Wednesday 20 March 2013

Quick and Easy Flaky Pastry (Delia Smith)/Chocolate Turnovers

I would always hesitate whenever I think of making flaky pastry because of the amount of work that would entail in kneading, rolling and dealing with melting butter. Delia Smith has this so-called "cheat" version which promises to be easier than normal. 


I gave it a try and it was fairly easy indeed as no kneading was required and all I had to do was stir the mixture. I had some trouble with the butter which was melting away even as I grated it due to the warm and humid weather in Singapore. The dough was also broke fairly easily when I rolled it out. I am wondering if its because I did not put enough water. However, the result was a very flaky and crumbly pastry which was quite delicious. 


I was a little disappointed though that its not quite like the puff pastry I bought from the stores. But I guess one can't complain much since this is a lazy man's version. For these turnovers, I simply filled it with bits of chocolate which melted while they baked. I'm glad I overcame my fears of making flaky pastry and will try other recipes in future. 


This is for Cook like a Star, Delia Smith blog hop event, hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Mich from Piece of Cake. Grab the HTML Code for the event here.



I am submitting this to Bake-Along hosted by Joyce of Kitchen FlavoursLena of Her Frozen Wings and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids.

Quick and Easy Flaky Pastry
A Delia Smith Recipe

Ingredients
  • 4 oz (110 g) butter
  • 6 oz (175 g) plain flour
  • pinch of salt
Method
  • First of all remove a pack of butter from the fridge, weigh out 4 oz (110 g), then wrap it in a piece of foil and return it to the freezer or freezing compartment of the fridge for 30-45 minutes. 
  • Then, when you are ready to make the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a large, roomy bowl. Take the butter out of the freezer, fold back the foil and hold it in the foil, which will protect it from your warm hands. Then, using the coarse side of a grater placed in the bowl over the flour, grate the butter, dipping the edge of the butter on to the flour several times to make it easier to grate. What you will end up with is a large pile of grated butter sitting in the middle of the flour. 
  • Now take a palette knife and start to distribute the gratings into the flour – don't use your hands yet, just keep trying to coat all the pieces of fat with flour. Now sprinkle 2 tablespoons of cold water all over, continue to use the palette knife to bring the whole thing together, and finish off using your hands. If you need a bit more moisture, that's fine – just remember that the dough should come together in such a way that it leaves the bowl fairly clean, with no bits of loose butter or flour anywhere. 
  • Now pop it into a polythene bag and chill for 30 minutes before using. 
  • Remember, this, like other pastries, freezes extremely well, in which case you will need to defrost it thoroughly and let it come back to room temperature before rolling it out on a lightly floured surface.
Note: I baked my pastry for about 20 mins at 180 degrees C.

29 comments:

  1. Hi Mich, wow... delicious! Love your flaky pastries, look awesome. Great to go with coffee now. :))

    Have a nice day.

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  2. Hi Mich,
    Chocolate filling sounds delicious! You did a great job with the shortcrust pastry!
    Thank you for baking along with us!

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  3. Hi Mich
    When we talk about turnovers we usually have apples as fiilings but having chocolate for a change sounds delicious and yummy too.

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  4. Mich, this is yummy! Chocolate and pastry, a delicious partnership!

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  5. Mich, I try the same pastry recipe too. Shall blog about it sooner or later...Weather at Malaysia these days a re very hot too. I grated the butter as fast as I can... or else it melts easily. Melting chocolate inside the pastry must be very delicious to eat right...

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  6. This is yummy! For sure my children will love it but i have never try to do this before.

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  7. Great minds think alike! I've just made some turnovers using this Deila 's quick & easy flaky pastry recipe too. Yum! These looks fabulous & chocolatey!

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  8. Mich , I love your not-so flaky turnovers :D They look really good and yummy ! The gooey chocolate filling must be wonderful .....

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  9. So crispy and look yummy.

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  10. I am HUNGRY reading all the turnover recipes. Yours look divine!

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  11. They look perfect to me! And the chocolate bonus inside makes them even better!

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  12. Looks flaky, I saw this recipe but thought the hot weather is not good for grating the butter. So I took the short cut way and use puff pastry instead:P

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  13. checking the recipe, look not that easy to handle, because still need to fold butter, this is tricky step especially in our hot and humid weather..anyway, good try !

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  14. This is delicious Mich; I'd love to give them a bite right now! This is one of the moreish ones!
    PS: I have a temporary problem on my site: comments are off. I am trying to sort it out :-(

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  15. Mich, these chocolate turnovers look so cute & addictive to eat with! Never have this before, definitely an interesting recipe!

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  16. Hi Mich, I'm always scared to make my own puff pastry also, cos of the hot weather. I tried making macarons once in my kitchen and it did not survive cos my kitchen is too hot. LOL!

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  17. Good try! Using butter for making puff pastry is really not easy. I used pastry margarine last time and have not made my own puff pastry for a long time and now usually bought those frozen type.

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  18. Nicely done Mich! I still fear of making pastry dough! Lol! I did it once while I was in states, but it was drier & colder weather. Love how your pastry flakes so nicely! I guess in time yours will be much better off then store bought ones for sure. (^_^)

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  19. Hi Mich! Looks good for a first attempt! I was just telling Zoe, I would have just bought the puff pastry dough from supermarket to make this!

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  20. Yummy, kids will love this. Your homemade pastry look so flaky and crumbly.

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  21. Hi Mich,

    The DS's pastry recipe that I used for my sausage rolls is quite flaky and good. It didn't puff a lot like typical puff pastry but it is very nice and flaky to eat.

    This is what I usually do... Try freezing your butter longer (even overnight) and work lesser on your pastry (seeing streaks of butter on your pastry)... I reckon your pastry will puff even more :D

    Zoe

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  22. Lazy-man version or not - it looks delicious to me!

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  23. good morning mich, your cheat version is definately much better than mine. Very interesting to read Delia's method of doing these pastry. I can see a beautiful flaky pastry you hv churned out, good work!

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  24. I love this easy version of a flaky pastry. I always spend too much money buying defour! Thank you so much for sharing. I have had a long day...and I needed something sweet to cheer me up. I hope you are well. Enjoy the rest of your week. Happy Spring!

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  25. Wow, looks so delicious! I also don't like the amount of work making flaky pastry but now looking at this recipe, I think I can give it a try homemade pastry.

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  26. Lov that second photo and how flaky and light the pastry dough is. I live in Hong Kong and already aircon is on and humidity is 100. Baking is such a challenge in Asia. I give you credit for trying it in this heat. Take care, BAM

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  27. I love flaky pastry with the grating method, workd every time! I also made turnovers the first time I tried flaky pastry.

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  28. Sounds like a easy way of making the pastry, nvr see this unique method before... Will try it out when got time... Am following you from now.. Great to know some of you from Bake Along..

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  29. Hi Mich,

    This is the winning post for the Cook Like a Star giveaway. I will contact you again regarding the delivery details of your preferred book :D

    Zoe

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