Whole wheat flaky pastry

While we live in an age where almost anything you desire can be bought at a grocery store, nothing beats homemade. And frankly, it’s not likely to change any time soon. Even if you go for the cleanest, freshest, the most organic and closest to “tasting like home”, it’s still going to cost you few times more than picking the building blocks and putting it together yourself. Because even the nicest producers still have to make a profit for themselves before ensuring others’ well-being. Not to mention that nothing gives you more certainty about your food than knowing (and seeing) exactly what went into making it. So next time you think of purchasing some frozen or chilled pastry, grab some butter and flour instead. This whole wheat flaky pastry is easy, quick and exceptionally satisfying.

Flaky pastry is also known as lazy or “cheats-y” puff pastry because it’s considerably simpler to make but tastes just as buttery and crispy so nobody would ever know. In other words, this can be used wherever puff pastry would be required. Making it whole wheat flaky pastry also means that you have instantly increased the healthiness of your future dish. And to allow things to move at an extra quick pace, this recipe calls for reduced chilling times by using the freezer instead of a refrigerator.

Whole wheat flaky pastry ingredients:

• 115g whole wheat flour (~1 cup)
• 110g white flour (~1 cup)
• about 80ml very cold water (~1/3 cup)
• 130g cold butter
• pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Cube about 40g of butter and scatter it over combined 115g whole wheat, 110g white flour and a pinch of salt.
2. Blend until it looks like breadcrumbs. (I like to use a mixer for speed but rubbing the butter into the flours by hand also works.)
3. Add about 80ml of chilled water while continuing to blend.
4. Gather into a ball, slightly flatten, wrap in cling film and place in the freezer (along with the remaining 90g butter) for 15 minutes.
5. Cube another 30g of butter. Roll out the chilled dough into a rough rectangle and scatter the cubed butter over the top two thirds of the dough.
6. Fold the bottom third of the pastry over the butter.
7. Then fold the top over the middle to create a little parcel.
8. Using your rolling pin press the two open sides of your parcel down to seal in the butter. Wrap in cling film and freeze (together with the 60g butter) for 5 minutes.
9. Turn your pastry and repeat the rolling and folding without adding any butter. Wrap and freeze for 5 more minutes.
10. Cube 30g of butter and roll out the turned pastry again. Add the cubed butter to the top two thirds and fold as before.
11. Turn the pastry, cube the last 30g of butter and repeat the rolling and folding in the butter. Wrap and freeze for 5 more minutes.
12. Turn, roll and fold the pastry one last time without adding any butter.
13. Wrap and freeze for at least 10 minutes before using.

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