The egg puff is the Indian bakery's flaky pocket: laminated puff pastry baked around a hard-boiled egg. It is a counter snack found in bakeries across the country, eaten warm out of the case, and its appeal is the contrast between a brittle, layered shell and a soft egg center. The angle is the pastry, because the egg is a simple, set filling and the whole thing succeeds or fails on whether the dough is properly laminated and baked through.
The build is a baking sequence rather than a griddle one. A square of rolled puff pastry is laid out, a halved or whole boiled egg is set on it, usually with a smear of spiced onion masala or a little chili and salt, and the pastry is folded into a triangle or rectangle and sealed at the edges. It is brushed for color and baked hot until the layers lift, separate, and turn deep golden. Good execution shows a shell that is crisp, dramatically flaky, and cooked all the way through with no raw dough at the seam, a whole egg that is fully set but not chalky, and just enough seasoning around the egg to keep it from tasting plain. Sloppy execution means pastry that is pale and doughy in the center because it was pulled early or the oven ran cool, a soggy base from underbaking, a dried-out overcooked egg, or a bland filling with no masala at all so the bite is just bread and boiled egg.
The egg puff shifts mostly by the seasoning around the egg and the state of the pastry. Some bakeries keep it austere with only salt and pepper on the egg; others pack a fried onion-tomato-chili masala in alongside it for a sharper, spicier bite; the pastry may be served fresh and shatter-crisp or reheated and softer. A vegetable-filled puff or a meat-keema puff is a different bake entirely and deserves its own article rather than being crowded in here. The constant in the egg puff is well-laminated pastry baked through around a set egg, and no masala saves a puff that is doughy at the center or soggy at the base.