What do you use for homemade flaky and puff pastry?

[mjnewbould]

I just wondered if anyone from the Uk has any suggestions for hard vegan margarine that one can use in place of butter in flaky or puff pastry. I tried Pure and Suma but they are obviously spreading margarines and I've found that even putting them in the freezer for an hour or so does not make them quite hard enough for flaky pastry. The results were OK but not really as nice as one gets with a really hard fat! I ask in the UK because it would not relly help me too much if there's the perfect thing in Australia or somewhere.

[harpy]

I never make pastry myself but I seem to remember a suggestion that Cookeen did the job and might be vegan these days - not 100% sure so you would need to doublecheck ingredients. http://www.princes.co.uk/brands/cookeen/

I imagine this stuff is instant death but then pastry's not something you'd have every day is it? ETA it's also not made by the most ethical-sounding company either but maybe there is a better equivalent somewhere (supermarket own brand?).

[eco]

White Flora is suitable for vegans and it's supposed to be healthier than most shortening. Not sure about the ethics of the company though.
http://www.florahearts.co.uk/whichfloraisrightforyou/floraproductrange/flora-white.aspx

Tomor kosher margarine is available at some supermarkets.
http://www.rakusens.co.uk/FAQs%20Tomor.htm
I used to use Tomor years ago and it's as hard as iron.

[mjnewbould]

Thanks! For some pastry it has to be margarine type rather than shortening - but I'll certainly look at the Kosher stuff - there is a section in some of the supermarkets in Prestwich/

[veganvoo]

Trex is spot on for light pastry, just add as little water as possible. Theres no nasty stuff like hydrogenated fats or E numbers.
Ive tried marg but it really doesnt come close!!!

[mjnewbould]

really for flaky pastry the fat has to be very hard and to freeze solid so you can grate it in - otherwise the layers don't work. i use trex for shortcrust - particularly savory shortcrust but my flaky did not really work very well! Well I tried the solid Kosher Margarine (it is indedd labelled Vegan)- Tumor I think it is called, (somewhat bizarrely) this time for sausage Rolls ( adapted from Delia's vegetarian collection) and it went really hard in the freezer so i got really good layers in the pastry. I realise that hardly anyone else in the whole world will want to make homemade vegan flaky pastry and most people would adapt by doing shortcrust anyway but I just wanted to try.

[Cherry]

Noooooo! Sausage rolls with shortcrust isn't the same! (I'd just cheat and buy jus' rol ;) )

I'm currently looking out for tomor (http://www.ocado.com/webshop/getProductDetails.do?sku=29448011&parentContainer=000121714) too so I can make croissants. I had a tip off about a possible way to get round the waiting for hard margarine problem, but it wasn't exactly successful! It says on the Tomor website that it's stocked in most supermarkets etc but I haven't seen any for years.

Before I was vegan I used to make shortcrust pastry with half butter and half trex, so switched to half marg and half trex, but now I just use all pure margarine (the green one) as I get better results, and there are no hydrogenated fats or e numbers in pure either.

[Risker]

Why do you want to make puff pastry can I ask? Even pro chefs don't make their own, it's too much hard work when you can just buy it pre-made in the supermarket.

[cedarblue]

it's too much hard work when you can just buy it pre-made in the supermarket.

hear hear!

[Mr Flibble]

If you're doing something professionally I'd have thought the main aim is to turn a profit. If you can get away with not doing something that takes a long time then it makes financial sense to do so. In this particular case I agree that the ready made stuff is pretty good, but I'm sure it's possible to make better from scratch.