Hardness may occur in the pastry if it is cooked at too cool a temperature or too much water is added resulting in too soft a dough. This necessitates the addition of flour and the proportion of fat is weakened. Tough pastry is the result of too much handling. Pastry should be handled as lightly and as little as possible. Take care to cut pastry round dishes sufficiently large as during cooking shrinking occurs never stretch the pastry when rolling .
Packet pastry requires mixing before use, frozen pastry is ready for use after thawing. Follow instructions on
packet or wrapping.
HOT WATER CRUST PASTRY ( raised pies such as pork, veal. veal and ham and game ).
Ingredients
¾ lb.(threequarters of a lb.) plain flour, ½ (half) a level teaspoon salt, Yolk of 1 standard egg, 4 tablespoons milk, 4 tablespoons water, 1 oz. Butter, 3oz. lard
Sift flour and salt into bowl and warm slightly. Make a well in centre.
Beat yolk with 1 tablespoon milk and pour into well. Pour rest of milk and water into saucepan. Add butter and
lard. Heat slowly until butter and lard melt. Bring to a brisk boil. Pour into well. Mix with wooden spoon until
ingredients are well blended. Turn out on to floured board. Knead quickly until smooth. Put into bowl or basin
standing over pan of hot water. Cover with clean tea-towel and leave to rest 30 minutes. Roll out warm pastry to
¼ inch in thickness and use as required. When making pies, cut off piece for lid first. Leave it (covered
with towel), in bowl over hot water.
CHEESE PASTRY ( pies, flans,savoury tarts, patties and turnovers )
Ingredients
¼ lb. plain flour, ¼ level teaspoon dry mustard, ¼ level teaspoon salt, Light shake of Cayenne pepper, 2½ ozs. Butter 2 ozs. very finely-grated English Cheddar cheese (stale for preference) Yolk of 1 standard egg, 2 to 3 teaspoons cold water
Sift flour, mustard, salt and Cayenne pepper into bowl. Add butter, cut into flour with knife, then rub in with fingertips. Add cheese and toss ingredients lightly together. Mix to very stiff paste with egg yolk and water. Turn out on to lightly-floured board. Knead quickly until smooth and crack-free. Transfer to polythene bag or wrap in aluminium foil. Chill at least 30 minutes ( ½ an hour ) before rolling out and using.
SHORT CRUST PASTRY ( sweet and savoury flans. pies, tarts and tartlets.
pasties, patties, turnovers etc.)
Ingredients
½ lb (half a lb.) plain flour ¼ (quarter)
level teaspoon salt, ¼ lb.(quater of a lb.) butter Cold water to mix: allow between 1-1½ teaspoon
per oz. of flour
Sift flour, and salt into a bowl; Add butter. Cut into flour with a knife
then rub in with fingertips. When rubbed in sufficiently, the mixture should look like fine breadcrumbs ; Sprinkle
the water over the crumbs ; Mix to stiff crumbly-looking paste with round-ended knife ; Draw together with fingertips,
turn out on to lightly-floured board. Knead quickly until smooth and crack-free; Roll out and use as required ;
CHOUX PASTRY ( Eclairs, cream buns )
Ingredients
2½ ozs. (75g) plain flour 2 small eggs, a third of a pint ( l25 ml.) of water, 2 ozs (50g) margarine, Pinch of salt
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Heat the fat in the water slowly making sure the fat melts. Bring to the boil.
Remove from the heat, add the flour, stir well with a wooden spoon. Return to the heat and stirring all the time
cook until the paste leaves the side of the pan and the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat. Beat the eggs and
add a little at a time to the paste beating it in well. The mixture should finally be thick enough for piping.
Bake at approx. 220° C. or according to dish.
PUFF PASTRY ( Vol-au-vents; Mince pies ,Patties, Fancy dishes )
Ingredients
7 ounces (200g) flour, 7 ounces (200g) butter or margarine Pinch salt Squeeze of lemon juice
Sieve the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Rub in quarter of the fat and mix to a stiff dough with cold water to which the lemon juice has been added. Turn on to a floured board and knead until it is soft and pliable. Roll the dough out into an oblong sufficiently wide and long to enclose the butter which should be moulded into a flat square shape. Place the butter on the dough and fold it in two over it. flatten it in two or three places and roll out lightly into an oblong shape. Fold into three, seal edges. Put aside in a cool place for 15 minutes. Re-roll and fold in all seven times putting the dough aside as often as possible but always between each two rollings. The last time roll to the thickness, size and shape for use, Bake according to dish 220°C. / 250°C
PUFF PASTRY ( vol-au-vents; pastries such as cream horns, Mille Feuilles
).
Ingredients
½ lb.(half a lb.) butter, ½ lb. (half
a lb,) plain flour ¼ (quarter) level teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Chilled water to mix
Put butter into clean cloth. Squeeze well to remove surplus moisture and to make it soft and pliable. Shape into in. ¾ inch brick; Sift flour and salt into bowl. Mix to soft paste (about same consistency as butter) with lemon juice and water ; Turn out on to floured board and knead well. Roll into rectangle measuring 12 inch. x 6 inch ; Stand butter on lower half of rectangle. Bring top half over so that butter is completely enclosed ; Press open edges firmly together with rolling pin. Put into polythene bag or wrap in aluminium foil. Chill 15 minutes ; Remove from bag. With fold on right, roll into 18 inch. x 6 inch, rectangle ; Fold in three seal edges, wrap and chill. & Repeat, until pastry has been rolled, folded and chilled 7 times. ; Return to polythene bag or wrap in aluminum foil. Chill at least 30 minutes before rolling out (to ¼ inch in thickness) and using; After shaping, let dishes etc. rest 30 minutes in cool before baking.
SUET CRUST PASTRY ( Sweet and savoury roly-polys and boiled and steamed puddings.)
Ingredients
½ lb.(half a lb.) self-raising flour, ½
(half) level teaspoon salt, 1 level teaspoon baking powder
¼ lb. (quarter of a lb.) finely-grated or shredded beef suet ; About ¼ pint (quarter of a pint )
cold water to mix
Sift flour, salt and baking powder into bowl ; Add suet and toss ingredients
lightly together. Mix to soft paste with water ; Turn out on to floured board ; Knead until smooth and roll out
to about ½ inch in thickness. Use straight away.
ROUGH PASTRY
Ingredients
7 ounces (200g) flour
Sieve flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Cut fat into the flour with a knife into small pieces. Mix to a stiff dough with cold water to which the lemon juice has been added. Turn on to a lightly floured board. Roll into a strip about ¼ inch thick.(0·5cm) Keep the ends square and the sides straight. Fold the pastry by bringing the side edges to the middle, then the top and bottom edges to the middle, fold in half. Press the edges together. Whenever possible put into a cold place for 10 -15 minutes between rollings. Half turn. Roll out and fold again as before. Re-roll and use as required. Bake according to dish 220° C. / 230°C.
FLAKY PASTRY
Ingredients
7 ounces (200g) flour, 2½ ozs. (75g) butter or margarine, 2½ ozs. (75g) lard or cocking fat, Pinch of salt, Squeeze of lemon juice
Sieve the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Mix the fat well together. Rub quarter of the fat into the flour.
Mix to a stiff dough with water to which the lemon juice has been added.
Roll out to a strip about ¾ inch thick (1·5cm) which is about three times as long as it is wide. Divide the remaining fat into three portions. Dot one portion in small pieces over the top two-thirds of the dough.
Fold the pastry in three, first folding the bottom section upwards. Roll out the dough and repeat with the two remaining portions of fat. Put in a cool place for 15 minutes.
Roll out to the required thickness and size for use. Bake according to dish 220°C. / 230°C.
