Problem Rolling Out Rough Puff Pastry
I'm familiar with the proper steps in making rough puff pastry but I have difficulty rolling out the dough. I'm hoping someone can make suggestions or explain how to do it better.
I find it easy rolling out softer doughs - pastry dough or yeast doughs. Rolling out chilled rough puff pastry dough is very difficult though as the butter is hard, making the dough hard too. It takes a lot to push on the rolling pin to roll to size each time. Raising the my height to apply more pressure helps some but not enough.
I'm pretty new to making rough puff pastry so maybe I'm doing something wrong? It's not something I plan to make that often but it would be nice as a dough for Guinness Irish stew.
Best Answer
To 'roll out' laminated dough, you generally need to flatten out the dough first.
One technique can be to repeatedly press a rolling pin across sections of the dough to spread/soften the dough. Until the dough is pliable or near the required thickness. This method is usually started along the center line (as if dividing the dough in half), continuing to each quarter (halving again). Rotate the dough, or the rolling pin if you need to keep a specific shape.
Another technique is to roll the dough out to almost or the required thickness before chilling. This is probably more suited when using grated frozen fats.
PS: Depending on the climate, dough can be rested in as little as 20 minutes in a refrigerator/freezer. As it's only to stop the fat melting into the flour.
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Why is my pastry so hard to roll out?
If your pastry is hard and tough, this may because too much liquid was added or the pastry was over-handled, resulting in the development of gluten. If your pastry is too crumbly and hard to handle, this may be because too much fat was added, it was over-mixed or not enough liquid was added to bind the fat and flour.Why does my pastry crumble when rolling out?
If your shortcrust pastry is crumbling when you roll it out then it is most likely that the dough is too dry and you haven't added quite enough liquid to it.How do you keep pastry from cracking when rolling out?
One or two cracks can be fixed by brushing with water and rolling the edges together to seal. Next time, allow the dough to warm up slightly if very cold and roll as evenly as possible near the edges to prevent cracking.What can go wrong with rough puff pastry?
5 Mistakes to Avoid with Puff PastryHow to make rough puff pastry
More answers regarding problem Rolling Out Rough Puff Pastry
Answer 2
Do the first couple of book turns straight away when dough first made. The chill for 20 and repeat 3 times to make 5 turns. I freeze and blitz the butter first to make it like tiny gravel. That's the secret.
Answer 3
The longer you leave it out, the softer it will be. If it's too hard for you when taken fresh out of the fridge, let it sit a bit before you attack it. But for most people, they will want to work on it right away because the dough softens up very quickly once you are rolling it.
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