Palmier is the French name for palm tree, in that it is shaped like a palm leaf. I often bake these whenever I make puff pastries. The filings can be sweet or savory. It is really up to you what you want to put inside.
Today, I decided to teach my daughter the puff pastry, and she made a whole batch of palmiers from the puff pastry she made, and simple sugar ones.
This time round, she has made a 256-layered puff pastry with much success. In fact, hers did better than mine. My daughter has got better ‘hands’ than I, in that she does handiwork very often and is very deft.
I often ask great bakers who they think are the best bakers and quite uniformly, the answer is “my daughter”. I now understand why. My daughter has the advantage of the mother already gone through all the trial and error in baking and then just tell her all the important points. Daily check and correction. Lucky daughters of bakers, of which I too am one.
To make good puff pastries, always ensure enough flour is used when rolling, and the dough always cold. I like the laminating butter to be always solid and sweep away all excess flour when folding. Baking should not be at higher than 180°C and for at least 20 minutes to dry out every layer or leaf.
These are so great, you will do them again and again as my kids do.
This is how your palmier looks like when it is rolled up, and ready for the oven.
Palmiers
Ingredients
Puff Pastry
- 125 g Cake preferred or Plain Flour
- 20 g Butter
- 65 g Water
- 1 Tbsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Salt
- 65 g Butter rolled thinly for laminating
Palmier Filings
- 3 Tablespoons Coarse Raw Sugar
Instructions
- Cut/Process the 20g of butter into the flour, sugar and salt.
- Add the water until it comes to a dough. Store in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or until dough is cooled through.
- Wrap the laminating butter into the dough. Rest dough for 15 minutes in the fridge.
- Using a standard cutting board as a guide, roll the dough into a rectangle, following the dimension of the cutting board.
- Fold the dough using a book fold, and then half it.
- Freeze it for another 15 to 30 minutes, or when butter is solid.
- Roll another time and fold the same, book fold and then half.
- You now have 64 layers, you can either choose to fold another time, making it 256 layers or use the puff pastry as it is.
Palmiers
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Roll the pastry out to the size of the cutting board.
- Sprinkle 1/2 the raw sugar on the surface.
- Roll the pastry up from the longer end half way up.
- Roll from the other end. Both rolls should meet.
- Freeze for 10 minutes or so.
- Then cut into 20 pieces. Arrange on the cooking sheet.
- Sprinkle the rest of the sugar and bake for 20 minutes.
