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Dessert

To Choose and Prepare Butter for Puff Paste

Butter prepared by chilling in ice water with saltpetre or salt, then molded and pressed before use.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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To Choose and Prepare Butter for Puff Paste

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ice bath

  1. Fill a pail with cold spring water and add the pounded ice and saltpetre or salt.

  2. Break the butter into small pieces and place it in the ice-water mixture.

  3. Let the butter sit for 20 to 30 minutes until firm and solid.

Shape and store

  1. Mould the butter on a marble slab or paste-board.

  2. Immerse it again in the iced water until ready to use.

  3. Press the butter in a clean cloth or napkin before using.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Butter
Provides the solid fat layers that separate dough sheets, so the pastry puffs when baked.
Pounded ice
Keeps the butter cold and firm so it does not soften or melt into the dough.
Saltpetre or salt
Helps firm the chilled butter and adds a mild seasoning to it.

The step that matters

Keeping the butter cold while shaping. If butter softens, it blends into the dough instead of forming separate layers, so the pastry will not puff well. Keep it chilled in the ice water between handling steps.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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