Method

Rough Puff Pastry

1. Pour the flour into the bowl of a stand mixer along with the salt. 

2. Pour in the cold water and vinegar. 

3. Tip the cubed butter into the centre, then with the paddle attachment, mix on a low speed, just until the dry bits of flour have been absorbed. This should only take 15-20 seconds. The lumps of butter will still be there! 

4. Scoop the mixture out of the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a long rectangle. You need to work quickly here especially if it is a warm day as the butter will start to soften too much.

5. Once you’ve rolled it out, you might need to use a lightly floured bench scraper to loosen it from the work surface. 

6. Perform a single turn, by folding one-third of the dough up on itself, and then folding the remaining third of dough over the top as seen in the PDF. 

7. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill it. If it is a warm day, I prefer to do 10 minutes in the freezer then 15 minutes in the fridge. But on a ‘normal day’, 20 minutes in the fridge will be enough.

8. Unwrap the dough and with the open seam facing you, turn the dough 90 degrees so it is now adjacent to you. Roll the dough slightly to give it a little bit of width, then rotate it 90 degrees again so the open seam is facing you again. Roll the dough into a long rectangle again, flouring as needed to ensure it doesn’t stick.

9. Use a bench scraper to get underneath the dough if it feels like it is sticking, then perform a double turn, by folding ¼ of the dough up on itself, then the remaining ¾ of the dough to meet. Fold the dough in half, then wrap in cling film to chill again.

10. Repeat steps 9&10, 2 more times (performing two more double turns) and chill the dough.

11. Unwrap the dough again, and roll it out, performing one final single turn (as seen in step 7). In total you will have done 1x single turn, 3x double turn, 1 x single turn. Refrigerate the dough for 2 hours (or overnight). 

Apple Compote

1. Peel and core the apples, then dice them into small cubes (‘brunoise’ as they would say in French!). As you are chopping them, add them to the bowl of cold water with the lemon juice to prevent them from oxidising. 

2. Once chopped, drain them and add them into a medium saucepan. Cook them over a medium heat until the juices start to come out of the apples – about 3 minutes. Strain them to remove the excess liquid, then add in the light brown sugar, butter and vanilla.

3. Continue to cook them, stirring frequently, until you have a golden caramelised mixture, this should take about 6-10 minutes. Once cooked, stir through the sea salt flakes. 

4. Add the mixture into a jug and blend until you have a thick compote texture.

5. Add this mixture into a bowl and set it to one side in the fridge to cool completely. 

Assembly

1. To create the classic chausson aux pommes shape, we need a fluted oval shape which is then folded in half. You can buy special cutters for this but they are expensive, so I created a little hack so that we can do it at home! 

2. At the bottom of the PDF there is an oval template you can print off (ideally on some thick card). This will give you an oval that is 6.7”x4.8”. 

3. Print this off and then to get the fluted edge, we use a fluted pastry wheel and cut around the template while it is on top of the puff pastry. If you do not have a fluted cutter don’t worry you can just cut around it with a knife. But this template will give you the perfect size!

4. Remove the chilled puff pastry from the fridge and place it onto a floured work surface. Note – it can be easier to work with the pastry in two batches so that it doesn’t get too warm, in this case, just cut the chilled dough in half, and reserve one in the fridge while you roll the other. For the following steps I will assume you are working with a half batch and you just need to repeat the steps to make the remaining pastries. 

5. With the open seam facing you, turn the dough 90 degrees so it is now adjacent to you. Roll the dough slightly to give it a bit of width –  it needs to be around around 7.5” tall so that it is taller than the oval template. 

6. Rotate it 90 degrees again so the open seam is facing you again. Roll the dough into a long rectangle, flouring as needed to ensure it doesn’t stick.

7. Don’t worry about the length of the rectangle, we are more concerned about the thickness – it needs to be around 0.2”/5mm thick. If it is too thick, when it bakes, it will puff up too much! If the dough feels too soft at this point, get it straight into the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up a little. It is much easier to work with when it is cold. 

8. Assuming you are working with a half batch of the dough, use the oval template to cut out 2-3 ovals (the number you get will depend on how efficiently you were rolling it and how thick it is!)

9. Lift the fluted ovals onto a tray lined with a silicon mat, and place them in the fridge for 15 minutes.

10. At any point during the process, if you find the dough is getting too warm, place it back into the freezer for 5/10 minutes to chill it down then carry on. 

11. Prepare the egg wash by whisking together all the ingredients until you have a homogenous mixture.

12. To ensure you get the same amount of filling, I like to decant my chilled compote into little dishes, each weighing 50g. Then I can just scoop it straight into the pastry knowing I’ve got the correct amount. 

13. Remove the chilled pastry from the fridge and, working quickly, scoop 50g of compote into the centre. Refer to the drawing below, we want to make sure we keep the compote away from the edges so it doesn’t leak out later so use your fingers to keep it nice and centred. 

14. Brush an egg wash around the edge of the pastry surrounding the compote and fold the bottom half of the pastry over. Use your fingers to seal the dough together, being careful not to warm the dough too much with your hands and ‘smoosh’ it.

15. Use a knife to poke 4 holes in the back of the pastry and then flip it over so this side is now touching the baking tray lined with a silicon mat. Brush the top of the pastry with an egg wash then refrigerate it for 20 minutes. At this point, preheat your oven to 175C/345F non-fan assisted. 

16. Remove the pastry from the fridge and apply a second egg wash, then using a sharp knife, lightly score a decorative pattern into the pastry, I just do a series of vertical lines! 

17. Place the pastries straight into the oven on the middle shelf and bake for around 45-50 minutes. The apple compote is already cooked so all we are looking for is a nice golden puff pastry. 

18. About 10 minutes before you can prepare the glaze so that it is still slightly warm. Add the sugar and water into a saucepan, and simply bring it to a boil. Continue to cook it until it has thickened slightly but is still runny. Slightly looser than the consistency of honey. 

19. I’ve given you two options for the glaze, the second one is just slightly shinier from the addition of glucose but is prepared with the exact same method! Just boil the ingredients together. 

20. Once the pastries are baked, lift them onto a wire rack and brush them lightly with the glaze. They can be eaten warm or served once cooled, but they are best eaten the same day so that the pastry is as fresh as possible.