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Science of Pastry Making
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Thursday, 05 March, 2015, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Koushik
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fiogf49gjkf0d Pastries are made by putting to use natural characteristics of wheat flour and certain kinds of fats.
Strands of gluten are developed when plain wheat flour is kneaded with water and made into plain dough. This gluten is what that makes bread tough and elastic. In a typical pastry, however, this toughness is unwanted, so fat or oil is added to slow down the development of gluten. Lard or suet work well because they have a coarse, crystalline structure that is very effective. Using unclarified butter does not work well because of its water content; clarified butter, which is virtually water-free, is better, but shortcrust pastry using only butter may develop an inferior texture. If the fat is melted with hot water or if liquid oil is used, the thin oily layer between the grains offers less of an obstacle to gluten formation and the resulting pastry is tougher.
History of pastry
Pastry making began to get prominence in the mid 16th century. But it is mentioned in history that the ancient Mediterraneans, the Greeks and the Phoenicians, had philo stylled pastries in the culinary tradition. There is also strong evidence that Egyptians produced pastry-like confections. They had professional bakers that surely had the skills to do so, and they also had needed materials like flour, oil, and honey. The Roman cuisine used flour, oil and water to make pastries that were used to cover meats and fowls during baking in order to keep in the juices, but the pastry was not meant to be eaten. A pastry that was meant to be eaten was a richer pastry that was made into small pastries containing eggs or little birds and that were often served at banquets.
As different areas and localities developed their own puddings and pies, many pastry variations emerged from the basic fat, flour and water recipe. Perhaps the most famous of all is the 14th century raised hot water crust. This was indigenous to Britain and was used with meat and game pies. It was moulded from the inside with a clenched fist, in the same way as a clay pot and then filled and baked until crisp and brown.
Types of pastry
The major types of pastries are Shortcrust Pastry; Flaky Pastry; Puff Pastry; Choux Pastry; and Phyllo Pastry.
Shortcrust Pastry
This is the most commonly used form of pastry. It is made with flour, fat, water and salt. Shortcrust pastry is what is used in tarts, quiche or pies. Once the dough has been made, it is rolled out on a floured board and then shaped, filled and baked. Excessive handling will cause gluten strands to form and toughen up the dough. It is possible to make shortcrust pastry with self-raising flour, however. Shortcrust pastry can be used to make both sweet and savory pies such as apple pie, quiche, lemon meringue or chicken pie. Many shortcrust pastries are prepared using vegetable shortening, a fat food product that is solid at room temperature, the composition of which lends to creating crumbly, shortcrust-style pastries and pastry crusts.
E.g.: Pâte à foncer
Flaky Pastry
A flaky pastry is a light, flaky, unleavened pastry, similar to a puff pastry. A typical difference is that, in a flaky pastry, large lumps of shortening, are mixed into the dough, as opposed to a large rectangle of shortening with a puff pastry. The dough is then rolled and folded in a similar manner to the puff pastry. The chunks of shortening keep the rolled particles of dough in the pastry separate from each other, so that when the dough is baked they become flakes. This creates a different texture from a puff pastry, where rectangles of dough and fat are rolled and folded together in such a way that the result is a number of uniformed sheets of pastry.
Recipe: Ingredients include 225 gm plain flour, a pinch of salt, 80 gm lard and 80 gm butter. Mix the flour with the salt and rub in half of the lard. Add enough cold water to bring the flour to soft dough. Mix together the rest of the lard and the butter. Roll out the dough to make a rectangle. Drop one third of the butter/lard mixture over two-thirds of the rectangle. Fold the third without any fat on it over the middle third of the pastry. Bring the other third on top. Seal the edges with a rolling pin and turn the dough 90 degrees. Chill for 10 minutes. Repeat stage 4 with half of the rest of the fat and then repeat one more time with the remaining fat. Chill for 10 minutes after each folding. Roll and fold one more time without any fat and then chill for 30 minutes.
Puff Pastry
It is a light, flaky, unleavened pastry containing several layers of fat, which is in solid state at 20°C. In raw form, puff pastry is dough, which is spread with solid fat and repeatedly folded and rolled out. It is sometimes called water dough. The gaps that form between the layers are a result of the puff pastry rising as the water evaporates into steam during the baking process. Piercing the dough will prevent excessive puffing, and crimping along the sides will prevent the layers from flaking all of the way to the edges.
Puff Pastry can also be leavened with baker's yeast to create croissants or Danish pastry or Spanish/Portuguese milhoja and empanadilla, though such doughs are not universally known as puff pastries. Since the process of making puff pastry is generally somewhat laborious and quite time-intensive, faster recipes are fairly common. Many of these recipes combine the butter into the détrempe rather than adding it in the folding process and are thus similar to a folded short crust.
Recipe: Ingredients include 400 gm of all-purpose flour, 1.5 tsp salt, 90 gm of cold unsalted butter, 210 ml of cold water and 300 gm of softened unsalted butter. Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer that is fitted with a dough hook. Gradually stir in water until the dough holds together enough to clean the sides of the bowl. You may not need the full amount of water. Shape into a flat ball, and allow it to rest for at least 10 minutes. Place the butter between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound into a flat disc using a rolling pin or other heavy object. Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a large rectangle about 1/2 inch thick, place the disc of chilled butter in the centre and fold the two ends over it so that it is completely encased in dough.
Roll out the dough again, taking care not to let the butter break through the dough, to about 1/2 inch thickness. Fold into thirds. This is the first ''turn.'' Rotate the dough 90 degrees and roll out into a rectangle again. Fold into thirds. By this time the butter is starting to warm up. Place the dough on a baking sheet and mark it with two pokes from your finger (two turns). Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Repeat this rolling, folding and turning two more times, then refrigerate until firm. Repeat two more times for a total of 6 ''turns.'' Wrap and refrigerate. The dough is now ready to roll out and use in any recipe calling for puff pastry. Roll the dough out as thin as 1/4 inch to make pastries. Bake in a preheated oven of at least 400 degrees F to get the maximum puff from your pastry.
Choux Pastry
It is a light pastry dough used to make profiteroles, croquembouches, éclairs, French crullers, beignets, St. Honoré cake, Indonesian kue sus, and gougères. It contains only butter, water, flour, and eggs. Like Yorkshire Pudding or David Eyre's pancake, instead of a raising agent it employs high moisture content to create steam during cooking to puff the pastry. Choux pastry is usually baked but for beignets it is fried. In Austrian cuisine, it is also boiled to make Marillenknödel, a sweet apricot dumpling; in that case it does not puff, but remains relatively dense. They are sometimes filled with cream and used to make cream puffs or éclairs.
Recipe: 80 ml of water, 40 gm butter at room temperature, 50 gm of plain flour, 2 eggs and vegetable oil to grease. Place water and butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes or until butter melts and mixture just comes to the boil.
Add the flour to the butter mixture at once and use a wooden spoon to beat until well combined. Place over low heat and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes or until the mixture forms a ball and begins to come away from the side of the saucepan. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly. Whisk 1 egg in a small bowl and set aside. Whisk the remaining egg in a small bowl, then add it to the mixture such that it just falls from the spoon but still holds its shape.
Preheat oven to 200°C. Brush a baking tray with oil to lightly grease. Spoon 25-30 teaspoonsful of the mixture onto tray, about 3 cm apart. Brush the tops with a little of the remaining egg. Bake in preheated oven until the profiteroles are puffed and golden.
Remove from oven and turn the oven off. Using a skewer or a small knife, pierce the base of each profiterole to release the steam. Return the profiteroles to the oven and leave them for 15 minutes to dry out. Remove the profiteroles from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Phyllo Pastry
Filo or filo pastry is a dough of paper-thin sheets of unleavened flour dough separated by a thin film of butter. It is used for making pastries in Middle-Eastern and Balkan cuisine.
Recipe: Ingredients include 4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 1/3 cups of tepid water and ¼ cup of olive oil. Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl and add the water with oil. Stir until forms soft dough, then knead in the bowl about 10 minutes. Dough will feel sticky at first, but kneading, it should develop into dough that becomes smooth and satiny. When well mixed and smooth, wrap pastry in plastic wrap and leave it to rest at room temperature about one hour. Divide the pastry into 12 equal portions, shaping them into smooth balls. Cover with a cloth, except the one you're working with. Take a ball of dough, and shape it into a square. Place it on a lightly floured surface, and roll into a 6-inch square using rolling pin. Dust again with flour. Take the dowel, and place on one end of the pastry, and roll neatly onto the dowel, pressing firmly as you do so. Keep hands on each side of the pastry. Unroll the pastry and dust the work surface and pastry with a little flour, and roll up again from opposite side as before, exerting pressure as you go. Unroll carefully. After second rolling, the pastry should be about 10x12 inches. Using the back of your hands, place them under the pastry and stretch gently, moving hands to keep it even, working toward the edges. The edges can be given a final stretch with the fingertips. You should wind up with a pastry that's 14x18 inches in size. Place on a cloth, cover with wax paper and fold the cloth over the top. Repeat the above process with remaining dough balls, laying each on top of the previous one with wax paper between them.
(The author is culinary operations officer, Eatitude. He can be contacted at koushik@eatitude.com)
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