By freezing half of the butter in the recipe for 60 minutes, and the other half for 30 minutes, you get a cross between a flaky croissant and a sturdy crust you can eat from one hand. This dough is excellent with apple filling, but also works well with chicken ala king, scrambled-cheesy eggs, and my thick chili recipe.
One batch of dough makes about 30 turnovers using a 5 ½ - inch diameter cutter. One batch of my apple turnover filling makes about 10 cups, enough for around 30 turnovers. One batch of the chicken ala king filling recipe from Remember Guam (except using 4 cups of chicken) makes 30 turnovers PLUS enough filling for one soup and bread dinner for a family of four. I still need to finalize my cheesy scrambled eggs with bacon bits filling, but 26 eggs + 10 slices Kraft cheese + abut 1 ¾ cup of bacon bits + about ½ cup of water makes enough filling for 27 turnovers.
Tools: food processor, small cutting board and knife, medium bowl, plastic wrap, about a 5 ½ -inch diameter round cutter or sharp pot cover, medium bowl, large bowl, 4-cup glass pitcher, wax paper, baking parchment, cookie sheet, pastry brush
DIRECTIONS
1. Mix all dry ingredients from set 2 in a medium bowl then place the bowl in the fridge.
2. Measure 2 cups of cold water. Add the apple cider vinegar to the water. Put the pitcher in the fridge until you are ready to mix the dough.
3. Cube 2 sticks of cold butter and place in freezer in freezer bags or in a container. This will freeze for a total of 60 minutes. Cube the other 2 sticks and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, in freezer bags or in a container.
4. In the meantime, line baking pans with waxed paper and set aside.
5. Thirty minutes after you freeze the first two sticks of butter, take the cubed butter out of the refrigerator and put it in the freezer as well, keeping all of the butter in the freezer for another 30 minutes.
6. Fill a small cup half way up with tap water then place a small spoon in the cup. Set aside.
7. Pour half of the dry ingredients into the food processor. Add half of the butter. Pour in the remaining dry ingredients, and the remaining butter.
8. Pulse until the mixture is crumbly – some butter will be in small pieces while the rest will blend into the flour.
9. Transfer the mixture into a large bowl. Take the water/cider solution out of the fridge and add 8 ice cubes.
10. Drizzle the liquid A LITTLE AT A TIME (don’t include the ice) over the dry ingredients as you simultaneously combine the mixture with a fork. As the dough comes together, use one hand toward the end of the mixing process to gently form the dough, ensuring it is not too watery. The dough should be in somewhat lose bits-and-pieces.
11. Lay out a sheet of plastic wrap then mound one-quarter of the crumbly dough on the center of the wrap. Shape dough into a mound and cover completely. Repeat with remaining dough. Place in fridge for at least 30 to 60 minutes.
12. Take one mound out.
13. Pull just enough dough to make one turnover. Loosely cover the bigger piece of dough. Roll the small piece out, cut with pie cover, and fill with filling.
14. Use the back of a moist spoon to moisten the edges of the pastry.
15. Fold and seal with a fork, or a rolled design (ropes, pinches).
16. Use the previously rolled dough scrap, and combine it with enough fresh dough to make one turnover. Roll the dough out into a “circle.” DO NOT CUT with the cutter. Fill, fold, and seal. You only want to reuse a previously rolled scrap one time. Use a fresh piece of dough for your next turnover.
17. Arrange the turnovers on a wax paper-lined pan, fill pan with as many turnovers as possible (not touching) then place in freezer. Freeze till rock-hard. Store in freezer in wax-paper lined freezer bags or freezer-storage containers.
18. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 405 deg F.
19. Whisk together an egg yolk and a tablespoon of milk in a small bowl.
20. Arrange turnovers on parchment baking paper-lined cookie sheet.
21. Brush glaze on visible surface of each pastry.
22. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until pastry is nicely browned.
Effective March 2021, PaulaQ will begin replacing Canola and vegetable/seed oils in recipes with pure lard from Reverence Farm, coconut oil, and avocado oil.
