Puff pastry - steaming?

[Jux]

A bit outlandish, I know.

Has anyone tried steaming puff pastry? How do you think it would be? DH and I think it would probably be horrible.

Isn't that basically what happens if it's not cooked at a hot enough temperature - you end up with a soggy undercooked lump.

Hmmm, so I can't really do steamed pork and ginger dumplings with it then?!

Maybe if you rolled it out reeeally thin it might work - but I suspect it's not gelatinous enough iyswim, it would split rather than stretching.

...and I hate rolling!

Usually, I make a Chinese-style dumpling dough, but I can never get it quite right, and I can never roll it out thin enough, and it's always a bit sticky and if I could just get it right, then we'd be able to use up left-over pork more happily!

Having spent quite a few weeks getting puff pastry right, and having made twice as much as I needed on Saturday so with some in the freezer, I was wondering if I could use that instead of dumpling dough. But then dh said he didn't fancy it as the pastry would be too crispy, so There I am trying to imagine steamed puff!

Anyway, we're having sausages tonight and meanwhile I can consider making bad dumpling dough tomorrow.

How about just baking dumplings? I or just steam them on cabbage leaves so they will come of the steamer.gloppy doesn't mean tasteless!

Well, dh put the kibosh on baked dumplings immediately, which is when I started the puff pastry steaming thing! The usual dumplings aren't tasteless, just too think so a bit claggy, iyswim.

I like the idea of doing the pork&ginger wrapped in cabbage leaves though.

Am also going to investigate different Chinese steamed dumpling dough too, as the recipe I've got is an enormous faff, and is not overly successful when I do it.

too thick, not think!

Wow, I'm impressed at anyone who makes their own puff pastry. Think it would be a bit of a waste to use home made puff for steamed dumplings.

Baked puff pastry dumplings, where the puff pastry is golden and properly puffed up, are a v common and delicious dim sum menu item (in fact I prefer them to the steamed ones) so it's still authentic... just in case that is your DH's objection.

IMHO pastry can't be "too crispy"

He's a nutter with many and strange ideas .....

I learnt to make puff as a child, long before you could get it frozen. Hadn't made it for years, and then it was on GBBO and dh got excited about beating the butter into shape. So I said I'd make some. Went horribly wrong of course, the first time, so I just got stubborn! (And, until then, I hated making pastry of any sort, except crumble; mainly because I hate rolling the stuff, but I have a nice rolling mat thing coming soon .... May even wind up making filo, who knows.)

Puff is OK if you have time. I study while it's in the fridge, and half an hour is about right for a break.

Jux - don't know if you are still reading, but Chinese dumplings wrappings are not puff pastry. There's one I saw here that I'm intending to try:

scroll to potsticker dumplings. Looks easy enough. It's certainly cooked the "right" way.

Oh, I know Chinese du,plings are not puff, not even pastry! I've made them quite a few times, but had this puff stuff in the freezer and thought that, rather than going through the hassle of making more dough, I could just use up stuff I'd already got.

Thanks for that recipe though. It's much, much simpler than the one I've been using, which takes hours and hours. Yours looks nice and simple and quite quick.

I'm not making any dumplings this week after all, as the cold pork has all gone into sandwiches. Usually dh and dd turn their noses up at that, but somehow it's different at the moment!

Let me know how it goes, when you do make it?

I've made the dumplings before with shop-bought pastry. The cooking method does work. Haven't tried the pastry yet but Dan Lepard's recipes tend to work, and using boiling water to make pastry feels quite authentic (done that before with other types of Chinese pastries). But no time to try now . Will only get time after mid December...

The thing about Chinese pastry that I really want to know is what is the pastry for those egg tarts you get at dim sum restaurants? They are not quite the same as the Portugese versions, not quite puff, not quite shortcrust. What is it?

I have no answer for you and our Chinese restaurants don't do things like that - we're in the sticks, and quite frankly any non-English cuisine round here tends to be stuck in the 60s as that's what most people will have.

Hence making my own (plus using up left-overs).

You can't steam puff pastry. I won't go into the technicalities (too boring) but take it from me, it won't work.

this is my tried and trusted wonton wrapper recipe.

Thank you! I really did want to know ( and if you're ever at a loose enough end, and bored enough, I'd love to know why too!).

Thank you also for that recipe, it looks nice and easy too.

Wow, from one very faffy and difficult recipe, I now have two much easier alternative recipes.

Right......

The puffiness of puff pastry is due in part to the multiple layers of dough you make when you do all the turns, rolling and folding. This traps air in the dough. But also the distribution of the butter raises the dough as it is baked - because as the butter is cooked quickly it gives off steam in the dry heat of the oven which raises the pastry and then evaporates. If you were to steam the pastry rather than baking the water would be unable to evaporate, leaving a nasty, sticky mess that wouldn't cook. The butter would melt and coagulate with the steaming water (at least this is what I assume would happen).
Puff is designed to make something very specific happen - that is to rise and form multiple crispy layers.

Also the kneading in the wonton dough with the hot water element helps to burst the starch grains in the flour and make a more elastic, pliable dough which is easy to roll out thinly and cooks quickly and easily

So what will you do with your pastry? Make Malaysian curry puffs! (Baked though, not deep fry.) I love them.

Ohdear, thank you. Makes perfect sense and asn't boring - not to me anyway.

Uptoapoint, it's in the freezer so it can wait a while. Have no idea what I'll do with it atm. The curry puffs look nice too. We have a horridly busy w/e ahead, and dh's sister is coming to live with us for a little while too, so I'll wait until everything has calmed down a bit before I start on these new recipes.

I like "the science bit" too. Always better to know more about how things work.

I've been very busy at work too and am fantasising about what new stuff I can try when things quieten down.

My aunt used to make and sell curry puffs. I remember our kitchen table stacked high with pyramids of curry puffs. It was a lovely sight.