Puff pastry

Makes about 1kg

Time: 1 hour preparation, excluding resting time

• 500g plain flour

• pinch salt

• strained juice of ½ lemon or 1 tsp vinegar

• 500g salted butter, cold

1. Make a dough from the flour, salt, lemon juice/vinegar and 300 millilitres of cold water. Knead for a minute or two and then place it on a plate, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight.

2. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface – a marble slab, if possible. Without kneading it, roll out the dough to a rectangle of 15 centimetres by 35 centimetres.

3. Take the block of butter and beat it into a rectangle of 15 centimetres by 23 centimetres. (Beating the butter with a rolling pin makes it more malleable without heating it up too much.) Position the butter to take up two-thirds of the dough, leaving one-third uncovered.

4. Fold the naked third of the dough to the centre, and then fold the other third up. Seal the edges by pinching the dough together. You should have dough, butter, dough, butter, dough. Turn 90 degrees and then roll out to a rectangle that’s 35 centimetres long. You then make your first “book turn”. Bring both ends into the middle and then close like a book. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. Do not chill for longer, as the butter will become too hard and will break through the dough when it is rolled out.

5. Unwrap the chilled dough and place it on the floured surface with the short ends to the top and bottom. Roll out and fold as before, then wrap and chill for another 30 minutes. Repeat this process two times more for a total of four “book turns”. (Keep note of how many times you have folded the dough by making a small mark on a scrap of dough with your fingertip each time.)

6. When folded for the last time, wrap the dough in nonstick baking paper, put it into a plastic bag and refrigerate until required. It will keep well in the refrigerator for two or three days, or can be frozen for up to three months.

7. When ready to use, roll out into the desired shape and bake in a hot oven (220ºc) until golden and then turn the oven down to 180ºc to cook through, depending on the shape, size and thickness.