Useful tips for frozen puff pastries

Parties without some good puff pastry, would be left incomplete. The layers of butter, and yet its lightness and good looks, are something one can hardly resist. The arduous task to make these leave it to be a rare visibility at home too often. Creating the dough, the folding and rolling of it all can be tedious and time consuming too.

Frozen puff pastry comes as a rescue to all these problems. These amazing pastries, can be seasoned, garnished and decorated with a variety of ingredients and be served as a main course or dessert. Palmier, cheese straws, turnovers, pot pies, pizzas, and tarts are always easy to make when these are kept handy. Frozen puff pastry is especially great for house parties, as most recipes can be assembled and baked just before the party starts.

Be a Savvy Shopper
There are three main brands of puff pastry: Dufour and Trader Joe’s make all-butter pastry, while Pepperidge Farm’s version contains vegetable shortening. Some cooks prefer the flavor of all-butter pastry, and think the shortening leaves an unpleasant aftertaste.
Packages vary in weight, but most are in the 1-pound range and contain either one or two sheets of pastry. The recipe you choose will help you pick the amount you need, but a general rule of thumb is that one sheet will make a sweet or savory tart to serve four to six, or about eight to ten people. If your package has one large sheet and your recipe uses only a single sheet, cut the sheet into half, crosswise and roll it out to the desired thickness; wrap tightly and freeze. Leftovers can always be used later.
Phyllo dough and puff pastry are packaged and stored in a similar freezer. They might even look alike. When you head out to shop, ensure to buy puff pastry. Although the dough might work just as well, the sheets of the dough are rather thin and more delicate. The shape of the puff pastry would be lost if you use the phyllo dough, and hence puff pastry would be a better buy.

Prep Your Pastry
Before you use anything from the freezer, you must always let it thaw and since puff pastry comes in sheets that are folded, you must let it thaw completely. Preferably overnight in the fridge, or for an hour at room temperature before use. Unfold it very carefully, do not let it tear, add a little water if required, to squeeze it back in shape.
A good savory puff pastry would use grated cheese. Cinnamon sugar in lieu of flour can make a tasty sweet puff pastry recipe. A floured rolling pin would avoid your puff pastry from being sticky.