Puff Pastry

I found a few recipes I want to try that have been fast tracked to the top of my long list of stuff to make (since I started blogging friends have been sending me recipes along with the ones I've collected on my own thanks to StumbleUpon and whatnot) and these recipes require something called 'puff pastry' I'm pretty sure Pillsbury makes it and it can be found at the grocery store somewhere near frozen pie crusts but I have yet to wander down that aisle so I decided to make my own, after all, homemade equals better right? So I decided that it would be my mission yesterday to locate a recipe for this puff pastry stuff so I could make my own, I have Google to thank for >THIS< one that I decided to use and share with y'all. Here is what the end product turned out looking like:

Here is all you need(plus a shake or two of salt)

And while I'm going on about how homemade food is so superior to packaged store-bought things that the american public calls food, let me go ahead and share with you my amazing breakfast..

Yes, toaster waffles =]

Start by cutting up 12 T of cold butter (about a stick and a half)

Pour out 1 1/4 C flour and a couple shakes of salt

Use a pastry cutter (or if like me you don't have one, you can use a large knife) to cut the butter and flour together

I tried to smooth it out as I went

Also, use the knife or pastry cutter to try to keep the edges as square/rectangular as possible, this will help.

Continue cutting it in until its good and mixed adding in 3/8 C of cold water a little bit at a time

Then get out the rolling pin

It should smooth out fairly well for you but it wont have a doughy consistency, it's going to be crumbly for the first few turns.

Take your knife or pastry cutter and slide it under the top of the rectangle and fold it over, its going to be folded into thirds like a business letter

Turn it over. Mine was gooey and ucky on the bottom side. 

But roll it out and again use the knife to try to keep the edges together.

And again fold it into thirds

And roll it out

Its going to start to feel more and more doughy as you go along

It was really gooey on the bottom side so after a while I gave in and started flouring it to keep it together better

Remember to turn it each time you fold it so that you're always rolling opposite the folds, like this

When you think you're done fold the edges into the center

Then fold it in half, like this

Put it in plastic wrap and it should keep in the refrigerator for a couple days or so, if you freeze it of course it will keep for much longer, about a month or so. Tomorrow this is going to become part of an amazing chocolaty wonderfulness that I am not yet willing to disclose, so you'll have to just check back and see =]

Happy Baking!

Enjoy! =]