Sourdough Puff Pastry Bunny Ears #FoodNFlix

 

"Puff pastry bunny ears," you might be asking yourself. "Those look suspiciously like Palmier Cookies." And your suspicions would be correct. 

However, I am sharing this recipe for this month's Food'N'Flix as Elizabeth of Literature and Limes is hosting the group with an Easter-themed movie selection. 

She invited us to watch Peter Rabbit*. You can read her invitation: here.

On the Screen

amazon.com

I thought this movie would be a family-friendly movie to watch on Easter. And it was, but it wasn't really our cup of tea. Being huge fans of the Beatrix Potter books, I think it diverged too much from the original source and that was disappointing. 

Also, I found the jokes about food allergies - and ultimately using said allergy as a weapon - in poor taste. We did take a screen break after Peter Rabbit and came back to watch Croods: A New Age which had us roaring with laughter. So, Easter family movie day was a success in the end. And these puff pastry bunny ears were also a hit.

Still I'm glad that Elizabeth assigned the movie as I doubt I would have sat down to watch it otherwise. That is one of the most enjoyable parts about participating in different online groups: they push me out of my usual genre zones. So, thanks!

On the Plate

And these puff pastry bunny ears were a festive addition to our Easter brunch table. I only used two-thirds of the recipe to make the bunny ears; the remainder of the dough went to some puff pastry cream tarts. I will post  that recipe later.

Ingredients makes a dozen or so bunny ears and 6 small tarts

• 200 grams sourdough starter
• 500 grams flour plus more for rolling
• 60 grams organic granulated sugar
• 2 eggs for the dough plus 1 egg for baking
• 160 grams warm water
• 2 sticks butter, cold
• 1/2 cup organic granulated
• 1 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
• Also needed: rolling pin, waxed paper, baking sheet, silicone brush for the egg wash

Procedure

Place all of the ingredients (but only 2 eggs!) through the warm water in a large mixing bowl. Use a wooden spoon to blend until a shaggy dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a floured workspace and knead until smooth and well-combined, approximately 4 to 5 minutes.

Place the dough in a covered container and refrigerate for at 4 hours or overnight. Once you're ready to make the croissants, remove the dough from the fridge and let stand at room temperature while you prepare the butter.

Flour a piece of wax paper and pound each stick of butter into rectangle on that paper. Some people use a ruler and make it very precise. I am less precise. Wrap the pounded butter and chill.

When you're ready, sprinkle a piece of parchment paper with flour and place dough on top. Roll the dough into a rectangle roughly 12"x 20". Remember, I'm less than precise, but it was around that size.

Remove one rectangle of butter from the fridge and lay it in the middle of the dough. Fold the corners of the dough in to form an envelope. It should look like this...

Using the rolling pin, roll it out to 12" x 20" again. Place the second rectangle of butter on the dough and make another envelope. Then roll it out to the 12" x 20" rectangle, but this time, fold one third of the dough over the other third, like folding a letter. 

Now you have to turn the dough. Turning the dough, by rolling and folding, creates very thin layers of butter and dough. This recipe needs to be turned 4 times. If the butter pushes through a layer of dough, rub it with a little flour. If the butter seems to be melting, chill the dough between each turn. Keep the parchment, the rolling pin, and the surface of the pastry well-floured.

To turn: Rotate the package of dough and butter so that the narrower, open end is facing you, like the pages of a book. Roll the dough out to a rectangle and fold the top third down and the bottom third up, again like a letter. Rotate the dough 90 degrees so that the open end is again facing you. Repeat. Roll the dough out to a rectangle and fold the top third down and the bottom third up. That's 2 turns. Repeat two more times.

Place the dough in the fridge and let rest for 30 minutes. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out to approximately 1/4" thick. I, then, cut one-third of that rectangle off and used it for a different purpose.

Mix together the granulated sugar and cinnamon. Spread that over the rectangle in an even layer, setting aside 1 Tablespoon of the mixture. Then fold one edge of the rectangle (the long side) to the center line and repeat with the other long side. Fold to the center line again and slice 1/2" this cookies.

Place the cookies onto a baking sheet. Bring the tops of the curls together to form more bunny ear shapes. Brush the tops with beaten egg and sprinkle with the remaining sugar-cinnamon mixture.

Let rise for 30 minutes while the oven preheats. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place bunny ears into the oven and immediately turn the heat down to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for 20 minutes.

Let cool for 5 minutes on the sheet before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Well, that's my offering for this month's Food'N'Flix. You still have plenty of time to join the fun if you are inclined. Elizabeth will be taking posts until April 28th.

*This blog currently has a partnership with Amazon.com in their affiliate program, which gives me a small percentage of sales if you buy a product through a link on my blog. It doesn't cost you anything more. If you are uncomfortable with this, feel free to go directly to Amazon.com and search for the item of your choice.