Puff Pastry: One of my new favorite things

Pâte feuilletée [literally, layered dough] – pat fe-yeah-teh – is the French for puff pastry, a fine and versatile pastry used in many pâtisseries and baked good: from mille-feuilles to flans. It consists in a basic dough, the détrempe – deh-tramp – spread with a good share of beurre manié – bear man-yeah –, then successively folded and rolled out; hence the layer part of its French name. Puff pastry can come in one of three ways: 1) store bought, easy to defrost and use; 2) homemade hard way- long and painful process; or 3) an apparently easy and tasty way.

While browsing the internet for other puff pastry recipes, I stumbled across another blog called Fab Frugal Food. Donna, the blog's keeper, posted her own recipe for puff pastry which I am eager to try this weekend. She has tried to make her own 30 times, and finally settled on this recipe. Talk about my kind of woman!

5 MINUTE HOMEMADE PUFF PASTRY

1 1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces cream cheese, cold
8 ounces unsalted butter, cold
1 tablespoon cold water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place flour and salt in a food processor. Cut cream cheese and butter into small cubes and add to food processor. Pulse in 1-second pulses for about 8 to 10 pulses, until small crumb stage.

Turn processor on and stream in the water, just for a few seconds until the dough begins to come together in a ball. Flatten dough into a small disc, wrap in plastic wrap and then refrigerate for 4 to 24 hours.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. Fold dough over itself in thirds. Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness again.

Cut into shapes as desired and bake on a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake near top of of oven for 12 to 15 minutes, depending on size of shapes, until light golden brown, watching closely the last few minutes so as not to burn.