I'm a Former Pastry Chef—This Is the Only Puff Pastry I Buy for Holiday Baking

Some of my colleagues have sworn they will never make puff pastry or croissants from scratch. I, however, am an overachiever who loves long and complicated baking projects. Given the opportunity, I'd happily spend several days laminating dough for elegant pastries and desserts, such as apple turnovers and galette des rois (French king cake). Having a toddler and a full-time job, though, means making laminated dough from scratch isn't as feasible as it once was, and I've started reaching for store-bought dough whenever the craving for crisp, flaky puff pastry strikes. 

Fortunately for me, there are many store-bought puff pastry options. Unfortunately for me, I'm a former pastry chef with extremely high expectations of what puff pastry should look, feel, and taste like, and grocery store options usually fall short. Great puff pastry should be crisp and flaky, with a rich, buttery flavor. It should be neutral enough to work in sweet and savory recipes, and pair well with all sorts of fruits, nuts, and sauces. Good puff pastry is delicious and just salty enough that you'd happily eat it on its own. (Who among us hasn't picked at a tray of puff pastry scraps?)

Most of what's available in grocery stores is pretty terrible. They either don't bake up as crisply as I'd like or taste bland, stale, and in the worst cases, bitter or rancid. There's just one brand of frozen puff pastry dough that's never let me down, and that's Dufour's. Their classic puff pastry is so much better than the rest that I am happy to endorse it here—they are not paying me to write this. 

Made with only five ingredients—butter, unbleached flour, water, salt, and lemon juice—the dough tastes like real butter and bakes into beautiful, golden-brown layers. Most store-bought puff pastry doughs are made with a blend of vegetable oils, including palm, soybean, and/or cottonseed oils, and lack the creamy dairy flavor you get from real butter. These oils are also prone to oxidation, and when rancid, can taste unpleasantly bitter—not a flavor I'd like in my pastries or confections.

Not only does the pastry taste good, but it also makes for effortless entertaining, especially during holiday season. I keep it in my freezer and rely on it for easy appetizers and hors d'oeuvres, including this savory carrot tart, French onion soup tarte Tatin, and baked Brie. It's also convenient for patisserie-worthy desserts, such as mille-feuille. And on busy weeknights, I can turn a comforting stew into a pot pie by topping it with a layer of puff pastry. All you have to do is thaw the puff pastry in the fridge until it's pliable, about two to three hours, then you can rest assured that it will rise nicely in the oven and actually be delicious.