*Note* All my favorite cook books, talk about many other things than just the recipes. History behind the recipe, the authors experience with it in life, things that make it personal so you know why it is special to them. So I do that too. You can skip over those parts if you want and get right to the recipes. I won’t be hurt. LOL
Each holiday, the members of my family take turns hosting, and contributing. We’re all very close so it only makes sense for all of us to share these times together. Even though we all see each other for the most part every week all year long.
Thanksgiving was held at my bio moms and step dads. Christmas will be at my bio dads and step moms. Yes, the other parental household will be there. My bio’s and steps are all best friends. 3 of them work together at the same firm in fact. Christmas is a little different as ALL my grandparents will be there. Including those from Seattle, who arrived last week. 3 grandmothers and 2 grand fathers. My older sister, brother in law, my best friend/younger half-brother, and my BFF who is like my twin sister (we’re only days apart), plus her parents (Her mom works with 3 of my parents).
Each person is tasked with contributing. At Thanksgiving I was given the task of pies, so they all got vegan pies. For Christmas, I am tasked with rolls and pastries. What we make though has to last longer then one day. Since Christmas like Thanksgiving and every other holiday is a multi-day event. Ours will start tomorrow on the 23rd and end on the morning of the 26th this year. Usually it is a couple days longer, but sadly some work life is intruding this year.
My older sister got “desserts” for Christmas, I can’t wait to see what she makes. LOL Like my bio mom, the kitchen is her nemesis. Strange because bio moms, mom, my favorite grandmother, is one of the two who taught me to cook so many things.
My brother got tasked with snacks. His first year of having to do something more then set the table (Oh he is still in charge of the table, as well as all clean up this year. Adulting can suck we told him LOL). He’s just 19 now so this may be a lot of responsibility for him. LOL I told him That I’d heard of these fancy snack dishes called Crudités so he should try to find them. He he….. we’ll see if he falls for it. I couldn’t resist after this last year.
Normally moms and grandmas are in charge of the “meat” products. They actually made me a vegan roast for the first time this year, I was so impressed! For Christmas though this year we have delegated it to the dad’s and grandpas. This ought to be entertaining. My bio dad and step dad have been high fiving each other for a few weeks, with comments like “Men provide meat”, “Meat good” and others. Please insert an eye roll here, especially if you can picture your own dads or grandpas doing that. LOL
ALL the sides fall on my, brother in law, as well as my BFF and her dad. She has learned a lot over the last few years with me, so this shouldn’t be the nightmare it would have been when we were younger. LOL
We decided the moms and grandmas this year would have nothing to do. No sides, no setting the table, no organizing, nothing. They’ve done so much over the years now that we are all adults, and, probably, won’t burn down the houses, they should just have this time to enjoy the family’s company. That, plus bio and step mom have stockings to create. Yes, we still get them every year. Depending on whose house we are at, dad puts out cookies and milk, and my sister, brother, bff and I, all get up before all them to look at the stockings and then make breakfast for everyone.
Family is everything.
So with that said, I have been making croissants and a few other rolls and pastries today. So I thought I would share my vegan puff pastry recipe. I hope you enjoy it.
Kayla’s Puff Pastry
Everyone probably has their favorite puff pastry recipe. Truth be told, they are all pretty much the same, it’s a matter of precision in ingredients, and precision in handling the dough. I will list a few places to watch at the end here. I played with this from my Grandmothers puff pastry recipe using real butter. Vegan butter doesn’t always cook the same as real butter so you may have to do a few batches when experimenting. This is what I came up with that makes absolutely beautiful vegan puff pastry.
You only need four ingredients:
Miyoko’s – Cultured Vegan Sea Salt Butter (My vegan butter of choice, from PlantX here in San Diego)
Any all-purpose flour (I did this with almond flour a few times and the flavor was amazing! It was like having an almond cream in the pastry without the actual cream.)
Salt (I prefer to use sea salt for everything)
Water
5 Oz vegan butter in stick form NOT SPREADABLE, frozen
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
3.5 tbsp. vegan butter softened
1/2 cup water, lukewarm
The Steps:
- Use a large grater, a box grater works best for this because of the stability, and shred the frozen vegan butter onto a plate.
- Put the shredded butter back in the freezer.
- In a large bowl add the flour, salt and softened vegan butter.
- Mix it with a fork until it resembles bread crumbs.
- Gradually stir in the water. Mix until all the flour comes together.
- Now use your hands to help form the dough. It will seem dry at first, but it will come together if you are patient. ONLY add more water if you absolutely have to.
- Flour your surface, then knead the dough for about 3 minutes. It should be soft and smooth. Shape it into a ball, wrap in it plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for about 20 minutes. (longer is fine if you get busy with other things, it won’t affect the dough.)
Time to layer in the butter shreds.
- Roll out your dough with your cold rolling pin into a rectangle, about 1/4 of an inch thick. Turn it, (since most people will roll it lengthwise) so it is in a landscape orientation.
- Get your butter from the freezer.
- Lightly flour your hands!
- Add half the butter. (I’m a psychotic for measurements so I use a kitchen scale so I can see if I get exactly half. I actually like to premeasure this then reharden the butter.) to the LEFT 2/3 of the dough. Put the rest of the butter back in the freezer.
- Fold the right 1/3, over the “middle section of the cough covering the shredded butter. Then fold the left 1/3 over the others creating what looks like a threefold wallet. Brush away any excess flour as you go.
- Turn the dough counter clockwise and roll lengthwise into a rectangle again about 1/4 inch thick.
- Go get the other butter shreds and repeat the wallet folding step again.
- Seal the openings to prevent the butter shreds from falling out of the dough, cover in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for at LEAST one hour. Longer is fine, even overnight.
Laminating & Folding the Dough:
- After it’s rested, repeat the rolling out to 1/4 inch and folding into the wallet step TWO more times, recover with plastic wrap and put back in the fridge for at least another hour.
- You can repeat the rolling and folding layers two more times safely, but after that, the more times you do this, the more layers you will have, BUT, you also run the risk of blending the butter into the dough too much.
- After each rolling and folding it MUST rest for at least an hour in the fridge. This relaxes the gluten. If you don’t do this, it will come out tough when you bake it.
- Use it how you want in pastries, etc., shaping it. but make sure it is cold, and you are quick.
- however you use it, it should take about 10 minutes baking time in a 400° F / 200° C preheated oven.
Problems with Puff Pastry to be careful of.
- Do NOT leave your puff pastry at room temp for too long. The butter will soften and make the dough to sticky to work with properly.
- Handling the dough as gently as possible. A heavy hand creates a tough dough. I was taught to handle puff pastry like you would hold a brand new newborn baby. As gentle as possible, with enough force to just move it in the direction you want it to go.
- Many forget to flour their work surface. DO NOT FORGET TO DO THIS! Let me repeat. DO NOT FORGET TO DO THIS. If you do not your dough can stick to the surface and make it harder to work with.
4, If you add too much water to your pastry, it can also become hard and tough.
- If it doesn’t rise correctly the butter may have been too warm and blended too much with the flour, further, you need to make sure it rests sufficiently between rolling.
- HOT oven. Temp is a key factor in making sure your puff pastry actually puffs. if the oven is too cool it will fall flat. 400 degrees is the ideal temp to get a beautiful rise.
- Soggy pastry. No one likes soggy pastry. This is from the pastry being undercooked. Try to get the pastry as close to the middle of the oven as possible for proper heat flow, along with the heat, see tip 6.
- If you have them use a marble rolling pin, and marble surface for working with pastry. If possible, chill them beforehand. A cold surface keeps the butter from melting and blending into the dough too much.
