This makes 6 servings of puff pastry. I like to roll it out and cut it into squares to store in the freezer for a quick meal or dessert. Thaw in the refrigerator before baking.
10tablespoonsice waterplus 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.