Amazing Pastry Dough Recipe

5 from 4 votes

This truly Amazing Pastry Dough Recipe is a type of easy laminated dough made with sour cream that is a close relative to puff pastry requiring only two turns for a tender, flaky crust enclosing all sorts of goodies sweet and savory

Prep Time45

Cook Time25

Chilling time1

Total Time2 10

Course: Pastry

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Pastry Dough Recipe,, Rough Puff Pastry, turnovers

Servings: servings

Calories: 340kcal

Author: Helen S. Fletcher

Ingredients

Amazing Pastry Dough Recipe

1 cup unsalted butter (225 grams or 2 sticks)
1 ¾ cups bread flour (245 grams)
¾ teaspoon table salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup sour cream, cold (114 grams)
2 tablespoons water
1 large egg, well beaten

SEE THE POST FOR FILLINGS AND AMOUNTS

Instructions

Amazing Pastry Dough Recipe

Cut the butter into about ¾" pieces. Keep in the refrigerator until needed. The butter needs to be very cold.
Place the dry ingredients in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix briefly to combine.
Add the chunks of cold butter. Mix on low to break the butter up but keep it in large pieces.
Add the sour cream and mix to bring it together. Add the water and mix to form large crumbs.
Pour the crumbs onto a work surface. Push the crumbs together to form a block of dough. Knead 3 or 4 times to smooth it out, keeping the butter in large pieces.
Press a rolling pin into the dough about 3 or 4 times several inches apart from top to bottom. These "hills and valleys" will help roll out the dough more evenly,
Sprinkle the surface lightly with flour. Roll the dough to about a 16" x 8" rectangle. If the pastry begins to soften, chill it until firm.
Brush off any flour and fold the top and bottom to the center of the pastry, leaving a ½" channel.
Fold the top over the bottom, creating a book like pastry. Turn the pastry 90° with the fold to the right.
Lightly sprinkle the surface with flour and repeat the rolling and folding. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill until cold through out, overnight or up to 3 days.

For the half moon pastries

With the pastry parallel to the edge of the surface divide the pastry in half (approximately 300 grams). Refrigerate ½ half of the pastry.
Roll ½ of the pastry into a 12 ½" x 12 ½" square. With a 6" round guide (a saucer or cake round is fine) cut 4 rounds out of the pastry. Refrigerate. Repeat with the second half of the pastry. Chilling it also.
Place one round in front of you and fill with ¼ cup of filling of your choice. Wet the edges of the pastry with water and bring the top over the filling matching the edges. Seal with a fork. Refrigerate. Repeat for the other 4 rounds.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375°F. Place 4 cold pastries on a parchment lined baking sheet and brush them with the beaten egg. Cut two vents in each pastry.
It is best to bake one sheet at a time for about 20 to 25 minutes until medium brown. Refrigerate the second tray until baking.
Serve lukewarm or room temperature. These reheat in the microwave for 20 seconds.
Store at room temperature uncovered for a day or two. Do not cover or they will become soggy.

Rectanglar Turnovers

Roll one half of the dough into a 12 ½" x 14 ½" rectangle. Trim to 12" x 14". cut the 12" side into 12" x 6" pieces. Cross cut to 7" x 6". You will have 4 pieces of pastry that are 7"x 6". Refrigerate.
Place ¼ cup filling of your choice slightly below the middle of the pastry. Wet the edges and bring the top of the pastry down over the filling making sure there is about ½" without any filling round the 4 sides. Using the tines of a fork, seal the crust all the way around. Refrigerate.
When ready to bake preheat the oven to 375°F. Place 4 pastries on two parchment lined baking sheets. Brush with the beaten egg and cut 2 vents in each pastry. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until medium brown. It is best to bake one tray at a time. Refrigerate the second tray until bakiog.
Cool to luke warm . Serve lukewarm or room temperature. These reheat in the microwave for 20 seconds.

Notes

There is always an abundance of photos to guide you in the post above.

As always, I recommend using a scale for accuracy and consistency. Flour, in particular, is difficult to measure by volume. For my recipes, I use 140 grams per cup of unsifted all-purpose, bread or whole wheat flour and 125 grams of cake flour. Others may use different weights so use whatever they suggest.

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Cold and clean are two of the most important points when making laminated doughs. If the butter softens at any time, refrigerate or freeze briefly to get it cold again. Make sure if any dough sticks to the rolling pin, to clean it off with a paper towel immediately. If you continue to roll, more pastry will stick to the pin and the pastry can tear.

Refrigerate the filled pastries before cutting the vents on top and egg washing. This will make cleaner cuts for a better looking pastry. This should be done just before baking.

The fillings are given for 8 pastries. Reduce the amount if using more than one filling.

These keep well at room temperature, uncovered for a day or two.

The pastry can be made in its entirety and frozen well wrapped for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight to use.

The completed pastries can also be frozen well wrapped for up to 3 months without the egg wash. Egg wash them just before baking. Either thaw them overnight and bake cold or bake them from the freezer adding additional time.

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