Puff Pastry (attempt) and Sparkling Apple Syrup

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Puff pastry is much more difficult than I had hoped to start out with this group. But not impossible. The only attempt I could fit in this month was not a success, but I can list two big things that contributed to my flat, less than tasty puff pastry.

-Whole grain pastry flour is nothing like regular pastry flour. If unable to find cake flour again, I would use the 2tbs removed method to reduce the gluten in all-purpose.

-A warm kitchen means that the dough will need significantly more chilling time, much more often. Butter leaked between my layers too quickly.

That being said, I'm not sure I'll try it again. Even if it came out beautifully, the time it took wasn't worth it. I'll buy the frozen stuff next time.

Below are the pictures of how mine came out. Thin, chewy, and not at all tasty. (The filling is Sparkling Apple Syrup from Conversations with a Cupcake. It was delicious.)