HOW TO MAKE PUFF PASTRY SHELLS FROM SHEETS RECIPES

Steps:

• Beat egg and water together in a small bowl.
• Cut two rounds from each sheet of puff pastry using a 3-inch round cutter, forming 8 circles. Use a 2 1/2-inch round cutter to cut through 4 of the rounds. Place entire cut round on top of an un-cut round. Brush each with egg mixture.
• Bake in the preheated oven until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

Steps:

• Chill your flour and the mixing bowl in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Chilling is an important step in making puff pastry dough in order to prevent melting of the butter as well as keeping the dough firm and easy to work with it.
• Remove the bowl from the fridge after 30 minutes and then add 1 tbsp of sugar and 1/2 tsp of salt to the flour and mix to combine.
• Grate 1 cup of frozen butter into the mixing bowl containing the flour. Grating the butter makes it easier to mix and blend with the flour.
• Stir the grated butter and the flour together to combine completely, using a spatula until you have crumbs.
• Make use of ice-chilled water. Remember that maintaining the chilled state makes a good pastry dough that you can work with easily.
• Add ice-chilled water to the flour mixture and stir to form a dough. You need to add the water a little at a time.
• Mix the flour with your hands as you add the water until you have a firm puff pastry dough. Do not add too much water to the dough.
• Transfer the dough to a work surface or tabletop and mold it into a ball and then flatten it with your hands into a rectangular shape.
• Completely cover the puff pastry dough with a cling film and then keep it in the fridge for at least 1 hour. I prefer keeping it overnight for the gluten bonds to be formed which then makes the puff pastry sheets stretchy. Using gluten-free flour for making puff pastry sheets makes the sheets less stretchy and can easily cut when stretched because of the absence of gluten. If you are in a haste or need to use it the same day, keep it in the fridge at least for an hour.
• The next day or after an hour, remove the puff pastry dough from the fridge and start working on it.
• Unwrap the dough and then divide it into two equal halves. You can divide it into your desired number depending on the size of the puff pastry sheets you want. When working with smaller puff pastry sheets for making chicken pot pie in small cups, you don't really need the sheets to be wide. But when making wider pies, you need it wide; so divide the dough based on the type of puff pastry recipes.
• Dust your work surface or the tabletop with some flour and place half of the divided dough on it. For the remaining puff pastry dough, return it to be chilling in the fridge. You need everything chilled to make it easier for you to make the puff pastry sheets.
• Now, begin rolling the dough into a flattened and rectangular shape using your rolling pin. As you roll the dough, you can continuously dust the surface of the dough as well as rubbing the rolling pin with a light amount of flour to prevent the rolling pin from sticking to the dough.
• Once you have a flat pastry dough, start laminating the dough. Fold both ends of the dough to the middle.
• Next, flip it over then roll again into a flat rectangular shape. Again, once you have another flat pastry dough, fold each end to the middle and then flip over and roll again. Continuously repeat this folding and rolling until the whole butter is completely blended with the dough. You need to do this quickly to maintain the chillness of the dough. Make sure the dough is chilled as you work on it. If you notice the puff pastry dough becoming sticky, chill again in the fridge for some minutes (about 15 to 30 minutes) and then remove and continue to work on it until the butter blends with the dough.
• When the butter blends with the dough, your homemade puff pastry sheet is ready.
• You can cut the edges with a knife or pizza cutter to have a perfect rectangular shape, and then lightly sprinkle some flour over it and wrap it with a cling film; you can now use the puff pastry sheet you made for any puff pastry recipe such as chicken pot pie or croissants.
• Ready to use homemade puff pastry sheets