Flaky Pastry

Ingredients

Makes 6 rolls of pastry

• 8 cups (1kg) cake flour, plus extra for dusting
• 5ml salt
• 1kg butter, ice cold (used in stages)
• 6 egg yolks
• 500ml soda water
• 7.5ml cream of tartar

Directions

1. Sift the flour and salt together into a large bowl.
2. Coarsely grate 500g of the cold butter and rub into the flour mixture.
3. Beat the egg yolks and soda water together, add to the flour, and mix to form a firm dough.
4. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle. Grate another 250g of cold butter evenly over the surface. Fold the dough into thirds, rotate 180°, then fold into thirds again. Seal the edges with a rolling pin, cover, and refrigerate for another 30 minutes.
6. Mix the remaining 250g of butter (softened) with the cream of tartar.
7. Divide the dough in two. Roll each half into a rectangle of approximately 30x50cm.
8. Spread each rectangle with half the softened butter mixture and roll up tightly into a 50cm log.
9. Cut each log into three equal rolls. Wrap each well in clingfilm and refrigerate until needed or freeze for later.
10. When ready to use, roll a pastry portion out on lightly floured parchment into a wide circle and refrigerate until needed.