients. Prepare 1/2 cup of ice water in a measuring cup.
- Add the flour, sugar and salt to the bowl with the butter and toss with your hands to coat the butter in flour. Working quickly, smash the butter pieces with your fingers to flatten them (use a motion similar to snapping your fingers). At this point the mixture should look like flour with large flakes of butter in it.
- Add about half of the ice water and toss with a fork to combine. Drizzle with the remaining water and toss again. Once all of the water has been incorporated, squeeze a handful of dough; it should hold together but still be slightly crumbly. If it’s too crumbly, add more water 1 to 2 teaspoons at a time until it just holds together. (At this point and beyond, it’s important not to overwork the dough or it will be tough.)
- Transfer the mixture to a lightly floured surface and knead a few times with your hands or a bench scraper. Transfer to a piece of plastic wrap and pat into 6-inch square; the edges of the square may be a bit crumbly, but it should mostly hold together. Wrap well with the plastic wrap and pound the dough a few times with a rolling pin to bring it together. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Unwrap the dough and, on a lightly floured surface, gently roll to a 12-by-7-inch rectangle (again the edges might be a little bit crumbly, but just pat them back together with a bench scraper or the sides of the rolling pin). Fold in the short sides of the dough to overlap one another, like you are folding a letter. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and roll and fold again in the same manner. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Unwrap the dough and roll, flouring only as needed, to a 16-by-6-inch rectangle. Fold the two short ends of the dough to meet in the middle, then fold in half – similar to the jacket cover of a book. Turn the dough 90 degrees and roll and fold the same way again. Wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. It’s now ready to use.
- You can use the pastry anywhere puff pastry is called for. Half of the dough is equivalent to 1 sheet of store-bought puff pastry. To bake: Roll half of the dough on a lightly floured surface to a rectangle that is 1/8 inch thick. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet (dock with a fork if applicable to your recipe) and bake at 400 degrees F until golden brown and completely crisp, 20 to 25 minutes.
