When I told Keith that I was doing a ‘rough puff pastry post’, he said, “Say that one five times fast.” Try it. Add it to the list: toy boat, torso sore toe, never been to Bend before (the last two courtesy of my dad).
As I worked on this recipe, I missed Seattle. Don’t misunderstand me, I LOVE Bend, Oregon. We’ve lived here for two years now and it feels like sweet home. But I do love Seattle, and we spent the last year we lived there with this view.
The faltering economy lent us a condo rental opportunity that we could not refuse. So we spent the year gawking at the Seattle skyline and beautiful Puget Sound. We relished our ability to walk down 1st Avenue to some of our favorite restaurants: Palace Kitchen, Lola, Serious Pie, Dahlia Lounge, Matt’s in the Market (oh baby!).
Keith and I laughed and conversed our way through many memorable meals in Palace Kitchen booths. We celebrated our 10th anniversary at the Dahlia Lounge. (Our 17th is tomorrow!) We savored countless breakfasts at Lola and let the unique pizzas at Serious Pie melt on our tongues.
If you know Seattle, you know that the first four restaurants I mentioned are very different, yet owned by the same restaurateur, Tom Douglas (the link will take you to a peek-a-boo of all of his restaurants). The man is brilliant. And I loved that he dined in his own restaurants. We would spot him having a drink in the bar with a friend at the Dahlia Lounge or having dinner with his wife and business partner, Jackie, at the Palace Kitchen.
I tinkered with ingredients to create the recipe for this puff pastry, but the method I owe to Tom. He shared it in his excellent cookbook, Tom Douglas’ Seattle Kitchen. You mix up all of the ingredients in a food processor, form the dough, and then roll it up jellyroll style – so many layers so quick.
Puff pastry is a great item to keep in your freezer for making quick and elegant main dishes like pot pies or savory tarts or quick fruit tart desserts.
What to make with your homemade whole wheat puff pastry:
Fava, Feta and Mint Tart with Lemon
Cut into small squares, bake at 400°F until puffed and golden brown and serve with Chicken Pot Pie Soup.
Quick Whole Wheat Puff Pastry
Ingredients
- 22 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter 1 cup + 6 tablespoons, or 2 3/4 sticks, cut into ½ inch chunks
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 10 tablespoons ice water plus up to 1 more if necessary
Instructions
- Freeze the butter chunks for about 10 minutes before making the dough.
- Place flour and kosher salt into the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add about 1/3 of the butter to the flour and pulse until the butter is in small crumbs. Add remaining butter and pulse 3 or 4 times, leaving visible chunks of butter. Add ice water and pulse until dough begins to clump - don't overprocess or your pastry will be tough.
- Turn the lumpy, uneven dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Shape dough into a rectangle. Use a board scraper or your hands to create relatively square edges. Lightly flour a rolling pin and the top of dough rectangle. Roll back and forth to create a 12-inch by 18-inch rectangle.
- Fold one edge of the 12-inch side to the center of the rectangle and repeat with the opposite edge, leaving a 4-inch by 18-inch rectangle. Use your hands and dough scraper to roll dough up like a jelly roll. Roll 'jelly roll' out into a 4-inch by 18-inch rectangle. Roll it up again; wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or freeze for later use.
- Use as directed in recipes calling for puff pastry.
- Note: After the hour has passed, I like to roll the dough out into a 9-inch by 13 1/2-inch rectangle (~3/8-inch thick - no thinner or your pastry won't puff!) and cut it into 6 ~4 1/2-inch squares - cut the 9-inch length in half, then cut the strips 3 times into squares. I stack each square with a layer of parchment paper in between and freeze, then thaw in the refrigerator when I'm ready to use them. They thaw in just a couple of hours.
Is it okay if i mixed the ingredients myself with a whisk, I don’t have a processor?
Yes, you can absolutely make this recipe by hand! Use a pastry blender or a couple of knives to cut in the butter as you would for a pie crust.
Hi Marissa,
I haven’t made puff pastry yet, but am looking forward to trying. In reading the recipe, I see a small math problem. A 4″ X 16″ rectangle, can be cut into 4 pieces, (each 4″ square), not 6. So, I’m wondering if the recipe actually yields 4 pieces, or should the dough be rolled out into a 4″ X 24″ rectangle to get 6 pieces?
Hi Scott! You’re absolutely right, my math was off. Thank you for catching that. I’ve updated the recipe to note the proper proportions for rolling out your chilled dough.
Hi again Marissa,
I finally made my first attempt at this recipe, but I ended up with something more like a fairly thick, hard shortbread cookie, rather than a puffed up, flakey pastry layer. It rose a little when it baked, but not too much, and the texture was more brittle, mealy/sandy than flakey, layered and crispy like I expect from puff pastry. Don’t know what I doing wrong.
Hi there, Scott! hmmm…it’s hard to say for sure. Is it possible that your butter wasn’t very cold at the start? Whole wheat puff pastry should definitely be flaky, but it doesn’t have as light a texture as when you make it with AP flour. You might try a 50/50 blend of whole wheat to AP flour to see if you’re happier with the result.
Tried this recipe last night and my puff pastry didn’t really, well…puff. What could I have done wrong and how can I prevent it next time?
Hi Jenn! I’m sorry that the pastry didn’t puff as much as you hoped for. Whole wheat flour puff pastry definitely has a different consistency than puff pastry made with A/P flour, but should ‘puff’…The only thing I can think of is that your puff pastry may have gotten too warm before baking?
I need to use the dough in the morning to make breakfasts. Is it possible to leave it in the fridge overnight so it doesn’t have to thaw for hours?
Yes, absolutely! Just wrap it well in plastic wrap. 🙂
Hey Marissa! Am so happy I found your recipe. This is the first time am thinking of making pastry sheets n I really didn’t wanna use plain flour or all purpose flour as wheat flour would be comparatively healthier. I came across your recipe n its seems so much easier than the other recipes I looked into. Now am fefinity gonna try this one.
Oh and am probably ages late but wish you a happy anniversary:) ♥
Thanks, Shea! I hope it turns out perfectly. 🙂
I can’t wait to try out this recipe. I just have one question. Can I use regular whole wheat flour?
Hi, Mirym. Absolutely…
Hi Marissa, love your website!!. Have a question for you, I am looking to use your recipe for a beef wellington, but I am not sure if the whole wheat pastry flour will do the trick to properly rise as puff pastry is supposed to.. I am specifically going to use the puff pastry recipe for a Filet Wellington dish … I am intending to use Whole Wheat purpose flour because it is a little more nutritious than plain all purpose flour, plus I have it at hand… Nevertheless, Gordon Ramsay has a recipe for puff pastry that calls for bread flour (because bread flour higher gluten content while make it flakier tha all purpose flour), and since bread flour gluten content is around 14, whereas all purpose flour is aprox. 10 and whole wheat pastry flour is 8, I am doubting on the results if using this one… does it end up pretty flaky and puffed?. Thanks in advance!
Hi, Lilie! Thanks for your kind words!
Yes, this puff pastry is flaky and puffs up nearly as well as one made with AP flour. Here it is on a chicken pot pie. You could use a mix of bread flour and whole wheat? And you won’t hurt my feelings if you go with Gordon Ramsey’s version to make it a sure thing – t’s the holidays after all! 😉
Hello again, Marissa!. Thank you very much for your response!. I will definitely try your version, since it sounds and looks really good. I will also try a combination of bread flour and whole wheat pastry flour. Happy holidays!
I’d love to hear how it goes, Lilie! Happy Holidays! 🙂
Hi marissa……cannot wait to try out your recipe for a chocolatey dessert…..just one question- can i use regular table salt instead kosher salt? Will that affect the taste?
Hi Phoebe! Yes, you can definitely use table salt – just use half of what the recipe calls for. Table salt has a sharper flavor than kosher, particularly if it’s iodized. But the flavor should still be good. Let me know how it goes. 🙂
Hi Marissa! WOW! You have simplified puff pastry for me. I’ve never tried to make it because every recipe I have seen seemed so complicated and very tricky. I am definitely going to try this!
I’m so excited for you to try it, Dorothy! Rolling instead of folding makes it so much easier!
So you only have to fold and roll once? That seems almost too easy for puff pastry dough. Does it become flaky, or does that require doing step 4 multiple times?
Hi Rachel – it actually ends up being twice because you roll it up before storing it in the refrigerator or freezer, then roll it out when you’re ready to use it. Try it! You’ll be pleasantly surprised…
Thank you, Marissa for this lovely recipe. I’m going to try it out this weekend. I plan on baking them into crisp pastry cups and then fill them with caramelized fruit. Would it work?
Hi Tina – yes, I think that sounds delicious!
I don’t think i’ve ever had puff pastry with whole wheat. Somehow, I’m really curious as to how it tastes. Nutty?
Try it – you won’t be disappointed! 🙂
Thanks Marissa, this recipe seems so easy and in summertime it’s what i need !!! Exactly what does it mean Whole Wheat Flour? It’s the same flour we have in Italy?
Hi Giovanna – I believe that whole wheat flour is equivalent to ‘farina integrale’ in Italy.
I used to live in Seattle and this post makes me miss it!
Happy Anniversary Keith and Marissa!!!
I hope to try this recipe out soon. I wonder how I can combine it with some fresh summer fruit. I am making strawberry rhubarb jam today with the fruit we picked yesterday!
Thank you Beth!
I think strawberry rhubarb jam would be excellent on this – maybe with brie or fromage blanc. Yum!
Another use for my whole wheat flour, yes!
I didn’t realise that you could make a whole wheat puff pastry-which seems silly of course now that I say it! 😛
The WW flour adds such a depth of flavor – I think you’ll like it!
Wow, I really need to try this! After making danish dough in the processor I´ve been thinking of finding a way to make puff pastry and croissant dough. This is the answer. Thanks!
Hi Paula – I haven’t made croissants this way – great idea.