Chocolate Puff Pastry
For the dough:
3 cups (420 g) all-purposed flour
3/4 cup (185 g) cold water, plus more as needed, about 2 -3 tbs
2 tsp salt
5 tbs (2½ oz; 70 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
For the butter packet:
3¾ cup (15 oz; 425 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (50 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder (Valrhona, if possible)
Directions:
To make dough packet:
1. Put flour on a kitchen counter top, and make a well in the center.
2. Mix 3/4 cup of water and salt until salt is dissolved. Pour this in the well, working from inside of the wall flour, start mixing it using a fork until most of flour has been stirred. Pour the melted butter over this mixture, continue to stir. If the dough feels a bit on the drier side, add water a tablespoon at a time. Knead the dough for roughly one minute, shape into rectangle, wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours. The dough will not look perfect at this point.
To make butter packet:
3. Using paddle attachment on an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth, but not airy. Add cocoa powder, continue to process just enough to blend them together.
4. Lay a piece of plastic wrap on a kitchen counter top. Scrape the butter directly on top, shape into square about an inch or two inches smaller than the size of your dough packet. Wrap - refrigerate at least 2 hours.
To roll and turn:
5. After the two-hour chilling time, dust your workplan with flour and roll out the dough into a rectangle almost twice as long as its width (it should be around 40cm long, 15cm wide and 0.5cm thick).
6. Place the rectangle of butter onto the lower part of the rolled dough and fold the upper part over it.
You should now have something that sort of looks like a book.
7. Place its spine on your left, and roll out until you get a 40cm long and 20 cm wide rectangle. The next step is called a tour double [literally, a double turn – read fold]. Brush the excess flour away and trim the ends so you have a neat rectangle.
8. Visualise the middle axis of the rectangle, grab the lower end of the dough and fold it over so it meets the middle axis. Do the same with the upper end. This is called an open book.
8. Finally, close the ‘book’ and wrap it in cling film. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Now, you’re going to make the second tour double.
10. Place the book look-alike dough in front of you, spine on the left and proceed as above.
At this point, the dough can be kept, well-wrapped, in the fridge for up to a week. However, once you give the dough its last final tour simple [simple fold], it should get used within 72 hours.
11. To give the dough its final tour, place the ‘book’ in front of you, spine on the left and roll it into a rectangle slightly larger than a sheet of A4 paper. Brush the excess flour away and fold in three, just like you would do with a business letter.
Use as you wish.
