I’m one of those pastry chefs who very rarely makes their own puff pastry. Unlike croissant dough, good quality puff pastry dough is usually readily available (okay unless you live in the middle of nowhere, then you’re SOL), so I’m not especially motivated to make it from scratch…certainly not without a pastry sheeter. That’s not to say I won’t make a laminated dough by hand. I will if there’s a fabulously delicious return on my time investment, like say a kouign amann or cronut. Scratch-made puff pastry, however, is just one of those things I never considered worth the time and effort…until recently.

Rewind to earlier in the week, when I wrote about binge-watching Paul Hollywood’s City Bakes series and how much his food/baking travel show had me waxing nostalgic about my own carefree college student abroad days–prompting me to embark on another culinary journey to revisit and reimagine British tea time treats. Okay, to be fair I must also credit Caroline, my cousin’s daughter, who texted “British Tea Time Treats!!” after seeing my Chocolate-Dipped Hobnobs. For this post I wanted to make something savory. Finger sandwiches would’ve been an obvious choice but I did that already, in a Downton Abbey-themed post a couple of years ago. Again, I found inspiration watching City Bakes, this time the Madrid episode, where Paul visited a bakery known for making specialties wrapped in puff pastry made entirely with lard. Lard?! Yes, and not just any lard–it was fat rendered from Spain’s famed Iberico pig. Like Paul, my mind was thoroughly blown.

The Spanish pastry chef made the puff pastry by pouring a layer of liquified lard onto the dough set over ice, then folding the lard coated dough multiple times to create impossibly thin layers. I didn’t have any lard on hand, though I did have some rendered bacon fat I’d been collecting in my fridge. It wasn’t quite enough to make an entire batch of dough, but I figured I could use it to make a kind of hybrid savory puff pastry–something that would be perfect for making a variety of savory tea time treats.

I started off by making a quick or “rough” puff pastry dough, which required no butter block. I simply grated two sticks of frozen butter then tossed it into a mixture of all-purpose flour and a little sea salt and sugar. Grating the butter allowed me to evenly and efficiently coat the tiny pieces in flour without overworking or overhanding it.

To form the dough, I sprinkled in ice water mixed with 1 t. lemon juice, just enough to bring the dry mixture together, then quickly pressed it into a cohesive mass. I find the best way to form dough into a neat disk or square is to gather up the dough and loosely wrap it in plastic, then flatten it out with a rolling pin, which quickly shapes the dough into the desired dimensions.

Once I had the dough rolled out into a rectangle, about three times as long as it was wide (approximately 5″ x 15″), I spread on an even layer of chilled rendered bacon fat and commenced folding it into thirds, rotating the dough 90 degrees, rolling it out again and folding into thirds.

I chilled the dough packet for about an hour then repeated the rolling, folding, rotating, rolling, and folding process two more times, chilling the dough for an hour in between each set of turns. The dough sat in the fridge for another day (I had other baking projects to complete) before I got around to making my savory treats. The resting time gave me a chance to come up with a game plan. Everything had to be bite-sized (or at least two bites), dainty and sophisticated enough to earn a spot on a tiered afternoon tea stand.

I’m all about multi-tasking, getting the most variety out on one ingredient. To that end, I divided up my sheet of savory puff pastry dough into three sections.

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The first section was further divided into three rows, then into twelve shorter strips that were the exact dimensions to wrap around half of a pork breakfast sausage link. I arranged the wrapped sausages seam side down and brushed them with a little egg white before baking at 425F degrees for about 20 mins. until golden brown and puffy.

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Sausage Rolls are a British staple, consumed at all hours of the day and night, though often a popular choice at tea time. My petite version wrapped in scratch-made bacon fat-laced puff pasty elevated the humble sausage roll to something worthy of high tea.

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I formed the remaining two sections into Savory Palmiers and Passticcio, a flat meat and cheese pastry pie, similar to the one in the Madrid episode. The palmers were fairly straightforward. I brushed the surface of the dough with a little egg white, then sprinkled on an even layer of grated parmesan, followed by a dusting of dried thyme, dried parsley, and freshly ground black pepper.

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I marked the center point with a knife then rolled each side evenly towards the center and folded the two sides together, gently pressing to level off the surface before cutting the log into 1/4″ slices. The slices were arranged cut side up on a lined sheet pan and baked at 425F degrees for about 20-22 mins

The passticcio was reminiscent of a catering item my friend Maria and I used to sell at the legendary Viviande Porta Via over two decades ago.

Owner/chef Carlo Middione’s version was filled with Emmenthaler cheese and Black Forest ham. My version was filled with what I had in the fridge, which was sliced provolone cheese, parmesan, leftover roast chicken, and Honey-Baked ham. I zhooshed it up with a sprinkling of dried dill. Assembling was just as easy as with the other savory pastries. I layered the sliced provolone on the bottom half of the pastry square, then layered on chopped chicken breast and ham, grated parmesan, black pepper, and a dried dill, brushed the edges with egg white, folded over the top half, then sealed and crimped the edges. I brushed the surface with more egg white, sprinkled on a little more dill and black pepper, and used a fork to prick some air holes.

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The passticcio baked for about 25 mins. at 425F degrees, until puffed and golden brown.

Once cooled, I cut the passticcio into smaller bite-size pieces.

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While the bacon flavor was subtle, layering in the bacon fat gave the savory puff pastry a flakier, melt-in-your-mouth texture that was well worth making from scratch. And with one single batch, I was able to create three distinctly different savory tea time treats.

Next up…back to the sweets!

Savory Quick Puff Pastry Dough

Yield: enough for 1 dozen mini sausage rolls, 2 dozen savory palmiers and 10 passticcio bites

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, frozen solid
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 3/4 t. sea salt
• 1 t. sugar
• 1/2 c. + 1 T. ice water
• 1 t. lemon juice
• 2 T. rendered bacon fat, chilled

1. Grate the frozen butter and return to the freezer for about 5 mins.
2. Meanwhile combine flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Add the frozen grated butter and quickly toss together until butter is fully coated and evenly distributed.
3. Combine the water and lemon juice and drizzle into the flour and butter mixture. Mix with your hands until the dough begins to come together into a shaggy mass.
4. Gently press the dough together and transfer onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Using the plastic wrap, press the dough into a squarish shape, then loosely wrap into a package.
5. Roll out to about 1/2′ thick, then unwrap and transfer onto a lightly floured surface.
6. Roll the dough out to 5″x15″ or three times the length as the width. Spread on an even layer of bacon fat, then fold into thirds (letter fold). Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat the rolling and folding process.
7. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for about 1 hour, then repeat the roll, fold, and chill process two more times.
8. Chill the dough overnight before using.
9. Bake formed savory pastries in a preheated 425F degree oven for 20-25 mins. (depending on type of pastry).