Probably, no type of baking in world cuisine attracts more attention than patties. In each national kitchen they may be called differently, have some differences in the preparation of dough, in baking technology, modeling options, but continue for many centuries to remain the most popular bakery product.
The greatest difficulty in cooking are puff types of dough. Often, housewives prefer to buy it frozen, fearing that it will not work on its own. But homemade dough has always been and will be tastier than production. True or not, but our great-great-grandmothers believed that the smell of fresh pies in the house was for prosperity and well-being, that the dough responds to the warmth of human hands and thanks to them gets a special taste.
If you do not have any special experience in cooking puff pastries, then you should start training with apple pies. Why? Let's talk about this and the secrets of making puff pastry in detail, as far as possible.
Puff Apple Pies - Basic Technological Principles
Let's start with a simple question - apple filling for pies. This variant of the filling is the most convenient in the preparation of the pies, because apples, in comparison with the berries, have relatively dense pulp, and the apple filling does not follow from the dough when baking. In addition, apples contain a lot of pectin, especially - in the skins of fruits. Pectin has gelling properties: thanks to him, apple juice during heat treatment (in the baking process) forms a fairly dense fruit mass, is retained inside the cake.
When preparing the filling for the pies from fresh apples try to choose the most solid varieties. In apples of technical ripeness there is dense pulp, they contain less juice, and their skin has more pectin than in mature fruits. Hence the conclusion: the skin of apples do not cut off when preparing the filling for the pies. Then the filling will not flow out, and, in addition, the skin contains essential oils, giving the puff pastry with apples, inherent only to them, flavor. Even easier to sculpt the patties with apple jam. Apple jam contains much less juice, so it is a ready filling. If you want a special taste, then you can add vanilla, cinnamon, rum or brandy, whole berries (currants, cranberries, cherries, bananas) to the jam.
Dried fruits, candied fruits, cottage cheese, pumpkin are ideal as an addition to apple filling.
Now - about puff pastry. It is believed that the best dough has at least thirty-six layers. This means that the dough should be rolled and rolled 36 times. During the rolling, each layer is sprinkled with a fat crumb or a fat cottage cheese (Bulgarian banitsa). Laminated dough also helps to form fatty homemade sour cream (at least 50% fat).
In short, without the use of fat it is impossible to get a good puff pastry. That it forms a layered structure. Puff pastry is prepared yeast-free and yeast-free.
For the yeast method, pressed yeast is usually used. They are bred in a small amount of water or milk, which, unlike the usual yeast dough, is used chilled. In general, the whole technology of making puff pastry is based on the main principle: all the ingredients for it should have a temperature not higher than 10-14 ° C, until baking. Yeast puff pastry is sent for proofing (and heating) at the very last stage, before baking.
Unleavened puff pastry loosened using baking soda with the addition of acid (vinegar, citric acid solution or lemon juice, other juices containing large amounts of acetic acid). Also for loosening the dough used ammonium, various baking powders.
When using chemical disintegrators, it is necessary to adhere to the amount of powder specified in the recipe. Excess soda, for example, gives the dough a grayish tint and an unpleasant soda flavor. Therefore, using the usual baking soda, the dough after kneading is better left for a couple of hours in the cold so that the soda completely reacts with the other components. After that, you can proceed to rolling and foliation.
Patties from the same set of products may look like a work of art. The secret of this effect is in the modeling options. Of course, in order to master them, you need enough practice. For some of the secrets of “artistic” modeling of puff pastries with apples, read the recipes below.
Recipe 1. Puff pastries with unleavened apples
Ingredient list:
Sour cream, homemade 200 g
Soda 25 g
Vinegar, table 50 ml
Flour (premium) 600 g (+ 50-70 g per sub-fire)
250 g oil
Cinnamon 5g
Apples, fresh 1 kg (net)
Powder 150 g
Cooking Technology:
Take half the flour and sprinkle it over the surface of the desktop. Cooled butter with a knife in flour, until a uniform crumb is formed. Put the cooked crumbs on a dish and put in the refrigerator for a while. In the rest of the sifted flour, make a depression in the center of the slide. Soda quench vinegar and pour the mixture into the flour. Add sour cream and knead the dough until a smooth texture. Roll out the dough thinly, square, sprinkle over the entire surface of the cooked crumbs. Press it lightly with the palm of your hand so that it does not lag behind and is not poured when the test is rolled up. Roll the envelope and again roll it back to its previous size. Sprinkle with flour and butter crumb again, and repeat this operation until the crumb is finished. Remember: the more layers - the better the dough.
Roll the finished dough with sausage and divide it into 60 equal parts. So many should get pies. Roll the pieces into small balls and put them in the cold.
Take care of the preparation of the filling. From the washed apples, technical ripeness, remove the core and cut them into small cubes or bars together with the skin. So that they do not darken, immediately immerse in acidified water. When complete cutting, flip through a colander and dry with a napkin. Sprinkle fruit cinnamon and powdered.
Turn on the oven at 180 ° C, prepare a baking sheet.
Roll the balls out of the dough on a table greased or sprinkled with flour. Put the stuffing in them and close up, turning the edges of the round cakes to the center.
Turn the patties seam down, put on a baking sheet. Let them rise, putting closer to heat.
After proofing, brush the surface with a beaten egg so that the patties will brown well.
Finished products put on a damp cloth, not getting out of the pan, and cover with a napkin for 10 minutes.
Recipe 2. Puff pastry with apples from yeast dough
Dough Products: Milk 250 ml
Pressed yeast 75 g
Flour (high grade), wheat 500 g (+ 100 g for sub-fire)
Salt, fine 10 g
Margarine, creamy 300 g
Sugar 150 g
Egg 1 pc.
Syrup, sugar or honey 100 ml (for lubrication)
Apples 0.5 kg (net)
Cooking Technology:
Dissolve the yeast in the milk: the milk should have a temperature not higher than 18 ° C, sugar and flour should not be added to start the yeast, so that the dough does not start to rise prematurely, until the semi-finished products are proofed.
Sift half the cooked flour into a bowl, add salt, milk with yeast and knead the dough. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for an hour.
From the remaining flour and margarine, prepare the crumb by spilling the flour onto the table and chopping the cooled margarine into it with a knife. Keep the baby chilled as well.
Next, the dough and apple filling is prepared as described in the previous recipe.
To make cakes, use the method of weaving:
Roll out thin tortillas and make parallel incisions along the edges of the circle. In the center lay out the stuffing, and cut the cut edges of the cakes, interlacing the opposite strips in the center.
After laying the molded products on a baking sheet, after proofing, brush with a beaten egg and bake. Hot patties smeared with syrup, taken out of the oven. After 5 minutes, when the patties have cooled slightly, sprinkle the surface with sugar.
Recipe 3. Puff pastries with apples, raisins and cottage cheese
Products:
For the test (see recipe number 2)
Filling:
Sugar 100 g
Raisin 120g
Vanilla (crystalline powder) 3 g
Apples, dried 200 g
Cottage cheese (19%) 300 g
Preparing the filling:
Curd cheese through a sieve, add vanilla and sugar, mix. Then pour the prepared dried fruits in a bowl with cottage cheese. For the filling, use cottage cheese with high fat content so that when sugar is added, less whey separates from it - then the cakes will have a beautiful and fluffy shape, a delicate taste, and the filling will not spill out on the baking sheet when baking. Choose the test recipe at your discretion (# 1, # 2).
Pastry Modeling Option:
Divide the prepared dough into 3 parts.
Roll out two pieces of dough and cut circles. Spread stuffing on one circle, cover with another circle from dough. The third part is divided in half and roll out thin sausage. Roll it into a bundle. Decorate molded products with prepared flagella by sticking them along the diameter of the products. To make the flagella stick well, grease the top of the pie with an egg. Hot baked products grease with syrup.
Recipe 4. Puff pastries with apples - “roses”
Puff pastry, fresh 0.5 kg
For filling:
Large apples 10 -12 pcs.
Cooking:
Roll out the dough into a thin rectangle, which is cut into strips of 4x12 cm. Apples, removing the core, cut into plates (thin half-pieces). Spread apple slices on each prepared strip overlapping, from the center of the strip, so that the rounded part of the apple protrudes beyond the edge of the dough. Turn the second edge and twist the test strips with a roll. It is necessary to lay on a baking sheet so that the slices of apples projecting from the dough were at the top.
Baked products, slightly cooled, sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Recipe 5. Puff pastries with apples and rice, deep fried
Ingredients:
Yeast puff pastry 0.75 kg
Cooked sweet rice 300 g
Pumpkin Baked 150 g
Fresh apples 200 g
Cinnamon (for the filling)
Vegetable fat (for frying) 0,7 l
Honey or fruit sauce for serving
Cooking:
For the filling, combine the pumpkin and apples, cut into small cubes, with boiled rice. Stir the ingredients of the filling, adding cinnamon to taste. Form dough from the finished dough. Spread the stuffing in them. Gather the edges of the skirt to the center and tweak, leaving a small hole.
Heat the oil in a deep and large bowl with a thick bottom. When it boils, carefully lay out the cakes in it, making sure that the holes are not immersed in the oil. Toasted products get out of boiling oil with forceps and place on a dish lined with a napkin. Pour the cooked sauce inside and serve.
Recipe 6. Puff pastry with apples - apples in puff pastry
Products:
Dough (recipe number 1) 360 g
Whole apples 6 pcs.
Spicy spices - to taste
Cherry syrup 100 g and powdered sugar (for serving)
Cooking:
Roll the dough into a thin, rectangular layer, cut it into strips, dividing it into 6 parts. From small apples, remove the core and add cinnamon, honey or other spicy spices inside. Wrap each apple in slices of dough in a spiral. The edges of the test, so as not to unfold, pin wooden skewers or toothpicks. Bake at medium temperature. Pour the finished apples in the dough with syrup and powder with powder.
Puff Apple Pies - Tips and Tricks
- To thicken the filling in the patties, boil the fruit pieces with the addition of pectin or agar-agar. You can also “chop” sliced apples with flour or starch, which will absorb the juice and when baking it will not spill on a baking sheet.
- To make a filling of fresh apples for patties, it is not recommended to rub them on the grater, as this will increase the secretion of juice. Then you have to squeeze the fruit or boil down to the desired thickness.
- For the preparation of puff pastry, it is necessary to use chilled butter or margarine. Fat must be pre-cut into small pieces in order to evenly distribute it on the surface of the test formation. However, when heated at room temperature, it quickly melts and sticks together, which creates inconvenience when rolling dough. Pour the sifted flour on the table and put the pieces of butter in it. Cut them with a knife until fine crumbs form. Freeze the prepared mixture and get out of the freezer as needed. This method will greatly facilitate the preparation of puff pastry. Flour used for cutting butter should be considered when kneading dough.
