Puff paste is used when pastry of great flakiness and lightness is desired, as in patty shells, tarts, fruit rolls, tea cakes, Florentine meringues, and the like.

Recipe For Puff Pastry

1 pound washed butter 1 1/2 pounds pastry flour 1 cup ice water

(1) Wash the butter until it is creamy and squeeze out all the liquid; (2) separate the butter into six parts; (3) take out 1/2 pound of the flour; (4) cut one piece of butter into the pound of flour, add ice water* and mix the ingredients into a paste with as little handling as possible; (5) knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, cover it, set it in a cool place for 5 minutes; (6) roll the paste, outward from the center, into a rectangular piece; (7) place one piece of the butter on one-half the surface, fold the pastry over, and pinch down the edges to keep in the air; (8) fold the right edge two-thirds of the way back, fold the left edge back over this, pinch down the edges again so that no air or butter can escape, cover the paste, and let it stand in a cool place for 5 minutes; (9) roll it out into another rectangle, and repeat the former process with the next pat of butter, being sure to press the edges each time to keep in both the air and the butter; (10) repeat this process until all pats of butter have been used; each time before rolling the paste, turn it halfway round in order to roll from another side, and always roll from you; (11) after the final rolling, the paste must be chilled on ice or in a very cool place for an hour or two; (12) bake it in a hot oven (page 480) with the heat coming from below, and set it on the floor of even a gas oven for the first 5 minutes.

Puff pastry when baked should be eight times as thick as when put into the oven. It is very rich and has a surface that is light, flaky, and rather shiny.