Tuesday, 5 March 2013

Types of pastry



Shortcrust pastry
Shortcrust, or short, pastry is the simplest and most common pastry. It is made with flour, fat, butter, salt, and water. This is used mainly in tarts. It is also the pastry that is used most often in making a quiche. The process of making pastry includes mixing of the fat and flour, adding water, and rolling out the paste. The fat is mixed with the flour first, generally by rubbing with fingers or a pastry blender, which inhibits gluten formation and results in a soft, tender pastry. A related type is the sweetened sweet crust pastry.

Flaky pastry
Flaky pastry is a simple pastry that expands when cooked due to the number of layers. It bakes into a crisp, buttery pastry. The "puff" is obtained by beginning the baking process with a high temperature and lowering the temperature to finish.