Christmas is coming…
Christmas is in 20 days. How on earth did we get here already? Sometimes time goes so slow and fast at the same time … I swear it’s only yesterday when it was still Halloween!
I’m not much of a Christmas person. Christmas traditions mean very little to me unless I’m spending them with my parents, sisters and their kids – I don’t put up decorations in our home and I very rarely make any Christmas foods for just us either. But there is one exception! I always want to bake some traditional Finnish plum jam pinwheels with puff pastry. Typically I’d use store bought puff pastry, but recent years I’ve been into making my own with sourdough discard! In honor of the upcoming Holiday season, I now want to share this lovely recipe also with all of you. Hope you like it as much as I do!
Sourdough discard rough puff pastry
This puff pastry is done with the “rough” method – cold butter is cubed up and after I cover each cube with flour, I flatten them between my fingers. The sourdough starter is added in straight out of the fridge, without feeding it and activating it. That’s perfect for me, since I haven’t actually baked much with my starter for the whole year… and if I had to get it in action, it would likely take me multiple feedings!
Acidity + rough puff pastry
The cold sourdough discard binds the flour and butter together and adds flavor. But it also adds a dose of acidity to the dough! Many puff pastry recipes call for something acidic like lemon juice or vinegar, because the acidity helps to tenderize the dough and prevent it from becoming tough even if you accidentally overwork it a bit. It also prevents oxidation, maintaining a light color on the dough even if you store it for a couple of days. So the acidic sourdough discard actually helps with the consistency of the puff pastry!
A bit of ice cold water is also needed for the dough to come together. Just don’t add too much, or the dough will be a sticky mess. After some resting, rolling, folding, rolling and folding the dough is left to rest in the fridge for a second time, and then you can start to bake! This sourdough rough puff pastry has a lovely flaky texture, and a nutty aroma thanks to the spelt, emmer or einkorn I add to it. But it’s not too flaky – store bought puff pastry is in fact often too flaky in my opinion. It’s perfect for those plum pinwheels, but I also use this dough for savory tarts, pot pies and such.
The sourdough rough puff pastry recipe I’m sharing here is originally from a Finnish sourdough baking blog calles Leivän juurella. It’s been published there under the name of rouhea voitaikina juurella! If you’re into sourdough baking, I highly recommend giving this sourdough discard rough puff pastry recipe a go ♥
Sourdough discard rough puff pastry
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- electronic kitchen scale
Ingredients
- 160 g all purpose wheat flour
- 60 g all purpose spelt, emmer or einkorn flour
- 250 g cold butter
- 100 g cold sourdough discard
- 50 g ice cold water
- ½ tsp salt
Notes:
If you don't own an electric kitchen scale, you can use these measurements: about 3,4 dl flour, about 1 dl sourdough discard and 0,5 dl of water. Though I'm thinking ... if you have a sourdough starter, you probably also have a kitchen scale?
Instructions
- Measure out the flour and salt to a bowl. Cube the butter to about 1 cm cubes and keep cold. Measure out the ice water and the sourdough discard.
- Add the butter cubes to the bowl. Cover each cube with flour and flatten the cubes between your fingers. If you're making the dough in a warm room or you have very warm hands, it's a good idea to put the dough in the fridge a few times to prevent it from getting too warm. Everything should be very cold throughout the whole process!
- Once you've flattened all the butter, add in the cold sourdough discard and just enough of the ice water, that the dough comes together to a rough ball barely holding its shape. Don't add too much water, you might not need it all. And don't over mix, only mix enough to form the dough!
- Wrap the dough ball to a cling film, and shape into a rough square. Put the wrapped pastry dough to the fridge and leave it to rest for at least 20 minutes. Then take it out to a work surface, lightly dusted with flour. Roll out the dough gently to a rectangle of about 20x50 cm. Dust off the excess flour from the surface, and fold the short edges towards the center and over each other. in other words, fold the dough into thirds!
- Repeat the rolling and folding. Tap the rougher edges of the dough with your hands - neat and tidy edges will help later when you're rolling out the dough for baking! Wrap the dough again and put in the fridge for at least 20 minutes to rest. Then it's ready for baking! I'm baking my plum jam pin wheels in oven set to 225°C for about 10-15 minutes.
- You can store the sourdough discard rough puff pastry well wrapped in the fridge for a couple of days, or freeze it!
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