What Is Rough Puff Pastry And How Is It Used?

You can make so many wonderful things with puff pastry, including rich pastries filled with custard, fruit turnovers, the flakiest pie crust ever, and beef Wellington. This classic French pastry is called pâte feuilletée (per Collins). It's made from wheat flour dough that is layered with butter. Lots of butter. Into lots of layers.

It's difficult and time-consuming to make real puff pastry from scratch as you can see in this recipe from Martha Stewart. You have to encase the butter in the stretchy dough, and roll it out many times, folding the dough into thirds for each "turn," according to Le Cordon Bleu. If any of the butter escapes, the pastry will not be as flaky as it should be. So many rules! That's why most people use premade frozen puff pastry, which is readily available at any large supermarket. You just thaw the pastry according to the package directions and make the recipe. 

But what if you have a hankering to make your own puff pastry, but just don't have the skills or patience to make the real thing from scratch? There is a miracle recipe you can try instead, and it's called rough puff pastry.

Puff pastry puffs up because the layers of butter melt in the oven's heat, releasing a bit of water that turns into steam. The steam expands, separating the gluten matrix in the dough, and creating a flaky airy pastry. That's why it's crucial that there are so many layers of butter.

There are several ways to make rough puff pastry. They are all variations on one change — instead of making a dough of flour and water and a bit of butter or cream, then encasing a large square of butter, a rough puff incorporates most of the butter right into the dough in large pieces. You should literally be able to see the butter pieces in the dough. 

Senior editor Claire Chaffitz of Bon Appétit has an easy way to make this rough puff. She shreds frozen (really frozen) butter in the food processor, then tosses it with flour and uses that to make the dough, handling the mixture as little as possible. More shredded butter coated in flour is rolled in between the layers of dough for several turns. The result isn't classic puff pastry, but it sure is close.

King Arthur Baking Company also has a recipe for rough puff pastry. In this version, cubed butter is cut into flour, then ice water is added, similar to making a pie crust. The dough is then rolled out and folded several times, but without the addition of more butter.

Now that you have successfully made your rough puff pastry, what are you going to do with it? Well, you could freeze it for later use. It's a nice feeling to have some homemade puff pastry ready and waiting in the freezer. But if you want to use it right away, there are many recipes to try. Just make sure that you keep the pastry as cold as possible to keep the butter in place until it hits the heat of the oven and the magic happens.

For instance, pumpkin cream cheese danish would be great for a Sunday brunch. Or try some really spectacular pigs in a blanket, which are far too good for children's parties. For something more exotic, try curry puffs with cucumber dipping sauce. And there are many recipes out there you can try for a comforting yet fancy dinner or savory dessert. Winter is a great time to get creative with your rough puff!