Healthy Puff Pastry Alternative (Easy Recipe)

Puff pastry. Yep, it's delicious, and it can be clean AND delicious if you make it whole grain. So... why do I use a healthy puff pastry alternative? It's a good question and the answer lies in what we'll call a 'time issue'. In that I have no time, and puff pastry is normally difficult to make. Or I'm too lazy to make it. Either or...I use this puff pastry alternative and it's wonderful.

Healthy Puff Pastry Alternative

I don't do pastries a ton, but I do like to have a couple of pastry recipes up my sleeve for those occasions when only a butter pastry's gonna do the trick. Also, my daughter is currently getting into baking, so this is a good one for her.

I call this a healthy puff pastry alternative, not because the recipe differs in any way really from traditional puff pastry, but in that I don't to the 'rules' of rolling, folding, chilling and repeating.

Making puff pastry the 'real' way is a real skill, I have tried before, but honestly? I've got a house full of kids, work to be done, housework to be done, who knows how much driving the kid around. And if you do too and still have time to make puff pastry without the shortcuts, I'm in awe!

So all that said, I'm not making puff pastry the real way. But... that doesn't mean I'm buying it, and it doesn't mean we're going without. Oh no. It means that I have a work around... and this is it!

Is There A Healthy Alternative To Puff Pastry?

In terms of real food ingredients, it's not so much that there's a healthy alternative to puff pastry, since the recipe is one of those super old ones that pre dates the advent of very processed foods. So the ingredients are all good.

One thing: Don't expect the same 'rise' you'd get from store bought puff pastry. With this recipe, you do get a crisp, buttery pastry that's crumbly and airy.

It might not surprise many of us to know that puff pastry comes from France, where it's called pâte feuilletée. It was invented in 1645 by Claudius Gele, a pastry cook apprentice, and the world has been grateful ever since. But is there a way to fit this into our busy lives easily today without buying it off the shelf? Indeed there is!

How Is This Healthy Puff Pastry Alternative Healthier?

Ok, down to the nitty gritty.

Store bought puff pastry will most often contain shortening instead of butter, which while only implies it's a solid fat, in reality 'shortening' rarely refers to butter. It is more closely related to margarine, which has been banished from this house for a long time. So firstly, we use real, preferably grass fed, butter.

Second we switch the flour up. I use either whole grain flour, Buckwheat, or Einkorn flour to make this puff pastry.

I find whole grain flour can be denser than white flour, and so your puff pastry won't be as 'light' and airy as the one you might buy from the store, but you know what? We really like it like this and have totally got used to the 'new' texture of this sort of pastry.

Lastly, aside from the ingredients being tweaked a little, I take shortcuts with the making of this as well 🙂

The one thing you do need to do and unfortunately there's no way around this that I've found and believe me, I've tried, is that your butter has to be cold. I'm talking freezer type cold.

So I'll often stick a whole block of butter in the freezer and leave it there until I need it.

Butter melts at super quickly, so within minutes it'll be easy to cut into tiny diced bits, but you can also grate your frozen butter rather than dice it, and to be honest, this is a good way of doing it anyway.

After I've made the basic rough dough, it goes in the freezer (wrapped) for 10 minutes to chill the butter again quickly while I clean up and find somewhere to roll the pastry out on.

And that's as far as the chilling part of this goes for me. I know, I can hear the gasps and sharp intake of air at the thought of not rolling and folding and chilling numerous times but there we go. I don't do it 🙂

More Real Food Sweets and Treats

• 3-Ingredient Yogurt Scones
• Paleo Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread
• Low Carb Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Dairy-Free Brownies

How To Make Healthy Puff Pastry

Ingredients

• 1¼ Cups flour whole grain, Einkorn, Buckwheat
• 1¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ Cup butter Ice cold, diced very very small or grated
• 4-5 tbsp iced water
• 1 Pinch sea salt ground finely

Instructions

• Put a few ice cubes into a bowl and add a little cold water so you have this on hand when you're ready to use it
• Combine your prepared butter and combine with your flour, baking powder and salt. Don't over mix this, just combine it
• Adding 1 tablespoon at a time, add your water, combining after each tablespoon added
• When you have a rough dough wrap it up and pop it in the freezer for 10 minutes or so to chill it before rolling it out
• Rolling your pastry. Find a large work area and flour it to stop the dough sticking. Using a rolling pin, gently roll the dough a little. You'll have butter marbles visible. Every time your dough gets to about ¼ inch thick, fold it into thirds (like an envelope) and roll again. Do this until there are no more buttery marbles in the dough. Note If your dough becomes to warm and unworkable, you can use the freezer to chill the dough again for a few minutes. Try not to touch the dough with your hands, using a palette knife to fold the dough helps keep the dough workable
• Use the dough straight away, or wrap it up and pop in in the freezer until you need it. It can stay in the freezer for up to a month

Printable Healthy Puff Pastry Recipe