Puff Pastry

Appears in
How to Bake

By Nick Malgieri

Published 1995

  • About
Puff pastry is a term used to describe doughs that rise into multiple flaky layers from the pressure of steam built up while they are baking.
Puff pastry contains layers of dough and butter formed by rolling and folding the dough repeatedly.

Sometimes the layers are fairly uneven and randomly distributed as in quick or express puff pastry, as it is sometimes called. To make this, cubes of butter are added to the flour and other ingredients—much the way a pie dough is made, but large pieces of butter are left unincorporated. When the dough is rolled and folded, the layers form.