Palmier is a French word for Palm leaves. This pastry were invented in France and is commonly made with puff pastry layered with sugar and baked until crispy. The shape of a palmier is undoubtedly made to resemble the palm leaves but a lot of people recognise them as butterflies or elephant ears. Whatever the shape, this French pastry is one of my favourite treat.
In this post, I have shared two part videos: one on how to make puff pastry and the other part on how to use the puff pastry that you have prepared to make the palmier. If you are making the puff pastry from scratch, there will be excess for what you will be needing for this recipe, but you can always choose to make more. If you want to keep the excess puff pastry, roll them to a sheet and between parchment paper then roll into a log before wrapping and storing in the freezer for up to 3-6 months depending on the storage condition of your freezer. (Refer to the Video on Puff Pastry for guideline)
If you are not too keen on making your own puff pastry, you can however, opt to use store bought frozen puff pastry in the frozen section.
If this is your first time and you would like to know more on the tips and tricks on how to make Puff Pastry, you can visit my page solely on Puff Pastry for more insights.
RECIPE
Yield: 20 x Palmiers
PUFF PASTRY
500 g Baker's Flour
265 ml Water
12 g Fine Salt
400 g Croissant Butter (For laminating)
FOR THE PALMIER
630 g Puff Pastry
Qs. Demerara Sugar
Method:
For the puff pastry
1. Make the Détrempe. Place all the ingredients except the butter in a stand mixer bowl with a dough hook attachment and mix until they form into a smooth ball. Do not overmix at this point.
Remove the Détrempe from the bowl, gently knead to smooth out the dough, then roll it into a flat rectangle. The kneading time only take about 1 to 2 minutes.
Wrap in cling film and let the dough rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight.
2. Roll out the butter sheet. Remove the required amount of French Butter from the fridge until it is soft enough to roll.
Roll the butter out between two parchment paper to 20 cm x 25 cm rectangle.
Note: If the butter is too soft at the end after rolling, place in the fridge for a while to firm up slightly. If you are laminating the next day, ensure to remove the butter sheet from the fridge and bring it to the same consistency of the dough before the lamination process.
3. Lock in the butter and do the First and Second 'Single Fold'
Roll the Détrempe to a 40cm Length x 25 cm width. Place the butter on one end of the dough, then fold the other end on top of the butter to "lock in" the butter.
With a sharp knife, cut open the close ends of the dough to allow easy rolling later on. At this point, it doesn't quite matter which way you are rolling, you want to roll the dough out to (25 cm width) x 60 cm (length).
Do the first Half Fold by folding one end of the dough 1/3 of the way to the centre, then fold the other end the dough to fully cover the other side of the dough.
Turn the dough around and roll the dough out once again to 60 cm in length from one open end to the opposite open end, while maintaining a 40 cm in width.
Wrap the dough in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
* Mark the dough with Two finger indent. (You now have made Two "Single Fold". You need to repeat this process two more times with two "Single Fold".
Note: Ensure that the two opposite ends that has one folded sides are rolled to width and the two opposite ends that are open are rolled for length.
It is important that you leave your puff pastry in the fridge just long enough so that the dough is not too soft but not too long that they butter has turn solid. This will ensure a even layer lamination. Rolling the pastry when the butter has become solid hard will cause the butter to break during rolling and create an uneven layer of laminations.
4. Third and Fourth "Single Fold".
Repeat step 3. for the third and fourth single fold ending with 4 indents on the dough as a reminder.
5. Fifth and Final Sixth "Single Fold"
Repeat step 4. for the fifth and final sixth "single fold".
Wrap the dough and rest in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight before use.
Storage
If you are not using the puff pastry straightaway, roll them out in to sheet then place a parchment paper over the top and roll the puff pastry to a log with the paper in between to prevent them from sticking. Wrap with food wrap then place in the freezer to store.
Thaw the puff pastry and use. Puff pastry can stay in the freezer for up to 3 - 6 months depending on storage quality.
VIDEO SUMMARY ON PUFF PASTRY
To make the Palmier
6. Cut out the required amount of puff pastry needed.
Roll the Puff Pastry to approximately 500mm x 250 mm rectangle allowing more for trimmings with approximately 5 mm in thickness.
7. Trim off any uneven edges. Sprinkle the top generously with the demerara sugar, run the rolling pin on top to help it stick to the dough. Turn the puff pastry sheet over the other side and sprinkle the top as well with the sugar and run the rolling pin on top.
8. Working lengthways, fold both ends 1/4 of the way then fold the two ends again to the same width. The two folded ends will meet in the centre, leaving approximately 5-10 mm gap. Fold one end of the dough over on top on the opposite side. Wrap the dough in some baking paper then place in the freezer for 30 minutes or until it is firm enough to cut.
Meanwhile, pre heat the oven to 200˚C.
9. When the palmier dough is ready, with the help of a sharp knife, portion the palmier to 10 mm strips.
10. Place the palmier onto the baking tray lined with parchment paper, laying them with the cut side facing upwards and rested like an open butterfly with two ends slightly apart from each other.
11. Bake in the preheat oven for approximately 20 minutes or until the top starts to turn golden in colour, remove the tray from the oven then flip the palmier over so that the bottom is facing outwards. Return to the oven and bake for a further 5 to 10 minutes or until it starts to brown evenly.
12. Once baked, remove the palmier from the oven then transfer them over onto a wire rack to fully cool.
If you wants a softer palmer, remove the palmier when it is light golden in colour. Alternatively, bake as instructed for a dark caramel and crunchier palmier.
VIDEO SUMMARY ON PALMIER
Storage
Store palmier in air tight container at room temperature for up to 3 months.
