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Corn-flecked rough puff pastry

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Intensely buttery: Corn-flecked rough puff pastry.
Intensely buttery: Corn-flecked rough puff pastry.William Meppem

Cornmeal adds a rich yellow hue and crunch to this intensely buttery pastry. It's great as the upper crust for a savoury pie. If you're into cooking and haven't ever made a rough puff, give this a go. It's easier than classic puff pastry and endlessly variable.

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Ingredients

  • 25g cornmeal or uncooked polenta

  • 125ml water

  • 75g ice cubes

  • 2 egg yolks

  • 350g white bread flour

  • 2 tsp baking powder

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 250g unsalted butter, fridge cold

  • extra flour for rolling

  •  

Method

  1. 1. Put the cornmeal and water in a saucepan (you can weigh 125g of water instead of measuring 125ml), bring to the start of a boil then remove from the heat and spoon into a jug. Add the ice cubes and stir until melted and cold then beat in the egg yolks.

    2. Put the flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Cut the butter into roughly 1.5-centimetre cubes, toss them in the flour then add the cornmeal liquid and mix everything together while keeping the butter in lumps. Add extra flour if it feels very soft, as it should come together as a firm lumpy dough. Compared with shortcrust it will feel utterly weird, but rolling will smooth everything.

    3. Wrap the dough in cling film, pat it slightly flat then freeze it for 30 minutes.

    4. Heavily dust a patch of worktop with flour, put the dough on it, and using extra flour on top, roll the dough into a rectangle about 1.5 centimetres thick. It will be messy, but just fold it in on itself in thirds, give it a quarter turn so the folded edges are to the left and right of you, then roll it out once more and again fold it in on itself in thirds.

    5. Wrap and chill the dough in the freezer until the butter firms again, then roll and fold the dough twice more. Wrap and chill the dough once more, roll and fold the dough twice more then it's ready. Either use immediately, wrap and chill for a few days, or freeze up to a couple of months (thaw before using).

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