Puff Pastry Potato Tart

This savory tart uses a rough puff pastry. This is a perfectly flaky pastry that can be made easily and quickly. It tastes amazing too. You can make this pastry by hand, without a food processor. There is a large amount of butter in it, creating a super flaky pastry with many layers.

I’ve used Westgold salted butter which is creamy and rich and perfect for pastry.  It’s made with milk from grass-fed cows, farmed on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island and uses a traditional churning process.

The pastry

Begin by chopping the Westgold butter into cubes and placing them in the freezer for 5 minutes to ensure it’s nice and cold.

To a large bowl add the flour, sugar, and salt and mix them together. Add the cold cubes of butter to the flour.

Next, use a pastry cutter to roughly cut the butter into the flour, but not too small. Leave most of the butter in fairly large chunks. If the butter is melting at any point, place the bowl in the refrigerator.

Add the liquid

Mix together the vinegar and the ice-cold water. Add around a tablespoon of this mixture at a time into the dough. Use a spatula or your hands to combine it into a shaggy and rough dough. Add any extra water in slowly, a tablespoon at a time.

It should hold together easily when pressed but not be sticky. If the dough is super crumbly, add a bit more water. Form the dough into a mound and let it chill in the fridge for 10 minutes. If your room temperature is very cold, you can begin rolling right away.

Laminating

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough with a rolling pin into a rough 5x10inch rectangle. You will see large butter chunks in the dough. Dust off any excess flour from the top of the dough.

Fold the bottom third of the dough up to the middle, then fold the top third of the dough over top to make a pamphlet shape. That was Fold 1. Turn the dough a quarter turn and roll it back out into a rectangle and repeat the folding. That was fold 2.

Repeat this process 4 more times so you do 6 folds in total.

If you are making this on a cold day then there is no need for any fridge rest in between the rolling of the layers unless the butter is melting. In the summertime, the rough puff pastry will likely need a fridge rest in between every second fold to ensure the butter stays chilled.

After the last fold, wrap the dough up tightly in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours or up to 36. 

The filling

In a small bowl, add softened cream cheese, minced garlic, fresh thyme, salt, and pepper, and mix together. Set this aside.  Use a mandolin or a sharp knife to thinly slice the potatoes.

Assembling

Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C.

Remove the dough from the fridge and place it on a piece of parchment paper. Roll it into a large 10×12-inch rectangle. Trim off anyone uneven edges if you like.

Use a sharp knife to score a little ½ inch border around the rectangle, trying not to cut right through the pastry sheet. Use a fork to prick the bottom of the pastry, but not on the border. 

Spread the cream cheese inside the border of the pastry using an offset spatula or knife. Arrange the slices of potato over top. Finally, top the layer of potatoes with grated parmesan cheese.

Transfer the parchment paper and tart to a baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven in the middle position for around 25-28 minutes until golden brown and the potatoes are soft.

If the pastry is browning too fast, loosely cover it with a sheet of foil.

Serving and storing.

This dish makes a great light lunch. Top with a few extra sprigs of thyme and serve with a simple salad.