How To Make Ruff Puff Pastry With Fresh Milled Flour
Making Ruff Puff Pastry with fresh milled flour is not a difficult as it may seem! I have a few tips and tricks to walk you through it each step of the way. Join me in making a tender flaky ruff puff pastry that can be used with both sweet or savory recipes! Also, I will share with you a delicious apple turnover from scratch recipe HERE you can try out with this very recipe!
Important Tips When Making Ruff Puff Pastry With Fresh Milled Flour
1. Does The Quality Of Butter Matter?
Yes! The quality of butter does matter for any laminated dough. Because puff pastry, even ruff puff pastry is still considered a laminated dough, a butter with a lower moisture content is necessary. To get a butter with a lower moisture content, it must be a European Style Butter. So, while I love to use cheaper American Butter, it is important to splurge on a more expensive, lower moisture European Butter. After all, butter is the star of the show when making puff pastry!
2. Does The Butter Need To Be Frozen Or Just Cold
I like to freeze my butter, because this allows the butter to stay colder for longer, and it is easier to grate into the fresh milled flour. However, this recipe can be made with cold butter, it will just be a bit more challenging.
3. Why Is My Fresh Milled Flour Ruff Puff Dough So Shaggy?
Firstly, when making ruff puff pastry we don’t want a super wet and sticky dough, because this will make it very difficult to work with and the butter is more likely to melt into the dough. Don’t be alarmed if this dough starts to look worse before it looks better. Once you start rolling it out and doing the folds, it starts to come together. As Silicone baking mat HERE and Bench scraper HERE will be your best friend while making this dough.
4. Is It Important To Do All The Fussy Folds While Making Fresh Milled Flour Ruff Puff Pastry
Yes! it is important to do all the folds as listed in the recipe. Because the folds are what create the layers, and this is what produces the nice tender & flaky pastry.
What Do I Make With Fresh Milled Flour Ruff Puff Pastry?
There are so many things that can be made with ruff puff pastry, this is a great recipe to keep in your wheelhouse. Also, I find that it is a great idea to make an extra batch whenever I have all the stuff out making one batch. Because, it freezes so nicely, and I can always have a batch ready in the freezer. Then, all I have to do is let it thaw out in the fridge overnight to use it in a recipe. So, try some of these ideas to make with this Ruff Puff Pastry:
Savory Dishes:
- Savory Tarts: Roll out the rough puff pastry and use it as a base for savory tarts. Top with ingredients like caramelized onions, sautéed mushrooms, spinach, goat cheese, or sliced tomatoes for a delicious appetizer or main course.
- Pies-Savory: Use rough puff pastry to make savory pies like chicken pot pie, beef and vegetable pie, or spinach and feta pie. The flaky layers of pastry add a wonderful texture to these dishes.
- Sausage Rolls: Wrap seasoned sausage meat in rough puff pastry and bake until golden brown for a classic British snack or appetizer.
- Empanadas: Fill rounds of rough puff pastry with various savory fillings, such as ground beef, chicken, vegetables, and spices, and then fold and bake until crispy and golden.
Sweet Treats:
- Turnovers: Fill rough puff pastry with fruit preserves, pie fillings, or chocolate, fold them in half, seal the edges, and bake for quick and delicious turnovers. Checkout My Apple Turnover Recipe HERE.
- Palmiers: Sprinkle sugar on rough puff pastry, fold it into layers, and cut it into slices to make sweet, crispy palmier cookies.
- Danishes: Cut the rough puff pastry into squares and fill them with cream cheese, fruit preserves, or chocolate chips for homemade Danishes.
- Napoleons (Mille-Feuille): Layer sheets of baked rough puff pastry with pastry cream and fresh fruit, then drizzle with icing for a classic French dessert. Checkout My Pastry Cream Recipe HERE.
No matter what recipe you make with this puff pastry, it will be delicious! Don’t be afraid to think outside the box, and make something new! Let me know in the comments what you decide to make with it!
Ingredients To Make Fresh Milled Flour Ruff Puff Pastry
- 2 Cups Fresh Milled Flour 240g (I prefer to use soft white wheat berries)
- Mill extra soft white wheat flour for your work surface
- 1/8 cup cornstarch (or potato starch)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup frozen good European butter, grated 227g
- 1/2 cup cold water 120g (you may need slightly more or less)
Instructions To Make Ruff Puff Pastry With Fresh Milled Flour
It is best to start with frozen butter, so make sure to pop 2 sticks or one cup of good European butter in the freezer the night before.
- Firstly, Mill the flour, cover and place in the fridge to cool.
- Once the freshly milled flour is cool, add starch and salt and then mix to combine.
- Grate the frozen butter into the flour mixture. Mix the butter shreds in with the flour mixture to coat all the butter. Try to keep the butter separated as much as possible to keep it evenly distributed in the flour. This is a dry mixture at this point.
- Then, once the butter is coated and separated in the flour, slowly add the cold water. Add half at a time until the dough starts to come together. It should still seem a bit dry and crumbly at this stage.
- Lightly flour your work surface (I like to use a silicone pastry mat that has a grid on it for these next steps. You can grab one HERE.) Also, a bench scraper is your best friend to work with the dough, get it off the work surface, and not warm it up too much.
- Take the dough to the work surface, it should still be a bit crumbly at this stage, and it will come together as you work with it.
- Knead the dough one or two times to gather into a ball. Don’t overwork the pastry and try not to let the warmth of your hands melt the butter. (If it starts to warm up or melt at any point during working with the dough, just pop it back in the fridge for 15 minutes or so.)
- Flour your hands and a rolling pin to prepare for this next step.
- Pat the dough into a rectangle, and begin rolling the dough into a 6″x 20″ rectangle, keeping the short side of the rectangle in front of you.
- Then, using your bench scraper pull the top 1/3 of the dough down over to the middle of the dough.
- Next, using your bench scraper, pull the bottom 1/3 of dough up over the part you just folded. This is like a tri-fold letter, which is how it gets the name a “Letter Fold.”
- The next step, take the folded up dough, and turn it 90 degrees. Now, you will roll it back out into a 6″x 20″ rectangle again.
- Then, once rolled out preform another letter fold.
- Turn dough 90 degrees again. Do this process of rolling out into a rectangle then letter folding a total of 4 times.
- On the last letter fold, keep it folded up, and wrap in plastic wrap.
- Chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before using in any recipes.
How To Store This Fresh Milled Flour Ruff Puff Pastry
Once finished the dough can stay wrapped up in the fridge for up to 2 days. For longer storage, put in a freezer safe bag or container, and freeze for up to 3 months. To use from frozen, make sure to thaw in the fridge the overnight before you want to use it.
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Ruff Puff Pastry Fresh Milled Flour
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Fresh Milled Flour 240g I prefer to use soft white wheat berries
- Mill extra soft white wheat flour for your work surface
- 1/8 cup cornstarch or potato starch
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup frozen good European butter grated 227g
- 1/2 cup cold water 120g you may need slightly more or less
Instructions
It is best to start with frozen butter, so make sure to pop 2 sticks or one cup of good European butter in the freezer the night before.
- Firstly, Mill the flour, cover and place in the fridge to cool.
- Once the freshly milled flour is cool, add starch and salt and then mix to combine.
- Grate the frozen butter into the flour mixture. Mix the butter shreds in with the flour mixture to coat all the butter. Try to keep the butter separated as much as possible to keep it evenly distributed in the flour. This is a dry mixture at this point.
- Then, once the butter is coated and separated in the flour, slowly add the cold water. Add half at a time until the dough starts to come together. It should still seem a bit dry and crumbly at this stage.
- Lightly flour your work surface (I like to use a silicone pastry mat that has a grid on it for these next steps.) Also, a bench scraper is your best friend to work with the dough, get it off the work surface, and not warm it up too much.
- Take the dough to the work surface, it should still be a bit crumbly at this stage, and it will come together as you work with it.
- Knead the dough one or two times to gather into a ball. Don’t overwork the pastry and try not to let the warmth of your hands melt the butter. (If it starts to warm up or melt at any point during working with the dough, just pop it back in the fridge for 15 minutes or so.)
- Flour your hands and a rolling pin to prepare for this next step.
- Pat the dough into a rectangle, and begin rolling the dough into a 6″x 20″ rectangle, keeping the short side of the rectangle in front of you.
- Then, using your bench scraper pull the top 1/3 of the dough down over to the middle of the dough.
- Next, using your bench scraper, pull the bottom 1/3 of dough up over the part you just folded. This is like a tri-fold letter, which is how it gets the name a “Letter Fold.”
- The next step, take the folded up dough, and turn it 90 degrees. Now, you will roll it back out into a 6″x 20″ rectangle again.
- Then, once rolled out preform another letter fold.
- Turn dough 90 degrees again. Do this process of rolling out into a rectangle then letter folding a total of 4 times.
- On the last letter fold, keep it folded up, and wrap in plastic wrap.
- Chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before using in any recipes.
Video
Notes
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Do you think I could use arrow root in place of the corn starch or potato starch?
Yes, it should be a good swap out, I would just use the same amount. Thanks!
I don’t have any more soft white do you think kamut will work? Thank you (:
I think it would work with Kamut, yes. The amount of water may need adjusted up slightly, but you do want a fairly dry dough at first. As you work with it, it will come together more.
Do you use salted or unsalted butter?
If using salted butter, cut back the salt in the recipe to 1/4 tsp salt. If using unsalted butter, use the full 1/2 tsp salt. Happy Baking!
Can you add sweetener to the dough? If so show much and what kind do you recommend please.
You could add 1 TBSP of sugar to the dough if you prefer. Let me know what you think if you give it a try!