Simple Easter Basket Tarts (Puff Pastry Recipes) (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to puff pastry? ›

Always preheat your oven for a minimum of 15-20 minutes before baking, because Puff Pastry depends on even heat to rise and puff. Place pastries 1 inch apart. If you want a flaky thin and crispy pastry that's not very puffy, prick the unbaked Puff Pastry all over with a fork, which lets steam escape while baking.

Puff pastry is a light and flaky pastry that is perfect for pies, pastries and tarts. Shortcrust pastry is a thicker pastry with a crumblier texture that makes a great base for pies, quiches, and tarts with wet fillings.

Warm pastry: Your pastry should be cold, cold, cold going into the oven. It's worth reiterating: Cold butter equals flaky layers. If your pastry is warm, the butter can easily leech right out during baking. For best results, work quickly and keep your hands off!

Milk is too runny and will burn but you can add a little to your egg wash to make it a little thinner for coating. Melted butter also burns quite quickly. Egg wash is the most reliable because it coats the pastry evenly and doesn't run off.

Egg wash is often used to make toppings on pastries stick. It's also used as a glaze to help the pastry achieve the perfect golden brown color and shine. Butter will not help toppings stick to pastry since it isn't a binder like an egg is, but butter can work in place of an egg wash for some foods.

This helps maintain its layers and structure during baking. Use Parchment Paper: Place the puff pastry on parchment paper before baking. This prevents direct contact with the baking sheet and helps in reducing the moisture that could make the bottom soggy.

One of the fool-proof ways to ensure a crisp bottom pie crust is to do what is called blind baking. This simply means that you bake the crust—either fully if you are adding a custard or cream that won't be cooked, or partially if the whole pie needs to bake—before adding the filling.

General rules

Mix together the flour and salt by sieving. Keep everything as cool as possible otherwise the fat may melt which would spoil the finished dish. Introduce as much air as possible during making.

Always bake Puff Pastry Shells in a preheated 425° F oven. Bake Puff Pastry Cups in a preheated 400° F oven for 20 minutes. Do not bake either Shells or Cups in a microwave or toaster oven. See our Tips & Techniques page for more baking tips for Puff Pastry Sheets, Shells and Cups.

Can you use puff pastry straight from the fridge? ›

Separate and place each sheet on a plate, cover with plastic wrap and defrost in the refrigerator for about 4 hours. Once Puff Pastry is thawed, work quickly while it's still cold. You can cut it into desired shapes, then store in the fridge until you're ready for the next step. Puff Pastry works best when cold.

Whether it's store-bought or made from scratch, puff pastry should be rolled out to ensure the dough has an even thickness. Forget to dust your work surface with a light coating of flour and the dough is likely to stick and prove tougher to work with.

Temperature is a key factor in baking up puff pasty that actually puffs. Set the oven dial too low, and the pastry is likely to fall flat. Follow this tip: As a rule of thumb, a higher oven temperature (400°F is ideal) results in puff pastry with a higher rise.

In the oven, the water in the layers of dough (and some water in the butter) turns into steam. This steam has just enough force to puff up each thin sheet of dough before evaporating into the oven. What's left behind is a delicate shell of airy pastry. Yum.

One way to prevent soggy bottom pastry is to blind bake the pastry – This means partially or completely bake the pastry before adding the filling. Also, avoid over-filling your pastry.