Mini Tuna Turnover

I have been in love with puff pastries since French Baker introduced affordable artisan breads and pastries back home eons ago. And now that I am trying to practice and learn more about baking I thought of making puff pastry as a rite of passage from being a novice baker to being a faux expert.

Unfortunately, making the classic recipe of this delicate buttery dough takes about 2 days. Not to mention that the warm and sunny weather here is not ideal in the process of folding the dough. Butter starts to soften and melt the instant it's out of the fridge. But then lo and behold I found out upon searching the net there is a shortcut recipe! They call it rough pastry, which some chefs are known to use as well. It uses the same procedure but instead of folding a block of butter in the flour mixture, you slice the butter into cubes and then you "cut" it in the dough. For a more detailed description of the process, click here.

Anyway, I made the puff pastry dough in 2 days. First I processed the dough on the first day, and then I totally forgot about it. The next day, I remembered I was chilling the dough in the fridge so I folded/turned the dough and let it sit in the freezer until I was able to find the right recipe for the filling. That was it. Simple.... It's just that it's a little time consuming and you have to work fast because the moment the dough gets sticky it means that it's getting warm and the butter starts to soften. It needs to rest and chill in the fridge the soonest. Otherwise, if the butter starts to melt it won’t release air and create little pockets, letting the layers stand out and giving the pastry its rise. Plus the floury mess I made every time I have to fold/turn the dough (6 times to be exact). Good thing Toddler was having fun in adding up to the mess by helping me scatter the flour on the table, the chairs, the floor, his face, and body... hehehe.

And remember this? To finish my puff pastry adventure, I made my own filling recipe using leftover mushroom paté and a can of tuna. I just heated the tuna and mushroom and that was it. Made the turnover small to fit Toddler's hand and the final product? It was delicious! Even I was amaze it was that good! Though texture wise it wasn't that close to the real deal. It still lacks the puffiness, lightness and airiness of real classic puff pastry. But at least it was my version is oh so delicious! Come to think of it, I think this is what the other bakeries make. They have the same texture and heaviness feel. My aha moment is now I know the difference!

Rough Pastry
recipe from Molly Steven

• 250g cold butter
• 250g flour
• 1 tsp salt
• juice of half a lemon
• 5 tbsp of really cold water

Instructions

1. Blitz in the food processor flour and salt. Use the pulse feature twice (1 sec per pulse).
2. Cut butter in small cubes.
3. Add butter into the flour mixture and pulse 4 times again with 1 sec per pulse. Pulse only until you see visible lumps. Don't over blitz. You only want to cover the butter with flour. Then transfer to a mixing bowl.
4. Add the lemon juice in the cold water. 
5. Then drop 1 tbsp at a time in the flour mixture and mix until it will clump in your hand if squeezed.
6. Sprinkle flour on a clean surface and dump the mixture. Roll the mixture into a ball and wrap it in a cling wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 mins to an hour. Don't fret if it's still lumpy. Just trust the recipe and do not add more flour or water.
7. Take the dough out of the fridge and put it on a floured surface. Roll it into a rectangle. 
8. Once rolled, fold it into 3 folds like a business letter. Then turn it 90 degrees and again roll into a rectangle and fold again. This is 2 turns. Wrap it and chill immediately in the fridge.
9. Do at least 6 turns and then chill in the fridge and then you're done. If you won't use it yet, you can freeze it for a week. 

Tuna Turnover filling
my own recipe

• 1 can of tuna flakes
• 5 tablespoon of mushroom paté 

Instructions

1. Toast tuna flakes in EVOO for about 3-5 minutes and then mix in mushroom paté .
2. Cook for about 3-5 minutes.

Mini Tuna Turnover
Instructions

1. Take out dough from fridge and start rolling into a rectangle until it's 1/4 inch thick.
2. Cut small squares. For mini ones, cut into 7 pieces, for big ones, cut into 3-4. 
3. Put in 1/4 tsp of the filling in the middle.
4. Fold the dough into a triangle and press the sides. Make indentations using a fork on the sides and chill.
5. Pre-heat oven to 200 degree C. 
6. Once oven has reached 200 degrees C, take turnover from fridge and brush with egg wash (optional).
7. Bake the turnover for 15 minutes or until turnover has turned golden brown.
8. Serve hot.