‘A crunchy, blistered, golden-brown pillow’: the best supermarket puff pastry, tasted and rated

2026-02-21 - 13:23

Which supermarket shortcrust pastry puffs up proudly, and which comes up short? • The best supermarket unsalted butter Puff pastry is made by wrapping a block of fat (ideally butter) in a sheet of dough, then rolling it out, folding it over itself, and repeating the rolling and folding process several times more. This creates dozens of thin layers of fat between each layer of pastry. It’s skilled, arduous work, but that’s where ready-rolled puff pastry comes in. This miraculous product makes baking your own pastries, vol-au-vents and upside-down tarts very simple indeed. I baked a small rectangle of pastry from each brand for 10-15 minutes at 180-200C (or according to the manufacturer’s instructions). I noted the height of the rise as well as the lamination (the separation of layers), texture, flavour, ingredients and value relative to quality. Continue reading...