Pâte Feuilletée from Scratch

Classic French puff pastry — pâte feuilletée — is a stack of butter and dough laminated by repeated folds and turns to create hundreds of paper-thin layers that puff in the oven. Cara made it from scratch in six hours on the show, which the judges called noteworthy because most kitchens use store-bought. The keys at home: keep both your butter block and dough at the same cool, pliable temperature so the butter doesn't tear or melt; rest the pastry between turns; and always use a sharp knife on the cut edges so the layers can rise cleanly. Bake hot for maximum lift.