How to Make Pâte Feuilletée: Classic Puff Pastry Recipe
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Apr 13, 2023 • 3 min read
Pâte feuilletée is the pièce de résistance of French pastry. Learn how to make this decadent, flaky pastry from the comfort of your own home.
Learn From the Best
What Is Pâte Feuilletée?
Pâte feuilletée is a flaky puff pastry made by the repeated layering and folding of dough and cold butter, punctuated by trips to the refrigerator to chill. Feuille is French for leaf, a reference to this dough’s thin layers of butter and dough. To make puff pastry, bakers make a dough from flour, water, and a small amount of butter, then begin a process called lamination to create thin layers of butter and dough. Lamination involves folding the dough around a block of cold butter, rolling it out, and repeating the process until the desired number of layers are created. To prevent the butter from merging with the dough when folding, it must chill it in the refrigerator at different points throughout the lamination process. Gluten builds during the rest periods, and when baked, the water contained in the butter turns to steam, levering apart the stretchy layers from within and burnishing the top with a glossy golden-brown sheen. Croissants and pâte feuilletée are the most common types of laminated dough.
5 Desserts that Feature Pâte Feuilletée
Pâte feuilletée is essential to classic French pastries, such as:
- 1. Mille feuille: Mille feuille is a classic French pastry that resembles a Napoleon, containing alternating layers of pâte feuilletée and pastry cream.
- 2. Galette des rois: Also known as king cake, this almond paste–filled cake is a traditional pastry used to celebrate Epiphany, a Christian holiday that takes place shortly after Christmas.
- 3. Croissants: Croissants are a popular breakfast pastry made with laminated dough. Croissants begin with a levain, which is essentially the sourdough starter used to make bread. Unlike the prominently tangy and acidic flavor it imparts in sourdough, levain in a croissant helps to balance out the richness of the butter fat.
- 4. Tarte tatin: Tarte tatin is a French upside-down apple tart that closely resembles an inverted apple pie. This French dessert is made by caramelizing apples with sugar and butter on the stovetop, then cooking them in the oven beneath a layer of buttery pastry.
- 5. Palmiers: These heart-shaped cookies are made from slices of puff pastry coated in sugar.
Classic Pâte Feuilletée Recipe
makes
One 10 x 20-inch sheet puff pastryprep time
2 hrtotal time
10 hrIngredients
- 1
In a large bowl, combine flour and butter. Rub butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
- 2
Add the salt to the water and whisk to dissolve. While whisking the flour-butter mixture with a fork, slowly dribble the salted water down the sides of the bowl. When the dough just comes together, stop adding water.
- 3
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough until it feels smooth, about 2 minutes.
- 4
Shape the dough into an 8x8-inch square and refrigerate until firm, about 25 minutes.
- 5
Meanwhile, transfer the room-temperature butter to a sheet of parchment paper and shape into an 8x8-inch square. Top with a second sheet of parchment paper and refrigerate until firm, about 25 minutes.
- 6
Remove the dough from the fridge and transfer to a lightly floured work surface. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into an 8x16-inch rectangle.
- 7
Remove the butter block from the fridge and place the butter on the right side of the dough rectangle. Carefully fold the other half of the dough up over the butter block to cover, pinching the edges of the dough to seal.
- 8
Roll the dough, using long, even strokes, into a 10x20-inch rectangle, flipping the dough halfway through rolling. Brush off any excess flour.
- 9
Fold the dough in thirds, like a letter, by bringing one short end to the middle, and then folding the opposite end over it. Transfer the folded dough to a baking sheet and refrigerate until cold but still pliable, about 10 minutes.
- 10
Transfer the folded dough to a lightly floured work surface and roll out, using long, even strokes, into a 10x20-inch rectangle. Fold into thirds, as before, and chill. Repeat this process a total of 4–6 times, stopping at the step where the dough is 10x20 inches.
- 11
Refrigerate the puff pastry sheet overnight, then roll to desired size.
Become a better chef with the MasterClass Annual Membership. Gain access to exclusive video lessons taught by culinary masters, including Dominique Ansel, Gabriela Cámara, Chef Thomas Keller, Yotam Ottolenghi, Gordon Ramsay, Alice Waters, and more.