Pastry refers to a variety ofdoughs (often enriched with fat or eggs), as well as the sweet and savourybaked goods made from them.[1][2][3] The dough may be accordingly calledpastry dough for clarity.[4] Sweetened pastries are often described asbakers' confectionery. Common pastry dishes includepies,tarts,quiches,croissants, andpasties.[5][6]
The French wordpâtisserie is also used in English (with or without the accent) for many of the same foods, as well as the set of techniques used to make them. Originally, the French wordpastisserie referred to anything, such as a meat pie, made in dough (paste, laterpâte) and not typically a luxurious or sweet product.[7] This meaning still persisted in the nineteenth century, though by then the term more often referred to the sweet and often ornate confections implied today.
The precise definition of the term pastry varies based on location and culture.[1] Common doughs used to make pastries includefilo dough,puff pastry,choux pastry,short dough,pâte brisée,pâte sucrée, and other enriched doughs.[1][2][8] Pastries tend to have a delicate texture, often flaky or crumbly, and rich flavor[9][10]—simplebreads are thus excluded from the pastry category. Pastries also tend to be baked.[11]
A disposable or reusable bag that is often cone-shaped, used to make an even stream of dough,frosting, or flavored substance to form a structure, decorate a baked item, or fill a pastry with a custard, cream,jelly, or other filling.
Pastry board
A square or oblong board, preferably marble but usually wood, on which pastry is flattened.
Pastry brake
Opposed and counter-rotating rollers with a variable gap through which pastry can be worked and reduced in thickness for commercial production. A small version is used domestically forpasta production.
Pastry case
An uncooked or blind baked pastry container that is used to hold savory or sweet mixtures.
Confectioner's custard. An egg- and flour-thickened custard made with sweetened milk flavored with vanilla. It is traditionally used as a filling for flans, cakes, pastries, tarts, etc. The flour prevents the egg from curdling.
Pastry cutters
Various metal or plastic outlines of shapes,e.g. circles, fluted circles, diamonds, gingerbread men, etc., sharpened on one or both sides and used to cut out corresponding shapes from biscuit, scone, pastry, or cake mixtures.[12]
A kitchen implement used to chop the fat into the flour, which prevents the melting of the fat with body heat from fingers, and improves control of the size of the fat chunks. Usually constructed of wire or plastic, with multiple wires or small blades connected to a handle.
French term for "Viennese pastry", which, although it technically should be yeast raised,[13] is now commonly used as a term for manylaminated and puff- and choux-based pastries, includingcroissants,brioche, andpain au chocolat.[14]
A typical Mediterraneanbaklava, a phyllo dough pastry sweetened with nuts and honeyRussianpirozhki
The European tradition of pastry-making is often traced back to the shortcrust era of flaky doughs that were in use throughout the Mediterranean in ancient times. In the ancient Mediterranean, the Romans, Greeks, and Phoenicians all had filo-style pastries in their culinary traditions. In the plays ofAristophanes, written in the 5th century BC, there is mention of sweetmeats, including small pastries filled with fruit.Roman cuisine used flour, oil, and water to make pastries that were used to cover meats andfowls 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. Greeks and Romans both struggled in making a good pastry because they used oil in the cooking process, and oil causes the pastry to lose its stiffness.[15]
In themedieval cuisine ofNorthern Europe, pastry chefs were able to produce nice, stiff pastries because they cooked with shortening and butter. Some incomplete lists of ingredients have been found in medieval cookbooks, but no full, detailed versions. There were stiff, empty pastries called coffins or 'huff paste', that were eaten by servants only and included anegg yolk glaze to help make them more enjoyable to consume. Medieval pastries also included small tarts to add richness.
It was not until about the mid-16th century that actual pastry recipes began appearing.[16][17] These recipes were adopted and adapted over time in various European countries, resulting in the myriad pastry traditions known to the region, from Portuguese "pastéis de nata" in the west to Russian "pirozhki" in the east. The use of chocolate in pastry-making in the west, so commonplace today, arose only after Spanish and Portuguese traders brought chocolate to Europe from the New World starting in the 16th century. Many culinary historians consider French pastry chefAntonin Carême (1784–1833) to have been the first great master of pastry making in modern times.
Pastry-making has a strong tradition in many parts of Asia.Chinese pastry is made from rice, or different types of flour, with fruit,sweet bean paste orsesame-based fillings. Themooncakes are part of ChineseMid Autumn Festival traditions, whilecha siu bao, steamed or baked pork buns, are a regular savorydim sum menu item. In the 19th century, the British brought western-style pastry to theFar East, though it would be the French-influencedMaxim in the 1950s that made western pastry popular in Chinese-speaking regions starting withHong Kong. The term "western cake" (西餅) is used to refer to western pastry, otherwise Chinese pastry is assumed. Other Asian countries such as Korea prepare traditional pastry-confections such astteok,hangwa, andyaksik with flour, rice, fruits, and regional specific ingredients to make unique desserts. Japan also has specialized pastry-confections better known asmochi andmanjū. Pastry-confections that originate in Asia are clearly distinct from those that originate in the west, which are generally much sweeter.
Shortcrust pastry is the simplest and most common pastry. It is made with flour, fat, butter, salt, and water to bind the dough.[18]Pâte brisée is the French version of classic pie or tart shortcrust pastry.[19] The process of making pastry includes mixing of the fat and flour, adding water, chilling and then rolling out the dough. Chilling before rolling is essential since it enables the fat (lard, butter, etc.) to harden again and thus create flaky layers in the dough. It also allows for even hydration and inhibits gluten formation. It results in a tender flaky pastry.[20] The fat is mixed with the flour first, generally by rubbing with fingers or apastry blender, which inhibitsgluten formation by coating the gluten strands in fat and results in a short (as in crumbly; hence the term shortcrust), tender pastry.[21] A related type is the sweetenedsweetcrust pastry, also known aspâte sucrée, in which sugar and egg yolks have been added (rather than water) to bind the pastry.[22]
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 the shard-like layers of fat, most often butter or shortening, creating layers which expand in the heat of the oven when baked.
Puff pastry has many layers that cause it to expand or "puff" when baked. Puff pastry is made using alaminated dough consisting of flour, butter, salt, and water. The pastry rises up due to the water and fats expanding as they turn into steam upon heating.[23] Puff pastry come out of the oven light, flaky, and tender.
Choux pastry is a very light pastry that is often filled withcream. Unlike other types of pastry, choux is in fact closer to a dough before being cooked which gives it the ability to be piped into various shapes such as theéclair andprofiterole. Its name originates from the Frenchchoux, meaningcabbage, owing to its rough cabbage-like shape after cooking.[24]
Choux begins as a mixture of milk or water and butter which are heated together until the butter melts, to which flour is added to form a dough. Eggs are then beaten into the dough to further enrich it. This high percentage of water causes the pastry to expand into a light, hollow pastry. Initially, the water in the dough turns to steam in the oven and causes the pastry to rise; then the starch in the flourgelatinizes, thereby solidifying the pastry.[25] Once the choux dough has expanded, it is taken out of the oven; a hole is made in it to let out the steam. The pastry is then placed back in the oven to dry out and become crisp. The pastry is filled with various flavors of cream and is often topped withchocolate. Choux pastries can also be filled with ingredients such as cheese, tuna, or chicken to be used as appetizers.
Phyllo is a paper-thin pastry dough that is used in many layers. The phyllo is generally wrapped around a filling and brushed with butter before baking. These pastries are very delicate and flaky.[26]
Hot water crust pastry is used forsavourypies, such aspork pies,game pies and, more rarely,steak and kidney pies. Hot water crust is traditionally used for making hand-raised pies. The usual ingredients are hot water,lard, andflour. The pastry is made by heating water into which the fat is then melted, before bringing to the boil, and finally mixing with the flour. It can be done by beating the flour into the mixture in the pan, or bykneading on apastry board. Either way, the result is a hot and rather sticky paste that can be used for hand-raising: shaping by hand, sometimes using a dish or bowl as an inner mould. As the crust cools, its shape is largely retained, and it is filled and covered with a crust, ready for baking. Hand-raised hot water crust pastry does not produce a neat and uniform finish, as there will be sagging during the cooking of the filled pie, which is generally accepted as the mark of a hand-made pie.[27]
Different kinds of pastry doughs are made by utilizing the natural characteristics of wheat flour and certain fats. When wheat flour is mixed with water and kneaded into plain dough, it develops strands of gluten, which are what make 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. Pastry flour can also be used, since it typically has a lower level of protein than all-purpose or bread flours.[28]
Lard orsuet 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, orghee, 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.[16]
A good pastry is light and airy and fatty, but firm enough to support the weight of the filling. When making ashortcrust 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 developgluten. On the other hand, overmixing results in long gluten strands that toughen the pastry. In other types of pastry such asDanish pastry andcroissants, the characteristic flaky texture is achieved by repeatedly rolling out a dough similar toyeast bread dough, spreading it with butter, and folding it to produce many thin layers.
Pastry chefs use a combination of culinary ability and creativity for baking, decoration, and flavoring with ingredients. Many baked goods require a lot of time and focus. Presentation is an important aspect of pastry and dessert preparation. The job is often physically demanding, requiring attention to detail and long hours.[29] Pastry chefs are also responsible for creating new recipes to put on the menu, and they work in restaurants, bistros, large hotels, casinos and bakeries. Pastry baking is usually done in an area slightly separate from the main kitchen. This section of the kitchen is in charge of making pastries, desserts, and other baked goods.[30]
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