Puff Pastry



            With its complexity and amazing flavor, puff pastry has captivated the pallets of all who have tried it.  From its creation, puff pastry has graced the tables of kings and rulers.  It was on the shelves of high end bakeries.  Today, we take for granted the accessibility of this one time luxury.  In this blog, I would like to look at three things: the origin of puff pastry, the techniques to make it, and what it was used for in the 18^th century.  

 



 

            The origin of puff pastry isn’t clearly recorded, as is the case with many different foods.  There is one myth that the famous painter, Claude Gelee, was making bread one day in the 17^th century for his sick father and came across the method of folding butter into bread.  But actually there are several references to puff pastry before his time.  Puff pastry most likely evolved from the Middle Eastern phyllo dough.  Phyllo moved through the Middle East, around the Mediterranean and into Muslim Spain.  From here, either the Germans or the French added butter and the intricate folding process.  The first accepted reference to puff pastry comes from France in the 14^th century.  The reference given is called “gâteau feuilleté” which means, “Cake Laminated”.  The record does not, however, mention how it was made.  The first reference to it that I can find actually named puff pastry is in 1549.  It comes from a menu in honor of Catherine de Medici’s coronation and lists “Quarante plats de petits feuilletage” or “forty little plates of puff pastries”. 

 

            The process of making puff pastry varies to this day.  The overall process starts with a simple dough mixture of water, butter and flour.  Much like a simple pie crust, you take your flour and cut in cold butter.  You then add cold water until it becomes a stiff paste.  In the modern kitchen, you would put this in the refrigerator and let it chill for 12 hours.  In the 18^th century, they would have immediately rolled out the paste into a rectangle.  Then you put a layer of butter in the middle of the puff pastry rectangle.  You then fold it like a business letter and then in half.  Today, you put this back in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to firm up and continue rolling it out the same way that you had done the first time. Back then they would have simply kept rolling it.

 

The Ball of Dough

The Layer of Butter

The Dough Folded

 

In the 18^th century, it is likely the upper classes who were making puff pastry could afford marble pastry boards. This would have been ideal for puff pastry because the marble stays 20 degrees below the outside temperature.  The differences in puff pastry come from additives and ingredient measures.  For example, Hannah Glasse calls for no egg to be added to her puff pastry dough but Amelia Simmons calls for the whites of eggs to be used.  It is the same way with measurements. Hannah Glasse calls for a peck of flour and half a pound of butter to be used whereas Amelia Simmons calls for 1 pound of butter and 2 pounds of flour. You can play around with the recipe to some degree as long as you keep the layers of butter and flour.  The science behind what makes puff pastry work is the many layers you create by folding the pastry several times.  You create layers of dough and butter which when heated, causes the butter to steam and make the pastry rise.

Puff Pastry Recipe

Hannah Glasse

"The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy"

1774

Amelia Simmons

"American Cookery"

1796

 



 

              Since its creation, puff pastry has been used for multiple dishes.  Louis XI, who ruled France from 1461 to 1483, was said to have a favorite puff pastry recipe of marzipan baked in puff pastry which would be a very decadent treat.  In the 18^th century, we have recipes for fish baked in puff pastry, pears or raspberry jam wrapped in pastry and boiled or baked like a pie pastry.  With its complexity and time consuming preparation, it is unlikely that the lower classes were enjoying puff pastry in the 18^th century.  Instead, the well-equipped upper class kitchens, with their full time staff or slave cooks, were likely the only ones enjoying this treat.

 

 

Croaker En Croûte

Fish Wrapped in Puff Pastry

To Fry or Bake Mushrooms in Paste

 

 

http://recipes.history.org/2015/03/des-beignets-de-gelee-de-grosseilles-fritters-of-currant-jam/

 

http://recipes.history.org/2014/08/to-bake-or-fry-mushrooms-in-paste/

 

http://recipes.history.org/2013/08/to-make-raspberry-dumplings/

 

For some 18th century puff pastry recipes take a look at these from Colonial Williamsburg's Historic Foodways.

 

 

 

            To prepare for this blog, this was my first attempt to make puff pastry.  While my family told me how good it tasted and the photos definitely show the ‘puff’ and layers of dough, I can honestly say that I am very thankful for packaged puff pastry.  With the convenience of packaged, prepared puff pastry so readily available in the grocery store, most people do not understand the work that it takes to make it on your own.  And this is one of the great examples of what I love about the historical cooking…we’ve come a long way.  Whether you enjoy homemade or packaged, sweet or savory, I think we can all agree that puff pastry is a treat that we all love.