Olive Straws

This is almost as good as the real puff pastry! Sometimes, well most of the times it is not possible to make your own puff pastry at home. But if you want to impress your guests at a dinner party with minimum labor and maximum oomph, this recipe surely fits the bill. This quick version of the puff pastry also called as rough puff pastry rises as much as 75% of classic puff pastry and saves a great deal of time.

These olive straws are a fun and easy snack to serve alongside pre-dinner drinks. The crisp, light, flaky and buttery pastry with olives is a great combination. You can use any kind of olives, stuffed olives too if you prefer. I made these when friends were over for brunch and I sure did not have any leftovers. 🙂

The recipe has been adapted from Michel Roux’s Pastry.

Makes 400 g dough, 12 straws

Ingredients:
200 g plain flour
200 g very cold butter, diced
1 tsp salt
80 ml ice cold water

Olive Straws

Instructions :

Put the flour in a mound on the work surface and make a well. Out in the butter and salt and work then together with the fingertips of one hand, gradually drawing the flour into the center with the other hand.

When the dough is grainy, add the iced water gradually until the mixture is incorporated, but don’t overwork the dough. Roll into a ball, wrap and chill for 20 minutes.

Flour the work surface and roll out the pastry dough into 40*20cm rectangle. Fold it into three. FIRST TURN.

Roll the pastry into a rectangle again and fold in three. SECOND TURN.
Wrap the block and chill for 20 minutes or freeze for 5-10 mins.


Give the chilled pastry another 2 turns, rolling and folding as before. This makes a total of FOUR TURNS. Wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes before using.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry into a 32*15 cm rectangle. Using a knife cut into 2 pieces, one 14*15cm and 18*15cm. Place on a baking sheet and chill for 10 minutes.

Take the smaller piece and starting 1.5cm away from the edge lay olives end to end in a line. Leave a 2 cm space and make another line of olives. Repeat to make 4-5 more lines. Brush all the exposed pastry with egg wash.

Cover with the larger piece of pastry and press the whole surface between the olives firmly with your fingertips.

Chill for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. With a sharp knife, trim the edges of pastry, then cut it crossway into staws.

Lay the straws on the baking tray and bake for 10-12 minutes. The recipe calls for 5-6 minutes of baking time, mine took longer.

Best served warm, not too hot.

Bon Apetit!