Try this quicker method for whole wheat puff pastry, for all your baking needs!
Prep Time: 30 minutesminutes
Chilling time: 2 hourshours30 minutesminutes
Total: 3 hourshours
Servings: 2pounds of puff pastry.
Ingredients
1 ½cupsall-purpose flour(about 180 g)
1 ½cupswhole wheat bread flour(about 180 g)
1 ½tablespoonssugar
1 ½teaspoonssalt
12ouncescold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4" cubes and chilled again until firm(3 sticks/ 1 1/2 cups)
9tablespoonsice water
2teaspoonslemon juice
Instructions
Combine the flours, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor, pulsing once to combine. Add 1/4 of the butter chunks and pulse 4 times until the dough is in dime-sized pieces. Add the remaining butter and process 2 times just to coat the butter cubes with flour. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
Combine the ice water and lemon juice in a small bowl. Drizzle half of the liquid over the flour/butter mixture and toss with a rubber spatula until just combined. Add more liquid, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough clumps together when squeezed.
Turn the dough - which will be very shaggy - out onto your work surface. Fraisage the dough by dragging small portions of it across the counter under the heel of your hand (see photo in post above). The motions should be quick and brisk so that the butter stays as cold as possible. This action creates many thin layers of dough and butter, and begins to bring the dough together.
Gather the dough up into a ball (a metal pastry scraper is helpful here), press it into a disc, wrap it in plastic and chill it for 1 hour.
Remove the chilled dough from the fridge, unwrap it, and place it on a lightly floured surface. Dust the dough lightly with flour, sweep off any excess with a pastry brush, and roll out the dough to a 15x10" rectangle. Fold the dough lengthwise into thirds, like folding a letter, then, starting from a short end, loosely roll up the dough into a spiral. (See photos in post, above.)
If the dough is sticky or springy at this point, wrap it in plastic and chill it for 30 minutes.
Press down on the dough to form a small rectangle, and again roll it out into a 15x10" rectangle, and again roll it up into a spiral. Flatten it out a bit to make it easier to roll once it has chilled. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for at least 1 hour.
Your puff pastry is now ready to be used. You can store it in the fridge for a day or two, or freeze it, double-wrapped, for many months.
Notes
Adapted from Baking Illustrated.Makes 2 pounds (enough for twelve 5" turnovers, or two large pot pies).The whole wheat bread flour here gives the dough a nutty flavor without interfering with the lightness of the layers. I would not substitute whole wheat pastry flour, as it might not contain enough gluten to create strong layers of dough.Lacking a food processor, you can probably make this by rubbing in the butter with your fingers or a pastry blender. Bear in mind that the butter doesn't get incorporated as much as in a pie dough.A couple of simple tools will be helpful: a metal scraper to assist in the fraisage process, and a pastry brush for sweeping off excess flour as you roll out and turn the dough.As you work with the dough, return it to the fridge to chill for 10 minutes or so if it begins to either get sticky, or if it starts to spring back as you roll it. Stickiness is a sign of the butter softening, which will decrease the number of distinct layers of dough you have and will prevent your finished dough from rising high and flakily. Springiness is a sign of the glutens in the flour being activated, and will result in tough, bready dough if you don't let them rest. So listen to your dough, and give it a break when it asks.This dough takes about 2 1/2 - 3 hours to complete (more if your kitchen is warm and the dough requires more chilling), but most of this time is inactive - resting the dough in the refrigerator.Nutritional values are based on one of two pounds of dough.