154. Pasta Sfoglia

Puff Pastry Dough

Preparation info
    • Difficulty

      Easy

Appears in

By Pellegrino Artusi

Published 1998

  • About

This dough can be said to have turned out beautifully when it puffs up in paper-thin and feather-light layers. Thus, for those who have not had much practice making it, it is difficult to prepare. You would need to watch a master chef make it. Nonetheless, I shall do my best to teach you.

Ingredients

  • 200 grams (about 7 ounces) of fine flour, or Hungarian flour
  • 150 grams (about

Method

In the winter, mix hot but not boiling water with the flour; salt as needed, then add a tablespoon of brandy and a nut-sized pat of butter, taking it from the above-mentioned quantities. After you have formed a loaf that is neither too hard nor too soft, knead it for half an hour at least, first with your hands, then banging it repeatedly against the pastry board. Now make a rectangular loaf, w