Puff The Magic Pastry

I've never worked with puff pastry. Not sure why. I guess it never came up. But it's easy and the results are particularly delicious. It doesn't take much to make puff pastry foods look complicated and fancy. It's the puff. The only way to get the puff is to slave over a thousand layers of rice paper thin dough brushing butter between each layer, right? Not if you buy it from the store and that's what you should do. Who are you trying to impress? 

You'll find it in the frozen food section, probably with the frozen pie crusts. Thaw it in the refrigerator overnight. Unfold a sheet, roll it out to get a more even surface and to thin it a bit. With a fork, prick the dough all over to prevent it from inflating in the oven. I then cut mine into twelve squares. Score the edges gently. This allow the sides to puff up, creating a nice well in which to nestle your toppings. Brush the edges with an egg wash to get that nice golden finish. 

Toppings can be anything at all. I used a variety of cheeses and vegetables. For example, leeks, gruyere and dill and yukon gold potato, goat cheese and chive. Bake them until they are golden and the cheese has melted. 

You can also use the whole sheet as one pastry then cut it before serving. This one has all of the leftover figs, herbs, cheese and leeks from the variety of pastries above.