Cold butter is essential for a great puff pastry, as it creates pockets in the dough. As it cooks, the cold butter holds its shape initially, creating air pockets when the butter eventually melts. You want it to be almost hard, barely indenting under your finger., Place the paddle attachment on the mixer, then use a fork to lightly break up any clumps of flour., It won't be a "dough" so much as a shaggy ball, but this is perfect. Resist the urge to keep mixing it, as this only makes the dough tougher. As soon as everything is roughly combined, stop mixing.Note -- this softened butter is not from the 20 tablespoons in the freezer -- this is separate.
 You want a chunky, still-shaggy dough. The butter should still be in chunks. When done, turn the dough out onto a large piece of plastic wrap., Square of the edges so that you have a nice, perfect rectangle. This size is relatively important -- you want it thin enough that you can keep working it., The hardest part of this dough is waiting for it to cool. This keeps the butter cold, again, to impart maximum flakiness on the final pastry., Remove the dough after an hour and lay it out on a lightly floured work surface. Take either end and fold them inward, as if you were closing up two submarine sandwiches. There should be slight overlap in the middle where they meet., This is the first of your folds, which will create the flakes you desire in a puff pastry. These folds will actually hold up in the final cookie, which is why they seem so layered and flaky., As you roll the folded dough, you work these layers into the dough, with the hard butter helping the dough hold its shape and keep the layers distinct., You want to fold and roll the dough a total of four times, meaning the whole dough takes almost 5 hours to make with chill time factored in. This may seem excessive, but this literally creates all the flakes -- skipping it is not an option, as you wouldn't call it puff pastry dough if you did., Get the butter cold again before you start creating your palmiers. The good news is that, in the freezer, this dough keeps well, so you don't have to be in a rush to use it.
Cut 20 tablespoons of butter into 1/2-inch cubes and freeze for 20 minutes.
Combine 4 cups flour with 2 teaspoons of salt in a kitchen mixer.
Add 7 tablespoons of softened butter and 3/4 cup ice cold water to the mixer and combine on low until everything is loosely together.
Add in the cold butter chunks and mix with your hands.
On the plastic wrap, use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a 10-20" rectangle.
Wrap the plastic wrap around the dough and chill it for an hour.
Fold the short ends of the rectangle in until they meet in the middle.
Fold the dough in half, hotdog style, so that you have four layers of dough stacked up.
Chill the folded dough for 15 minutes, then roll it back out to a 10-20 rectangle.
Repeat the 4-way fold, chill for 1 hour, and then repeat 2 more times.
Chill for at least an hour before using.
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