Savoury and sweet puff pastry

I have a love and hate relationship with the puff pastry. I do love to have, and even to prepare my own, but I am always disappointed by my clumsiness when it comes to shaping it. True is that I haven't searched too many examples of professional puff pastry arrangements, and in this case obviously my imagination and creativity are largely limited. Otherwise, in all situations, the results were satisfactory taste-wise.

Trying to cope with my mom challenges under the pressure of the heat wave, puff pastry - both savoury and sweet - was the shortest way to happiness on my table.

In both cases, I used the REWE ready-made puff pastry (Blätterteig), of 275 gr.

As the results were encouraging - despite the aesthetical mishapes - I promised myself to try as soon as possible some famous Apfelstrudel. Because, you know, I can.

Savoury puff pastry

The filling is the biggest challenge for a puff pastry. It is what gives actually shape and content to the entire dough construction. For the savoury filling, I used the following ingredients:

- 7 small white champignons, minced

- 1 beaten egg

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- 1 pinch of salt

- 1 pinch of za'atar

- 150 gr. Ricotta cheese

- 50 gr. shredded Bulgarian cheese

The egg helps to bring together smoothly all the ingredients. Mix them well until you have a paste.

 You need another beaten egg for covering the dough when everything is ready to be brought to the oven.

I added the filling just in the middle, with the sides being cut in ribbons that are knitted all over the surface. I sprinkled the black sesame and get everything ready to stay in the oven, heated at 250C.

After around 15 minutes, everything is ready for a crunch, or two.

Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 15 minutes
Serves: 5

Sweet puff pastry

Ingredients:
- 250 canned mango, sliced
- 150 gr. mascarpone cheese
- 1 beaten egg
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup white sugar

Mix all the ingredients well.

 As in the previous case, I placed the filling in the middle and clumsily played with the sides of the dough, not so artistically, but enough to contain properly the middle. I also sprinkled some sugar on the top, after the egg was smeared all over.

Placed on a parchement paper, I put it in the oven, heated at 250C and after 15 minutes, this crispy golden beauty was ready to be tasted, preferably accompanied by some mint tea. I definitely fell in love with the final sweetness of the filling, and the special notes given by the sugar.

Bon Appétit!

Cheese puff pastry in the morning

Germany doesn't have a tradition of salty puff pastry, and once in a while I miss having some oily pastry with rich white or yellow cheese. Although I still fight hard with what I call my 'baking inferiority complex' - meaning that I simply don't trust my baking skills, I am trying to overcome this issue. Sometimes, my hunger for something crunchy and salty in the morning is strong enough to win me over all my issue. A couple of days ago, I tried my hand in preparing some cheese puff pastry as early as 7 o'clock in the morning. It was not only easy, but with 90% successful results. The time spent preparing was of maximum 20 minutes, with a minimum money investment and delicious results.

For a batch of 10 puff pastry I needed one ready made puff pastry - the German supermarkets like REWE do have plenty of them and very good quality too, sometimes for less than 2 EUR. For the filling, I used Philadelphia olive cheese, but you can practically use any possible variant of cheese, from Gouda to Parmesan or goat cheese (yum). For beautiful effects and in the memory of the golden Middle Eastern burekas, I also needed some white sesame seeds to sprinkle on the cover. One teaspoon of olive oil for the cover is also recommended for an amplified golden cover impression.

Cut the dough in various shapes: square, triangle etc. Add the cheese filling in thee middle and roll the dough or close it over it. 

Warm the oven at 250C and place each figure of puff pastry on a parchment paper. Let it bake for around 15 minutes.

The breakfast is ready! The smell of fresh dough is wrapping the house and makes the early mornings more bearable. After all, playing with puff pastry is not that difficult.

Bon Appetit!