Vegetable Puff Pastries

Vegetable puff pastries are not as popular snack item in India as Croissants are in Europe but they are popular nevertheless. There are many variants of vegetable puff pastries in terms of fillings – you have vegetable puffs, potatoes puff, egg puffs, fruit puffs, etc. Once you have made the pastries, it is up to your imagination what kind of filling you will like to have. Like any puff pastry, here also we make layers of dough with butter in between but this recipe is quicker and simple. You just need little bit of patience. Do give it a try.

Ingredients

  • All Purpose Flour (Maida) – 220 gms (2 and 2/3 cups)
  • Butter (chilled) – 220 gms (1 cup)
  • Water – 100 ml
  • Salt – A Pinch
  • Vegetables (cooked) – 1 cup
  • Wax Paper/Butter Paper/Baking Paper

Method

Make the Dough
  1. Take a bowl and add maida and salt and mix well.
  2. In a small sauce pan, take 40 gms butter out of the 220 gms and melt it on heat.
  3. Add the melted butter in the maida and salt mixture. Mix well.
  4. Take 100 ml water and add slowly to the maida mixture to knead the dough. Do not add the entire water at once.
  5. Once the dough has been formed, take it out of the bowl and knead it while stretching it to form gluten. Keep kneading and stretching until the dough is soft.
  6. Once done, make a ball of the dough and keep it in a bowl and cover it with a cling film. Keep the bowl in the refrigerator.
Make the Beurrage
  1. Take the remaining amount of butter (180 gms) in a bowl. Make sure the butter is chilled at all times.
  2. Pound the butter lightly to make it soft. Sprinkle some flour and lift the butter onto the slab.
  3. With the help of some flour sprinkling, make a square shaped slab of the butter, also called Beurrage.
  4. Keep the butter in the refrigerator to chill.
1st Layer
  1. Take the dough bowl out of the fridge and place it on the marble top.
  2. Dust the marble top with little flour.
  3. Take the dough out of the cling film and place it on the dusted marble top.
  4. Take a rolling pin and start rolling the dough into a square.
  5. Take the butter out of the fridge and keep it in the middle of the flattened dough square.
  6. Wrap the dough around the butter like an envelope.
  7. If the butter has softened, wrap the dough envelope in the cling film or baking paper and keep it in the fridge to chill for 4-5 minutes.
  8. Take the dough out of the fridge and out of the baking paper and flatten it with the rolling pin.
  9. Flatten the dough into a rectangle shape.
  10. Pick one end of the rectangle and bring it till the middle.
  11. Now, pick the other end of the rectangle and flap it over the first. It will look like a towel wrap.
  12. Wrap the dough in a cling film or baking paper and keep it in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes. If the temperature is too hot, consider keeping the dough in the freezer for 10 minutes.
2nd to 6th Layer
  1. Take the dough bowl out of the refrigerator and place it on the marble top.
  2. Dust the marble top with little flour.
  3. Take the dough out of the baking paper and with the help of a rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle.
  4. Pick one end of the rectangle and bring it till the middle.
  5. Now, pick the other end of the rectangle and flap it over the first. It will look like a towel wrap.
  6. Wrap the dough in a cling film or baking paper and keep it in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes. If the temperature is too hot, consider keeping the dough in the freezer for 10 minutes.
  7. Repeat this process 4 more times.
Make the Puff Pastries
  1. After you have repeated the layering process 6 times, take the dough out of the refrigerator and flatten it into a thin rectangle sheet.
  2. Cut the small rectangle shapes out of the sheet as shown in the picture above.
  3. Take each rectangle shape and put 1 tbsp of the vegetable filling in the middle. Fold the rectangle into different shapes.
  4. Line the baking tray with a baking sheet.
  5. Keep the folded pastries on the baking tray and keep the tray in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes.
Bake the Puff Pastries
  1. In the meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 230°C.
  2. Take the pastries out of the refrigerator and bake them in the pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes (depending upon your oven’s temperature).
  3. Take the pastries out of the oven and let them cool for 5-6 minutes.