Tips to put your puff pastry to best use
Customize Your Puff
You always want you puff pastry to look its best, and taste even better. To avoid the middle of the pastry from rising as much as the edges, prick the surface using a fork. The pastry won’t lose its lightness, and will still be flaky. It just won’t have too many layers. You can always use two baking sheets, to make the puff pastry into flat pieces.
Finesse Your Fillings
Soggy pastries aren’t the best pick. All you must do is keep in mind not to over weigh the pastry. Since these are fragile, don’t fill them in with too many ingredients or toppings that would release a lot of liquid. Try and avoid sticky fillings. As a thumb rule, always line your baking tray with butter paper that is greased or a silicone baking mat.
Make It Shine
Puff pastry that looks appetizing is always the best pick. To make your puff pastry shine, take a large egg, beat it slightly with a teaspoon of water. Add that glaze on your pastry. This glaze also prevents turnovers and acts as a glue. Press the layers together softly after simmering the glaze, it sticks better. That extra layer of shine is something that will make your puff pastry stand out.
Bake Now or Later
Hot, or rather warm and light puff pastries are the best. So always bake them in small quantities and serve. A lot of recipes today show how to store these things, and can be taken out just before you need to use them. Some recipes can even be prepped but not baked, wrapped well, and frozen for a week or two. (Check your recipe for specific baking and defrosting instructions.) Soggy puff pastry can be put into the oven and be used too. So, don’t always take the stress of having to do it all right before your party, or having some that aren’t the best. You can always make the puff pastry taste wonderful and look amazing with a few small changes to the bake.
Save Your Scraps
Wasting puff isn’t a need at all. Leftovers aren’t meant for the bin. You can combine them all, roll them out to make palmier or cheese straws. Leftover pastry won’t puff up quite as much and it may be a little uneven, but that’s less important with smaller shapes.
