BASIC PASTRIES

The term pastry comes from the word paste, meaning a mixture of flour, liquid and fat. In
bakeshops, pastry refers both to various pastes, doughs and too many products made from
them.
The most important types of pastries are short dough of various types; puff also known as
pate feuilletee, and éclair paste, also known as pate a choux

PATE BRISEE AND SHORT PASTRIES:

The quality of the pastry used to make tarts and tartlets is perhaps even more important
than the quality of the pie dough. Because tarts are generally thinner than pie, with less
filling, the dough is prominent part of the finished pastry. The best of these doughs made
with pure butter, not shortening and generally enriched with eggs and sugar.

It includes two types of doughs, which differ in their mixing methods. Pate brisee, the
term means broken dough, is mixed the same way as pie dough- that is , the fat is first
combined with the flour. The amount of mixing determines how flaky the dough is.

The short pastry is mixed by creaming method, in which the fat and sugar are mixed first.
The method is used for cookies and cakes too.

Recipe of pate brisee:

Pastry flour -400 gm

Salt – 10 gm
Sugar -10 gm
Butter chilled – 200 gm

Egg -100 gm
Water-10 ml
Vanilla essence – a few drops
Lemon zest grated – a little

Method:
1. Sift the flour , salt and sugar into a round bottomed bowl
2. Cut the butter into cubes; rub it into the flour, using the fingertips, until the
mixture looks like fine bread crumbs. Make a well in the centre.
3. Mix the eggs, water, vanilla and lemon zest. Pour into the well in the flour. Mix to
form soft dough. Wrap in plastic film and chill for at least 30 minutes before use.
Recipe of pate sablee

Butter softened -150 gm

Sugar -75 gm
Lemon zest grated- a little
Vanilla essence - a few drops

Egg beaten – ½
Flour – 225 gm

Method:
1. Cream together the butter, sugar, lemon jest and vanilla essence until the mixture
is smooth and pale.
2. Add the eggs a little at a time and beat well between each addition
3. Add flour and make a soft dough
4. Wrap in a plastic film and chill until fim before use.

Paste sucree:

Butter softened – 250 gm

Sugar – 100 gm
Salt – 2 gm
Lemon zest grated – a little
Vanilla essence – a few drops
Eggs beaten – 2 nos
Pastry flour – 400 gm

Method:
1. Cream together the butter, sugar, salt, lemon jest and vanilla essence until the
mixture is smooth and pale.
2. Add eggs a little at a time and beat well between each addition.
3. Add flour and make a soft dough
4. Wrap in plastic film and flatten out. Chill until firm before use.

Important products of pate sucree, pate sablee, pate brisee:

1. Tarte tatin : Upside down caramelized apple pie

2. Bakewell tart: Tart with jam and almond, U.K.
3. Linzer torte: Sweet pastry case filled with raspberry jam and cinnamon with
almond crust. Austarlia
4. Ricotta cheese pie: Pie filled with Italian cheese.
5. Apple pie : Pie with cooked apple filling
PUFF PASTRY:

Puff pastry is one of the most remarkable products of the bakeshop. It includes no added
leavening agent; it rises to eight times its original thickness when baked.

Puff pastry is a rolled- in dough, like Danish pastry. This means that it is made up of
many layers of aft sandwiched between layers of dough. Steam, created when the
moisture in the dough is heated, is responsible for the rising power of puff pastry.
The quantity of rolled- in fat may vary from 50 % to 100 % of the weight of the flour.

Recipe of puff pastry:

Bread flour -375 gm

Cake flour -125 gm
Butter softened – 60 gm
Salt – 8 gm
Cold water- 275 ml
Butter- 500 gm

Method:
1. Make a well in the mould of flour and add the liquids
2. Work the ingredients into a dough
3. Knead the dough until it is smooth. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, and then roll it out
into a large rectangle.
4. To prepare the butter, first soften it by beating it with a rolling pin.
5. Square off the butter. Roll it into a smooth rectangle two-thirds the size of the
dough.
6. Place the butter on the dough so it cover the bottom two –thirds of the rectangle
7. Fold down the top, unbuttered third of the dough, so it covers half the butter.
8. Fold the bottom third over the center. The butter is now enclosed.
9. To give the dough first four-fold, roll the dough into long rectangle. Before
rolling, beat the dough lightly to distribute the butter.
10. Before folding always brush off excess dusting flour.
11. Fold down the top edge of the dough to the center.
12. Fold up the bottom edge to the center.
13. Fold in half to achieve the finished four –fold.

Baking of puff pastry products:

200-220°C temperature is the best for most puff dough product. Cooler temperature will
not create enough steam in the product to leaven them well. Higher temperature will set
the crust too quickly.
Few famous products of puff pastry:

1. Cream horn (U.K) – Cone shape puff pastry case filled with cream.
2. Chaussons (France) – turn over filled with pastry cream or fruits.
3. Palmiers (France) – trimmings shaped into palm leaves, sprinkled with suagr or
cheese.
4. Papillons (France) – butterflies shaped puff pastry.
5. Gateau prithiviers- almond cream filled gateau.

CHOUX PASTRY:

Éclairs and cream puff are made from a paste called éclair paste or choux paste. The
French name pate a choux means ‘cabbage paste’. Cream puff looks like a little cabbage.

Step by step method of making choux paste:

1. Bring water, fat, salt and sugar to boil.

2. Add flour all at a once and stir until the paste forms a ball and pulls away from the
sides
3. Remove the paste from the flame and leave out to cool.
4. Add egg one at a time and beat to dissolve.
5. The paste is ready to use.

Éclair paste must be firm enough to hold its shape when piped from a pastry bag.
Proper baking temperature is important. Start at a high temperature (200°c) for the first
15 minutes to develop steam and ten reduce the heat to 190°c to finish the product. The
product must be firm and dry before being removed from the oven. If it is removed too
quickly they may collapse.

Recipe of choux paste:

Water- 500 ml
Butter or fat – 250 gm
Salt -4 gm
Bread flour-375 gm
Eggs -12 nos

Method: follow the step by step method.

Choux paste products:

1. Cream puffs : cream puff filled with pastry cream, dusted with icing sugar
2. Éclairs: choux pastry strips shaped filled with pastry cream and dipped in
chocolate fondant and served.
3. Paris Brest: ring shaped pastry case filled with cream and fruits.
4. Choux Florentines: small ring shaped choux pastry, dipped in caramelized sugar
with Chantilly cream.

FILO PASTRY:

Filo pastry is paper thin dough; phylo dough is flakier than puff pastry. Unlike puff
pastries , these desserts starts out with paper thin layers of dough that are brushed with fat
and then stacked or rolled up to make many layered creations.

It is made from flour, eggs and water. After the dough is mixed well to develop the
gluten, it is stretched by hand into thin, transparent sheets.
Commercially made Filo sheets is almost always available frozen. And in some locations
it can be purchased fresh (refrigerate). Filo pastry is similar to strudel dough.

The most famous product of filo pastry is baklava- layers of filo sheets with nuts and
topped with honey.