Puff pastry pies with apple filling
To make puff pastry pies with apples, you need to prepare the base correctly - that is, the dough, which will not rise or bake sufficiently if mixed incorrectly. It's worth noting right away that this is a very complicated process that takes a lot of time, but the main component, when properly prepared, will provide you with a delicious dessert.
To prepare we will need:
- 600 grams of wheat flour;
- 250 milliliters of water;
- 350 grams of butter;
- ¼ spoon of salt
- apples.
First, mix the salt with 500 grams of flour, not all of it. Melt 50 grams of butter over the stove, then add it to the flour. Pour the water in as well. Knead the dough until it's elastic and not sticky. Once kneaded, form it into a ball and refrigerate for half an hour. Blend the remaining butter with 50 grams of flour in a blender, then wrap it in cling film and roll it out into a sheet about a centimeter thick.
Sprinkle the surface with flour. Take out the dough. Make a cross-shaped cut in the center. Leave the center intact, but roll out the edges. This way, the center should be thicker than the edges. Place the rolled-out butter on this center. Cover the butter on all sides with the dough, pinching the edges together. This will create something like an envelope. Sprinkle it with flour on all sides.
Take a rolling pin and, starting from the middle, carefully roll out the dough. It should be about a centimeter thick. Refrigerate it for 10 minutes. Then fold it in quarters and roll it out again to 10 millimeters. We'll do this four times: fold it in quarters, roll it out, refrigerate it, and then fold it again. This will create multiple layers, which will give our apple pies a flaky texture.
Next, we begin preparing the filling. To ensure the apple puff pastries are juicy and delicious, you need to choose good-quality fruit. Peel them and then cut them into small cubes. Add a couple of spoons of sugar (the amount should be varied depending on the sweetness of the apples) and a couple of spoons of cinnamon. Mix everything thoroughly with the apples.
Let's return to the dough. Cut it into squares, approximately 10x10 centimeters. Place about a teaspoon of filling in the center of each. Form the pies, pinching the edges tightly to prevent the delicious apple juice from leaking out.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, place the pies on it, and brush the tops with egg. Bake the apple puff pastries at 220 degrees Celsius (425 degrees Fahrenheit). If the temperature is lower, the butter will leak out, resulting in dryness. As for baking time, it's 20-30 minutes. Monitor the baking time as the pastries rise and brown.
And there you have it: these delicious puff pastries are ready. I think you'll agree that the time and effort spent creating such deliciousness were well worth the effort. Enjoy!
