Puff Pastry 

Makes approx. 5lbs. (2.5kg)

Ingredients:

7¾ cups all-purpose flour
10 tbsp. well-softened unsalted butter
2 tbsp. salt
4 egg yolks
2 ¼ cups water
9 ½ cups unsalted butter
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Method:
In a large mixing bowl mix the flour, salt, egg yolks and water into a dough. Make the dough into two equal size balls, cut a cross half way down in the top and then place into the fridge. Now soften the butter, either on a table or in a mixer (not food-processor) with the 3 ½ cups of flour and blend in to one large cake before refrigerating.

At this stage it is important to have the pastry and butter at more or less the same stage of suppleness when rolling out. Roll out the dough to form a clover shape, rolling each clover leaf out separately. Place the butter on the top of the dough. Bring the sides up over the butter so there are no gaps and it is well sealed. Carefully roll the dough into a rectangle shape, place on a tray and place into the fridge for 30 minutes. 

Afterwards, roll gently into a thinner rectangle about 1/8 inch thick, each time rolling from the center out to each end. Fold the dough back to two thirds up the rectangle and fold the final third back onto the dough. Place this in the fridge for a further 20 minutes. Place the folded dough open side facing you and roll out again. Then fold again and repeat one more time. Put into the fridge for a further 3 hours. Finally, cut up in to the required sizes, and freeze or refrigerate.