STRAWBERRY PALMIERS

Rough Puff Pastry:

❚ 250 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour

❚ 250 g (2 cups) bread flour

❚ 10 g (2 1/2 tsp) kosher salt

❚ 35 g (2 1/2 tbsp) granulated sugar

❚ 400 g (1 3/4 cups) cold unsalted butter (preferably European style), cut into 1/2-inch (1.25-cm) cubes

❚ 250 g (1 cup plus 2 tsp) cold water

Strawberry Sugar (divided):

❚ 15 g (1/4 cup) freeze-dried strawberries

❚ 50 g (1/4 cup) granulated sugar

To Finish:

❚ 50 g (1/4cup) granulated sugar

1. Make the Rough Puff Pastry: Whisk together the flours, salt and sugar in a large bowl.

2. Add the cold butter to the flour mixture. Use your fingers to flatten the cubes of butter, keeping the pieces of butter fairly large — about the size of walnut halves. Toss with the flour so that all the butter pieces are completely coated.

3. Add the water and gently stir with a spatula just to combine. The dough should be quite shaggy, but if you squeeze a bit in your hand it should hold together. Cover and chill for 15 to 20 minutes or until cool but not too stiff.

4. Generously flour a work surface and rolling pin and turn the chilled dough out. Roll the dough into a long rectangle about 8 x 20 inches (20 x 51 cm), roughly 1/4 inch (6 mm) thick. The pastry may seem patchy and not cohesive — this is normal; it will come together in the next steps. Try to keep your edges and corners as straight and square as possible, but don’t stress too much about it. 5. Turn the dough so a short side is facing you. Using a bench scraper, fold down the top third and fold up the bottom third as if folding a letter, brushing off excess flour as you fold. Rotate the dough 90 degrees so the opening is on the right. This is your first fold. Wrap the pastry in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

6. Repeat the rolling, folding, turning and chilling three more times for a total of four folds.

7. After the final fold, wrap the pastry well and chill for at least 45 minutes, or up to 2 days. (For longer storage, freeze well-wrapped dough for up to a month. Thaw overnight in the fridge before using.)

8. Make the Strawberry Sugar: While the dough is chilling, in the bowl of a food processor, grind the freeze-dried strawberries into a fine powder. Mix with the granulated sugar. Set aside half of the mixture for dipping the finished palmiers.

9. Assemble and Bake the Palmiers: Remove the chilled pastry and cut in half crosswise. Wrap one half of the pastry in plastic wrap and return it to the fridge, or freeze for longer storage. (You’ll only need half of the pastry for this recipe.)

10. On a lightly floured surface, roll the other half of the pastry into a rectangle about 10 x 13 inches (25 x 33 cm), between just under 1/4 inch (6 mm) thick. Rotate and flip the pastry and flour your surface as needed to avoid sticking. When you’ve reached the correct size and thickness, use a pastry wheel or a sharp knife to trim the edges to neaten.

11. Sprinkle an even layer of half of the strawberry-sugar mixture on one side of the dough. Use your rolling pin to gently press the sugar into the dough. Fold the long edges of your pastry in so they meet exactly in the middle, then fold one half over the other half as if closing a book (you’ll have a total of four layers). Transfer the log to a baking sheet and chill for about 15 minutes to make cutting the palmiers easier.

12. While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) with a rack in the middle and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

13. Cut the chilled pastry into 1/2-inch (1.25-cm)-thick slices. To finish, dip each side in the plain, granulated sugar and place the palmiers on the prepared baking sheets 2 inches (5 cm) apart. (The palmiers will puff significantly in the oven, so leave plenty of space between each.) If the dough is soft at all, return to the fridge or freezer to firm up before baking.

14. Bake the palmiers, one sheet at a time, for 20 to 30 minutes (keep the remaining unbaked palmiers chilled). Check the bottoms of the palmiers after 10 minutes; if they are brown and caramelized, flip them over for the remaining baking time. If not, keep checking every 1 to 2 minutes until they are. Bake until both sides are a rich golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining cookies.

15. Once the palmiers are cool enough to handle, dip each side into the reserved strawberry sugar. Palmiers are best served the day they’re baked, but will keep for about 5 days at room temperature in an airtight container.

Makes: 18-24 cookies

Notes: Depending on the temperature of your kitchen, your pastry may stay cool enough for you to do the first two folds back to back. But don’t push it — the butter needs to stay cool for the flaky layers to form in the oven. If at any point the dough starts to feel sticky or warm, wrap and chill it before proceeding.

VARIATIONS

Strawberry-lemon: Grind the zest of 1 lemon with the plain granulated sugar before mixing in the ground freezedried strawberries.

Sugar Switch: Replace the strawberry sugar with plain granulated sugar or brown sugar, or a different flavoured sugar.

Savoury: Replace the strawberry sugar with 1/4 cup (63 g) of prepared pesto or tapenade and sprinkle on 12 grams (2 tbsp) of grated Parmesan before folding. Brush both sides of the log with egg wash (1 large egg, whisked with 1 teaspoon of milk or water and a pinch of salt) before slicing.