Flaky Puff Pastry

1. Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Cut two-fifths (100g) of the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add sufficient water to mix to a stiff dough.

2. On a lightly floured board roll out dough to a rectangle 0.5–1 cm thick. With the short end of the rectangle facing you, dot two-thirds of the pastry with a sixth (25g) of the remaining butter to within 1cm of the dough edge. Fold the unbuttered pastry into the middle of the pastry. Fold the buttered section over to the folded edge.

3. Seal the edges with a rolling pin and mark the dough with the rolling pin to form corrugations. Give the pastry a quarter turn. Roll into a rectangle. Repeat five times until all the butter is used.

4. Chill pastry for 5 minutes between rollings if possible. Use as required for savoury pies and vol au vents.