Blitz Puff Pastry Apple Pockets

Dough:

1. Cut the fairly firm butter into 5 – 2 cm cubes. Put the flour and salt in a bowl and, while the dough hook of the hand mixer is running, pour in the water and mix roughly with the flour. Spread the butter cubes loosely over the top and knead lightly with the flour mixture over medium heat. Everything should be easy to connect with each other, but still large pieces of butter must still be visible. You can also do the kneading with your hands, but they have to be really cold (i.e. hold them under cold water several times, dry them well). Since mine are always very warm and the water is too cumbersome for me, I only work with the dough hook on the hand mixer, and it works too. You just mustn’t knead wildly in the mixture, but carefully and only briefly. Powdery flour must no longer be visible. But the butter.
2. Then put the dough with floured (cold) hands on the lightly floured work surface, shape it into a smooth ball, sprinkle the surface lightly with flour and then gently roll it out into a rectangle of 30 x 60 cm. Then fold both narrow sides end to end up to the middle and then fold everything up like a book. So you have a (smaller) rectangle with 4 layers of dough again. This folding is called “double tour” in technical terms. Wrap the newly created 4-layer rectangle in cling film and place it flat in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
3. Then this rectangle is lightly floured again (visible lumps of butter must not stick to the rolling pin), rolled out to 30 x 60, folded up like the first time, wrapped and refrigerated again. This process is then repeated once more so that at the end you have made 3 double tours. After the 3rd tour, wrap the dough again and cool for at least 30 minutes. This so-called “lightning puff pastry” can then be processed into any number of biscuit pieces. Fillings can also be chosen according to your own taste. In this case it’s the apple turnovers!

Filling:

1. Wash the apples, dry them, do not peel them, remove the core and cut into small cubes. Weight after that should not be less than 250 g, something above is ok. Slightly heat the butter in a saucepan, sweat the apple pieces briefly and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Turn the heat down and let everything simmer until it starts to caramelize. Then fold in raisins and chopped almonds, remove from heat and let cool. Divide into 6 equal portions later.

Making apple pockets:

1. Cut the slightly firm dough into 6 equal portions. Shape this into a ball – again with cold hands and quickly – and then roll it out on a floured surface around 16 cm in diameter. Put 1 serving of the filling on one half, leaving a small edge free. Then brush the edge with a little cream and fold the free side over the filling. Press the edge firmly with a fork, plate lightly and create a pattern straight away. But you can also press and plate the edge firmly with your fingers and then just scratch it with a knife at a distance of 1 cm. But not up to the filling, otherwise the apple pocket will split in two.
2. If you like smaller apple pockets, you can divide the dough and filling into more portions. The 6 specified here are not mandatory.
3. Preheat the oven to 200 ° circulating air. Place the finished apple turnovers on a baking tray lined with baking paper or foil, brush with cream and bake on the middle shelf for 20-25 minutes until golden. Then let it cool down on the baking sheet.
4. Meanwhile, heat the jam in a saucepan and let it become liquid. Then immediately brush the slightly warm apple pockets with it and let them cool down completely. Then mix a slightly tough icing and rub the pockets generously with it. ………………. let it set and ………… “up on your hips” ……… . ;-)))

Annotation:

1. I used a “dumpling press” for the production …. had it there and wanted to try it …. but it is not absolutely necessary …..
2. The “double tour” used in this dough preparation is also part of the production of “real puff pastry”. There are two types of it. With and without yeast. If you are interested in the production of both doughs, here are the links: Without yeast: puff pastry With yeast: Danish pastry – basic dough