Top Pastry Tips (2024)

FAQs

Top Pastry Tips? ›

Water, however, is absorbed much less easily into flour proteins when the temperature is colder. That's why purists recommend cold ingredients, cold equipment and marble boards. Keeping the butter cold also helps when making short crust pastry because it doesn't melt into the flour when you are working it in.

Water, however, is absorbed much less easily into flour proteins when the temperature is colder. That's why purists recommend cold ingredients, cold equipment and marble boards. Keeping the butter cold also helps when making short crust pastry because it doesn't melt into the flour when you are working it in.

The first golden rule of making pastry; keep the ingredients, the bowl and the hands as cool as possible.

General rules

Measure the ingredients carefully. Use good quality flour. Mix together the flour and salt by sieving. Keep everything as cool as possible otherwise the fat may melt which would spoil the finished dish.

The first golden rule of making shortcrust pastry is to keep the ingredients, the bowl, the surface, and your hands as cool as possible. When the pastry mixture becomes too warm, the end result is a greasy and/or heavy, dull finished pastry crust. Run your hands under cold water before starting to mix pastry.

If the dough is overworked, it can become tough and difficult to roll out. This can happen if the dough is kneaded too much or if too much flour is added during the rolling process. Shortcrust pastry can shrink during baking if it's not properly chilled beforehand or if it's rolled too thin.

A good pastry is light and airy and fatty, but firm enough to support the weight of the filling. When making a shortcrust pastry, care must be taken to blend the fat and flour thoroughly before adding any liquid---to ensure that the flour granules are adequately coated with fat and less likely to develop gluten.

Plain flours are best for pastry because their gluten strands are relaxed while the stronger gluten in bread flours can cause pastry to shrink back. Warm pastry cooked in an oven that was not pre-heated can collapse as its water evaporates before the pastry cooks and hardens.

Most pie dough/pastry benefits from a rest in the refrigerator as it allows the glutens in the flour to relax - this should help to give a more tender pie crust with less shrinkage. It can also give time for the liquids in the dough to be absorbed, giving slightly less dry spots in the pastry.

How long should pastry dough rest? ›

Wrap the dough in greaseproof paper or cling film to prevent it becoming dry and the fat absorbing any unwanted flavours from the fridge. Pastry of all kinds needs to be left to rest in a cool place for at least 15 minutes.

Problem: Your Cooked Pastry is Tough

Why is your cooked pastry tough? This occurs when too little fat and too much liquid are added.

You can keep your pie dough in the fridge for up to 3 days. Be sure to allow the pastry to come to room temperature before rolling out for pie. Not ready to use your pie crust in the upcoming days? Place it in a freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months.

But there are two much more important perks to using vinegar: it provides a little insurance against overworking the dough. And, that splash of vinegar will keep your dough from oxidizing and turning gray.

Remember that the more you knead your pastry, the greater the development of gluten, the protein that holds dough together. Less kneading and rolling results in a lighter dough.

A good pastry should be light, flaky and tender, which requires careful measurement and handling of ingredients during the making process. The lightness of a pastry depends on the amount of air fused into the dough after adding baking powder.

The pros: Butter has the best flavor. A butter pie crust forms light, lofty, flaky layers while it bakes. The flakiness comes partially from the water content of butter, which evaporates as the pie bakes and turns to steam, separating and puffing up the layers in dough.