Begin by setting out all of your ingredients. Whisk the salt into the flour, make sure your water is nice and cold, and cut your butter into chunks. Next, use a pastry blender or two knives to cut the butter into the flour until it is a very rough blend. You still want fairly large chunks of butter in the dough (see the tips for why).

Once your butter is cut in, add the water a bit at a time. Mix it with a fork as you do until you have a very rough, shaggy dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and press it together.

Gently press/roll out your rough dough with a rolling pin to a rectangle about 5×10. Fold one third down from the top, then the bottom third up over the rest. This is called an envelope fold. The dough will be very loose at this point– simply press any chunks that fall off back into the dough before rolling again.

Repeat the fold 3 times, turning the dough each time so that the short edge is closest to you. If it’s a warm day and your butter is softening quickly, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to rechill the dough.

Repeat the roll/fold process another 3-4 times, this time rolling it out until it measure 10″x18,” or until you have a smooth, supple dough that you can still see streaks of butter running through. Use a bench knife along the edges to keep them as straight as possible. Cut the puff pastry into two sheets, and wrap each one well with cling film. Refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the butter to chill thoroughly and the gluten to relax.

And now it’s ready to bake with! To bake a sheet of puff pastry, remove one piece of the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out on a well floured surface to a rectangle that’s 10″x15.” If you are having trouble with the dough springing back after being rolled the gluten is simply too tight. Give it a few minutes to relax on the bench before rolling again.

To bake a sheet of puff pastry, preheat the oven to 400f. Place the pastry on a baking sheet, then bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown. Or, use it in any recipe that calls for puff pastry!