Puff pastry is the flaky, many-layered pastry dough familiar to anyone who has ever scarfed a Napoleon. It is related to the flaky Middle Eastern phyllo dough, but it rises high when baked.

Puff pastry, according to cooking legend, was invented by a young French baker in the 17th century who happened upon the method when he was creating a bread for his father, restricted by his doctors to a diet of water, butter and flour. As the story goes, the young baker kept adding butter to the dough, and was amazed when, upon baking, it rose to such glorious, delicate and flaky heights. Not all sources credit this story, saying that mention of the pastry turned up as early as the 16th century.

At any rate, anyone who has ever made “classic” puff pastry knows what a pain-in-the-neck project it is, requiring hours in the kitchen, folding butter into the dough, rolling it out, refolding and adding more butter, rolling again, resting and chilling the dough. It’s enough to catapult even a devoted home baker to the frozen-food aisle of the supermarket to buy premade frozen sheets of puff pastry. Unfortunately, the most available and popular brand is made with shortening, not butter, and once you’ve had an all-butter puff pastry, it’s hard to settle for the supermarket variety. If you’re lucky, you can buy an all-butter brand called DuFours, which, according to the company’s Web site (www.dufourpastrykitchens.com), is handmade. It’s sold in some natural-food stores and gourmet markets. But if you can’t find it, or you just like the idea of making your own, there is a much easier way than the “classic” method. It is called “rough” puff pastry, and it is no more difficult than the average piecrust.

Enter Michel Roux, whose Waterside Inn in England has held three Michelin stars (the top rating) for 23 years. Chef Roux has written two other glorious cookbooks, one called “Eggs” and one called “Sauces,” and now turns his hand to “Pastry: Savory & Sweet” (Wiley, 2009). In this beautifully illustrated book, Roux gives a puff-pastry recipe for the rest of us. “Once you have tried making (it),” he predicts, “you’ll probably opt for this easier method every time.” You betcha.

And once you’ve made your puff pastry, you’ll find a zillion uses for it, including the cheese and olive straws below. You can use it as a crust for chicken potpie, or fill it with fruit for a strudel or turnovers. You can make puff-pastry rounds and use them as a base for creamed chicken or seafood, or eggs Benedict. Homemade pastry with pure butter. What could be better?

ROUGH PUFF PASTRY

1 pound, 2 ounces all-purpose flour (see Cook’s note)

1 pound, 2 ounces very cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1 teaspoon salt

scant 1-1/4 cups ice cold water

Cook’s note: For best results, professional bakers weigh dry ingredients like flour and sugar. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, use about 4-1/2 cups flour in this recipe.

Put the flour on a work surface, and make a well. Put in the butter and salt, and work them together with the fingertips of one hand, gradually drawing the flour into the center with the other hand.

When the butter cubes have becomes small pieces, and the dough is grainy, gradually add the iced water and mix until it is all incorporated. Don’t overwork the dough. Roll it into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 20 minutes.

Lightly flour the work surface, and roll out the dough into a 16-by-8-inch rectangle. Fold it in thirds, and give it a quarter turn. Using a rolling pin, roll the block of dough once again into a 16-by-8-inch rectangle, and fold it in thirds again. Wrap the block in plastic wrap, and chill for 30 minutes.

Repeat the rolling and folding twice, as before. When you are done, you will have given the dough a total of four quarter-turns. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes before using. It will keep at least a week in the refrigerator and four weeks in the freezer.

Yield: about 2 pounds, 10 ounces of dough

Recipe from “Pastry: Savory & Sweet” by Michel Roux (Wiley, 2009)

OLIVE STRAWS

13 ounces puff-pastry dough (about one-third of the recipe, above)

15 large pimento-stuffed green olives (each about 1-inch long)

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon milk

On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough out into a 12-1/2-by-6-inch rectangle, about 1/8-inch thick. Using a sharp knife, cut the rectangle into two pieces: one 5-1/2 by 6 inches, and the other 7 by 6 inches. Place on a baking sheet, and chill for 10 minutes.

Take the smaller piece of dough and, starting 5/8 inch from the edge, lay five olives end to end in a line along the shortest side of the rectangle. Make two more lines of five olives, leaving a 3/4-inch space between rows.

Whisk the egg yolk and milk together with a fork. Brush all the exposed dough with the egg wash. Cover with the large piece of dough, and press the whole surface of the dough between the olives firmly with your fingertips. Chill for about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. With a very sharp knife, trim and neaten the edges of the dough, then cut it crosswise into straws about 1/4-inch wide. (You will be cutting cross-sections of the olives.) Lay the straws flat on a baking sheet, and bake for 5 to 6 minutes. As soon as you remove them from the oven, transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm.

Yield: about 22 straws

Recipe from “Pastry: Savory & Sweet” by Michel Roux (Wiley, 2009)

CHEESE STRAWS

14 ounces puff-pastry dough (one-third of the recipe, above)

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon milk

3-1/4 ounces grated Emmental or Parmesan cheese (a scant cup)

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

pinch of cayenne

Line a baking sheet with waxed paper.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough out into an 11-by-4-1/2-inch rectangle, about 1/16-inch thick. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet by rolling the dough loosely over the rolling pin and unrolling it onto the sheet. Chill for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Whisk the egg yolk and milk together with a fork. Brush the entire surface of the dough with the egg wash, and sprinkle the cheese evenly over all. Mix the paprika and cayenne, and dust evenly over the surface. Use a sharp knife to trim and neaten the edges, and then halve lengthwise to make two 5-1/2-by-4-1/2-inch pieces.

Cut each piece into 1/2-inch-wide strips, making about 22 strips in all. Lift each straw with a spatula, hold both ends, and twist them six times in opposite direction to make a spiral. Put the straws on a baking sheet and bake for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from the oven, and transfer to a wire rack. Best served warm.

Yield: 22 straws

Recipe from “Pastry: Savory & Sweet” by Michel Roux (Wiley, 2009)

Marialisa Calta is the author of “Barbarians at the Plate: Taming and Feeding the American Family” (Perigee, 2005). For more information, go to www.marialisacalta.com.