If the perfect pastry is what your customers are craving, you have come to the right place!
Remarkably, it is from these few simple ingredients that some of the globe’s most decadent and beloved desserts are born including pies, tarts, croissants, eclairs, strudels and more. Similarly, on the pastry menu, are favorite foods such as baguettes, quiches, meat and mince pies, (just in time for the holidays), souffles – and so on.
So, let’s set out to explore the wonderful world of pastry and learn the art of making crusts and crafting recipes that pamper the palate with their buttery flavor and crumbly, flaky texture. On the way we will sink our teeth into the different types of pastries, learn about the history of pastry dough, learn about less familiar pastry doughs and share some secret tricks of the trade…
Types of Pastry
There are numerous types of pastries that you can experiment with. Here are the most popular ones.
Puff Pastry
Coined the king of pastries due to its unmatched rise and picture-perfect structure, puff pastry is made from layers of dough and butter that are rolled together and then overlapped (up to 6–8 times). As the ‘dough sandwich’ bakes, the trapped air between the layers expand, causing the pastry to rise, creating gaps that produce the airy, flaky puff pastry texture we all know and love.
Prominent in many French dishes and popular around the world, puff pastry’s delicate structure works best as a pie topping or as a flat base for dry ingredients. Bakers’ insiders tip: If your customers are hungry for a traditional, mouth-watering croissant, you can make this by adding yeast and milk to a basic puff pastry dough recipe.
Short Crust Pastry
One of the most common and easy-to-prepare pastries is short crust pastry. It is made from butter, flour, and just enough water for binding. Once combined, the ingredients are briefly kneaded, refrigerated and then rolled to line the bottoms and tops of pies, quiches, tarts, and other favorites.
Boost Your Foodservice with Less Familiar Pastry Types
Aside from the pastry dough types discussed earlier, unusual pastry varieties abound, and it is sometimes that which is different that will capture consumers’ attention and keep them coming back for more….
Paris-Brest: Looking for a show-stopping dessert table centerpiece? Your quest may be over once you discover Paris-Brest.
Mille-Feuille: As you continue to work with pastry dough and get it down to a science, be sure to add mille-feuille to your restaurant’s menu. Famous for its multiple layers of puff pastry and pastry cream, this one-of-a-kind French creation is dusted with sugar, optional cocoa powder, and finished off with a fancy thin glaze of fondant.
Kouign-aman: Pronounced qween-ah-mahn and created by James Beard award-winning pastry chef Dominique Ansel, this bread dough and cake bottom has been making its way around global bakery shops. Like puff pastry, kouign-amann is made by folding in layers of butter and sugar. Like a croissant, this denser pastry version is slightly richer and dusted with sugar for a finishing touch.
Tips for Pastry Making
The process of making pastry is time-consuming and can be tricky if you are not familiar with some important tricks of the trade. To ensure that your pastry recipes are a hit, here are some professional tips on working with pastry doughs.
To create the best, you need to invest in the best, so be sure to outfit your kitchen with the latest pastry equipment and tools. These include offset spatulas that are easy hold while providing a flat, level surface, and raplette dough spreaders that preset the precise height pastry chefs want their dough to rise to uniformly.
2. Learn the nuances of the delicate temperate and time requirements required to perfect each type of pastry dough. If you are making cream puffs for the first time, try the following insiders’ advice: This process ensures they will hold their shape.
Pastry dough can be stored at room temperature in an air-tight container for a few days or frozen in a sealed bag for up to one month.
5. To bring frozen pastry desserts and dishes back to life, place on a flat tray and heat in an oven for 5 minutes.
6. Cream puffs are best filled close to serving time.
7. Finally, to quote the famous adage: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!
Summing Up
Culinary masterpieces are born when you mix flour, water, and butter together. Good Luck at perfecting the art of pastry-making!
Batter versus Dough When does a batter become a dough? Is a dough ever a batter? All questions we’ve asked ourselves while making cookies - which are either referred to as dough or batter-built. The definition of batter: a mixture consisting chiefly of flour, egg, and milk or water and being thin enough to pour or drop from a spoon. So, for the sake of this article, we’ll stick with covering doughs that lack eggs and/or that can be kneaded or rolled into shape.
Who knows?) Anyway, it was a memorable sight because he was seated directly opposite me, but OUTSIDE, despite the freezing temperatures and chopping winds that ripped through the tablecloth. Stir the pot and use the espresso right away.
