Why is puff pastry soggy

Did you cut vents for steam? Letting the steam out can help keep pastry from getting soggy. I did 3 slits on top of the puff pastry before glazing it with eggwash. Should I make more slits then? Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. More specific advice: Make sure that you don't open the oven during cooking, and make sure that you don't take it out too soon.

If you have a window on your oven, try gauging the doneness before opening the door. If it looks like it's going to be far too brown for your taste by the time it's cooked inside, turn the oven off and let it sit in the hot-ish oven to crisp up a little without getting blasted by heat. If you haven't tested your oven's temperature, get an oven thermometer to make sure that you're at the temperature you think you are.

Internal oven thermostats are notoriously inaccurate. Improve this answer. ChefAndy ChefAndy 2, 7 7 silver badges 14 14 bronze badges. Thank you so much, I now realized I have so many variables to consider including the gas oven that I'm using. It does get hotter around the sides and front but not so at the back. I am guilty of opening the oven to rotate the pies to give them a even browning. Perhaps this is the root problem.

The tempreature in the oven is quite accurate as I have been baking cakes in it. I tested with a tempreature gauge but I think the gauge is not quite sensitive to give an accurate reading. Glad I could help StevenHeong. If you think what I wrote answers the question, could click the checkmark next to it to accept it? Try to avoid this by rolling out gently on a lightly-floured surface, regularly turning ideally every one to two rolls. A light touch is the key, and try to keep your hands cold!

Usually, the reason for this is fairly simple — haste. If you look in the oven you can watch the pastry puffing up. That is because the water in the butter is turning to steam and forcing each layer apart.

Once forced apart, the fat in the butter or lard cooks each layer of pastry giving the flake. Some of you myself included may need to get around to changing the light bulb in your ovens if you want to master puff! This is still pretty nice, but definitely not a croissant. When making the puff for a croissant, there can be no cutting corners — you can only do a maximum of two folds on your dough before returning it to the fridge to chill down. There is also a limit to how many folds you can do, even if you do chill your dough correctly — any more than seven and the butter will become too thin and melt back into your dough.

Prove the croissants at room temperature until they are nice and big, then whack them in the oven. Lightly flour the surface, and always roll in the direction you want to lengthen of the dough. This is where you can run into problems. Work surface or dough is too warm to handle. Dough is rolled too thin. Roll dough thinner before using For a flatter pastry without much puff—like a Napoleon—prick the dough all over with a fork, place parchment paper on top, then place several sheet pans on top of that to weigh it down.

Fat is melting and steam pockets cause the bubbles. Products made from puff pastry sheets, slabs and squares were not crimped properly. Dough was allowed to thaw and butter wept from dough. Keep thawed dough pieces refrigerated until ready to use. Dough was proofed prior to baking. Dough was rolled out too hard and compressed the layers. Dough is too soft, causing layers to stick together. Egg wash has gotten on the edges of the dough.

Dough is coming to the end of its shelf life. Check the production code date on the box. Discard expired dough. Hot filling has been placed on the dough. Oven temperature was too high. The process of making your own puff pastry is time-consuming and labor intensive. Sure, it's worth doing once, but Perry admits it's not a task she readily tackles since graduating from culinary school. For everyday tarts, pies, and treats, just buy a package of the frozen stuff. But be aware: Not all puff pastry is created equal, which brings us to our next point.

Spinach is way more fun to eat in a puff pastry package. Photo: Romulo Yanes. Many brands of frozen puff pastry cut their butter with vegetable oil. It's worth searching for and buying the all-butter brands Our favorite is Dufour. Vegetable oil-based puff pastry can have an oily mouthfeel and "off" taste.

Let your puff pastry defrost in the fridge or on the countertop according to the package's instructions, and use it as soon as it's pliable and workable.