Preheat oven to 375F, 190C, or gas mark 5
Sieve the flour in a bowl and have the eggs ready in another bowl.
Add the water, sugar, vanilla, butter and salt into a heavy bottom large pot. Make sure that everything dissolves in the water before the mixture boils. This will help your pastry bake evenly. It will boil quickly. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat.
When mixture boils take off the heat and keep the stove on but turn the heat down to medium.
Add all of the flour to the mixture at once while the pot is off of the heat. Keep whisking until the mixture sticks to the whisk and looks like mashed potatoes.
Switch to a wooden spoon and mix over medium heat fro 2-3 minutes until the mixture is glossy and comes away from the pot cleanly. I noticed the bottom of the pot is clean but there might be a thin film on the sides. You should be able to stick a spoon in the mixture and it stands up, if it's not thick enough, then you need to cook longer. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixture fitted with a paddle attachment. If you don't have a stand mixture, take the pot off the heat and set aside.
Let the mixture cool enough so that when you add the egg it doesn't cook the egg.
Turn the mixer on low (or using your hand) and add the beaten egg mixture 1/3 of the mixture at a time, between each amount you add make sure it mixes completely before adding more. Before adding adding the last egg, take a look at your mixture. We are aiming for smooth and glossy and that it will hold it's shape for piping. You want it on the stiffer side not too runny. If you have reached this stage you might not need to add the last egg. I add a little bit of the last egg at a time, usualy I only need half of the egg. Save any leftover egg for later.
Fill a large pastry bag with your puff pastry dough. I prefer to use my hand and fold the bag over the back of my hand and fill about halfway. Its miserable to pipe with a full bag thats spilling everywhere.
Using a 1.5" round cookie cutter draw circles on a piece of parchment that fits your cookie sheet with a permanent marker. Leave plenty of space in between each circle for you pastry to puff and expand. Turn the parchment over so you're not piping on the permanent marker.
Fill a large piping bag with your choux dough. Using even pressure on your piping bag pipe mounds of your choux dough filling the circles that you drew. Try to be as even as possible with the size of your mounds. I find that keeping the mounds in more of a disc shape and not too round makes them rise more evenly.
To make the tops more even, dip a spoon in the leftover egg mixture and using the back of the spoon, smooth out the tops of your mounds.
Bake for 18 minutes then slightly open oven door to release the steam in the oven. Bake for another 2-3 minutes, until pastry is golden and puffy.
To help the rolls dry out you can poke the bottoms with a toothpick to let our more steam. I do this once I've taken the rolls out of the oven.
Let your puff pastry cool before adding any fillings. Wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for 6-10 months, they get freezer burn easily so wrap well and store in an airtight container.
