Puff Pastry

Another basic dough used continually in the pastry kitchen is puff pastry. It is one of the most exciting and also one of the most challenging doughs to work with. The use of puff pastry dates back many centuries; cookbooks and food reference books are filled with theories about its origin. It is impossible to say which story is accurate, but the one that I particularly like (having once been a 15-year-old apprentice myself) tells of a pastry apprentice in France. The young man was given the responsibility of making up all of the pastry doughs for use the following day. When he was finished, he realized that he had forgotten to add the butter in one of the recipes. Knowing that the master would certainly find out, but not wanting to start over, he quickly mixed in the missing butter, flattening and turning the dough over several times in an effort to hide his mistake. The next day, the master let it be known that he intended to have a few words with the apprentice. The apprentice, fearing he was to be scolded for ruining the dough, ran away. When he was found at last and brought trembling before the master, he was astonished to find out that rather than intending to punish him, the master wanted to praise him and learn the secret of the wonderful new flaky dough he had invented!