This is my favourite pastry for pasties. It's divine to work with. I'm not good at pastry, normally as I have hot hands!
Megan's Rough Puff Pastry
250g cold chopped butter
250g plain flour (can use bread flour)
juice half a lemon
110ml cold water - I put 100ml water in a jug and add 2 small ice cubes.
Process butter and flour on speed 6 for 4 seconds.
Add liquids and process on speed 5 until it comes together. If ice is still whole, blitz on speed 8 for a second or two.
Tip out on to silpat mat.
Bring together using the mat to press the sides to make a rectangle shape.
Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes or more.
Place onto floured silpat mat. I have a small container of flour ready to spread over the mat, rolling pin and top of pastry. (A shaker would work better)
Roll into a rectangle, 10cm x 20 and do a book fold. Bring the top ⅓ of the pastry down to the middle and the bottom third up to the middle. Fold the top fold over the bottom fold.
Wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Repeat this process another four or five times, but rolling out to 20cm x 30 cm each time. Press the ends in to keep the small rectangle shape.
On the last fold, place in the fridge for an hour, or ideally overnight. It can also be frozen at this stage.
When ready to use, roll out, turning, relaxing sheet of pastry regularly to prevent shrinkage when baking (lifting it up from mat or bench and letting it take a loose shape when placed back down) and cut to size. Brush with beaten egg and bake at 190C until golden brown and puffed up.
Scraps can be pressed together, wrapped and refrigerated. Roll out and cut what you can with these.
I make two lots at a time, so I have a decent amount of pastry. Here's my pasties. I cut these with the cutter that comes with the electric pie maker - the larger cutter, 12Cm diameter.
