Puff pastry fast and easy (JusRol Frozen Puff Pastry)

Member Name: thehonesttruth

Product:	JusRol Frozen Puff Pastry
Date:	21/08/09 (125 review reads)
Rating:

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I like to think of myself as a decent coo- I can whip up a decent pasta sauce or a healthy casserole easily, but one thing I really can't get the hang of is pastry. To make a decent pastry you need to be fast and have nice cold hands - sad to say, I'm pretty slow and have rather hot hands, which means that the butter in pastry melts too fast , making it a rather hit and miss affair .

So, I'm not ashamed to say that I cheat a little, and that I tend to buy ready made pastry rather than make my own . And Jus-Rol is the only pre made brand I am aware of - with shortcrust pastry in blue packaging and puff pastry in red .

Jus-Rol started in the 1930s when a baker started selling pre-rolled pastry to customers . He asked them what they did with the pastry , and the reply was 'We just roll it out'. It's pretty easy to see how the name was born .

I buy the pre-made pastry fairly often, at around 1.90 a pack ( a kilo pack with two 500g blocks), with each pack containing 2 blocks of pastry, making it easy to just use just the amount you want, and save the other block in the freezer for later if you need to . The inconvenience with this is that as the pastry is frozen, it takes a couple of hours to defrost before you can use it , and you cannot re-freeze defrosted pastry.

All the ingredients, nutritional values, cooking directions, preparation plus hints & tips are listed on the pack & are easy to read.

You can use it in any way you please - from sausage rolls to pie toppings. or for the decorative bits on mince pies and jam tarts . And brushing it with a little beaten egg yolk makes it turn a lovely golden colour upon baking . It's vegetarian, with no artificial flavourings or preservatives.

It's very easy to roll out - it does not split or tear very often, which makes it very easy to use - and I'm talking as a girl who owns no rolling pin and uses a bottle of pop to roll . It also stays together well when you are handling it - with home made pastry, I find it can fall apart when I pick it up, but this stays in shape very well .

The packaging is a simple plastic sleeve, no excessive use of cardboard or prettying up here - another good plus point .

Now, it's clearly pretty convenient, and will save you a lot of time , but ---its pastry , so it's not very good for you , containing 28g of fat per 100g. So, don't go coating everything in it! I definitely recommend this to anyone who either doesn't have time, or just can't be bothered with making their own .

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