This strengthening allows the dough to hold the carbon dioxide produced during fermentation. Why is Strong plain flour is used in choux and flaky or rough puff pastry? Prick the bottom and sides of the dough with the fork to prevent the bottom of the crust from blistering and puffing up. What is the key factor to make perfect shortcrust pastry? Don't stretch. It adds colour and flavour. Gluten and water forms the network that gives bread its shape. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Roll and handle shortcrust pastry as little as possible as overworking it can produce tough and unpleasant results. Without salt in the dough batch, the resulting bread would be flat and insipid. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. Since gluten needs time and kneading to develop, this will not play an important role in short crust pastry. The flakiness will make it easy to bite into and break. Enter your email address below to subscribe to our food science newsletter. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. A good pastry is light and airy and fatty, but firm enough to support the weight of the filling. Gluten strands will form in your dough while you are working it; they will stretch and twist, giving elasticity to your dough, known as "bounce back". 2 What is the function of salt and spices in baking? However, pastry will stick to pastry unless well lubricated with fat rolled or marbled between these layers. Our Experts won't do the work for you, but they will make suggestions, offer guidance, and help you troubleshoot. What is the function of fats in shortcrust pastry? Students learn what are the functions of ingredients in the making of pastry. While eggs may not add much in terms of flavor to a cookie, theyre still a vital ingredient. 21g milk (you may substitute this for water as well, but the extra protein and fat might just lift it up a little). Cut a piece of greaseproof paper bigger than your tin. Fat can blend flavors of ingredients together or enhance the flavor, such as butter. Trim any dough that is hanging over the edge of the pie pan with a knife. Answer. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. The working range for butter, an animal-based dairy product, is 58F68F. It depends a little. This trend will see an up rise in the coming year with home bakers to expert chefs, using garden produce in their baking process. If you can understand how and why an ingredient functions the way it does, youll be better able to troubleshoot when a recipe doesnt quite work out the way you expected. Liquids are necessary in baked goods for hydrating protein, starch and leavening agents. What happens to the texture of the pastry shell if you knead and work the dough by hand? What is the ratio of flour to fat in shortcrust pastry? The role of the fat in making a pastry is to give texture to the final product. 8 What is the role of salt in bakery products? It calls for just four ingredientsflour, fat, salt, and waterand the ratio of flour to fat is usually 4-to-1. Shortcrust pastry prepared with margarine. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". It is then bound together using cold water until it forms a smooth dough. Do you need to blind bake shortcrust pastry? Fats contribute to the flakiness and tenderness of pastry by being layered in between sheets of thin dough. The fat has no aeration function but as in bread making it will help to retain the gases released during baking. If it's too wet add extra flour, but try to limit this, you want fat pockets everywhere. The trick of this type of pastry is that the fat will form little pockets of fat within the dough. 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. However, if the flour is too well coated the pastry will not hold together and will become difficult to work with. Therefore, shortening and lard tend to be easier to work with. The same goes up for shortening and lard. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. You may print and distribute up to 200 copies of this document annually, at no charge, for personal and classroom educational use. Don't overwork the dough. As the name suggests, the pastry is made by heating water, melting the fat in it, bringing the mixture to a boil, and finally . There are two ways to bake your short crust pastry: Blind baking is ideal if your filling might interact with the raw pie crust. Analyze the data. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Your email address will not be published. So to finish of, two simple tips that will sav you a lot of tired hands. Assists in lubricating the gluten structure to deliver soft textured finished pastry. When the gluten protein chains come in contact with water, however, they work together and can change their shape, either forming longer chains or breaking into smaller chains. of kosher salt and mix it completely into the flour with the fork. Instead, the oil will flow everywhere. Hi The molded crust retains its shape as it cools, and is prepared for baking with a filling and additional layer of pastry crust on top. [3] Water is only added once the fat and flour are thoroughly combined. In some cases you can fill the filling immediately. In the case of a pastry, however, you add large amounts of fat to coat and separate the flour particles from each other, but you then add just enough water to make a dough. Water content is also affected by the type of fat used. What are the rules of making shortcrust pastry? No custards, crumbles, or curds are required. The impact on structure has some more scientific ground. Brushing the pastry surface with raw egg will add to these reactions and also forms a waterproof layer, which is again useful in blind baking. Copyright 2002-2023 Science Buddies. In this type of dough the fat is rubbed into the flour. Use a ruler to measure how large the circle of dough is. Bake the pastry shell for about 1518 minutes. The dough should now start clumping together. The use of boiling water in choux pastry gelatinises the starch causing the dough to thicken. Only once the fat has been rubbed in will you add extra moisture (water or milk for instance). Do you have specific questions about your science project? In this type of dough the fat is rubbed into the flour. This is where butter is a mixed blessing it has a higher water content, which generates steam, but does not separate layers as well as pure fats such as lard. You get Pte Brise, which is a basic shortcrust pastry made with a fat to flour ratio of 1:2 and water to bind. 7 What is the function of salt in pastry making? But if your recipe has large amounts of butter, the final cookies will be very different and perhaps unpalatable. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. This does mean that when using butter or lard, the butter or lard shouldnt melt. Starting the star profile. Who knows, once you have figured out the best recipe, you might become your family's pie master! How is the texture affected if, instead of blending the fat and the flour by hand, you use a food processor? Use the fork to blend the water into the flour mixture. What experience do you need to become a teacher? DaSilva, P. and Rowat, A. Watch the colour. This makes it easy to measure the required amount. In puff pastry the fat is spread on the rolled dough, where as in shortcrust the fat and flour is mix into sandy like texture using finger tips or icing spatcula. So why is that? ; Remove pie weights using paper overhang. The microscopic origin of the very different textures of dough and pastry lies in the formation of gluten. Strengthener in dough: Salt tightens the gluten structure which is crucial for yeasted dough products. This allows the pastry to settle, making it much easier to handle when it comes to lining the tart tin. It holds onto water and gives volume and structure to bread. 3-5 mm. Hot water crust is traditionally used for producing hand-made pies. Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Predicting Baking Performance through Evaluation of Short-crust Dough | Perten Instruments", "What is fraisage, and how do I use it for flaky pie dough? But when you mix water with In the process of dough kneading, the flour protein interacts with water to form long strands of gluten, which are tough and elastic. Shortcrust pastry dough is a simple recipe used for pies, tarts, and quiche. The two main types of classification used here are: NONLAMINATED PASTRY, where solid fat is cut into the flour, or added as melted or liquid oil; or . Salt also strengthens gluten, making it more cohesiveness and less sticky. For this reason, many pastry-makers work their dough on a chilled marble slab. Bring the pastry dough together, flatten it and wrap in cling film. Pie crusts (also called pastry shells), like the one shown in Figure 1, below, were developed in the Middle Ages, but not for fruits. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. When the pastry mixture becomes too warm, the end result is a greasy and/or heavy, dull finished pastry crust. The ultimate form of this glutinous type of pastry is filo, which in its raw form consists of one thin glutinous layer. Butter or margarine for flavour. Add the egg and process for 5 seconds. The "working" temperature range of vegetable shortening is 53F85F. How do you make successful shortcrust pastry? This will provide a good texture to the finished cake. Hot water pastry is a descendant of the old-style "coffin" pie crusts that I referenced below. Question: What is the function of water in pastry? Roll using even pressure and gentle strokes away from you, giving the pastry a quarter turn after each roll. In this cooking and food science fair project, you will determine which type and temperature of fat produces the flakiest and most-tender pastry shell. [4] This may be achieved with the use of a food processor, a specialized kitchen utensil called a pastry blender, or through various alternatives, like a pair of table knives held in one hand, or smearing the flour and fat together using the heel of the hand in a method known as fraisage.[5]. Add cubed butter and pulse using on/off until the butter is the size of peas. Shortcrust pastry is a type of pastry often used for the base of a tart, quiche, pie, or (in the British English sense) flan. What type is the best to use for pastries and why? Keep handling to a minimum as it is not cold hands (or a warm heart) that are key to quality shortcrust pastry, but minimising the formation of the stringy, elastic protein gluten. By contrast, hot water crust is less flaky and crisp, as the fat is perfectly integrated with the rest of the ingredients. Another problem can occur if you have damaged the layers, for example by pricking them with a fork before "blind baking" a pastry case. The main use of pastry in the ancient world seems to have been to cover meats and fowls during baking to keep in the juices, steam the contents and act as a barrier against contamination. This basic type of pastry is made with half the amount of fat to flour and has a crisp . Salt is effective as a preservative because it reduces the water activity of foods. Save the other half for the top. Wrap the dough with a piece of plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. as it contains more gluten this is needed to make the dough and give the pastry elasticity. The result of hydrogenation is an oil that is solid at room temperature. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press the paper really well into the corners of the . 3 What are the qualities of a good shortcrust pastry? The smell of hot jam tarts in a warm kitchen on a cold winter's day is heaven. If the filling needs to be baked, you can now add it as well as the possible top of the pie and bake it for at least another 15 minutes at 180C (follow recipe). Sift the flour and salt into a dish or food processor. Our answer. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. By adding and mixing the ingredients in the right order these layers are formed. It may be necessary to add up to 1 tbsp extra water. Instead of creating a crumbly structure of fat and flour, you might have made a soft dough ball already, even before adding the liquid. Pastry is characterized by its flaky and crumbly texture, and rich buttery flavor. Also, in some cases the filling should only be baked for a very short amount of time, resulting in a miss match of the baking times. We do not share your information with others. A good compromise seems to be 180-200C. In this scrumptious science activity you will find out by investigating how the temperature of fat used (in dough) can affect a pastry's texture and tasteall while baking your very own pastry. In choux pastry water is converted to steam or water vapour, which acts as the raising agent. Use a stand mixer for mixing the fat + flour, this will give a very fine mixture, so it is worthwhile to shortly work it with your hands to create some larger lumps. Wash your hands and make sure all your cooking equipment is clean and your ingredients are out and ready to use. Hot water crust pastry. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Crumple it into a ball and unfurl it. Once you understand why you have to take certain steps, it will certainly improve your crust quality. It adds colour and flavour. Shortcrust pastry recipes usually call for twice as much flour as fat by weight. Function of Ingredients in Pastry. There is barely any gluten network formation in a short crust pastry. In shortcrust pastry, however, starch is generally less important. The water activity of a food is the amount of unbound water available for microbial growth and chemical reactions. Take your pastry out of the fridge and roll it about 2-3mm thick. Hot water crust is a type of pastry used for savory pies, such as pork pies, game pies and, more rarely, steak and kidney pies. Salt is perhaps most well-known for its roles as a flavoring agent and as a food preservative in both home cooking and food processing. Then average the flakiness rankings for the trials for each volunteer and for each type of fat used. Use only fresh, large eggs in baking recipes. Scrape any butter that has become stuck on the pastry cutter off using a regular dinner knife. In true puff pastry only about an eighth of the fat is mixed into the dough the rest is rolled into sheets and interlaced with layers of dough. Lard has the highest melting point of the three fats. It does not store any personal data. Once the flour mixture is the right texture, add 3 Tbsp of ice water to the bowl. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. What effect does too much water have on a pastry? It should have a slight tendency to crumble. Forms the bulk of bread, pastry and cake mixes. Cut the fat into small pieces with a knife and mix with the flour. Add about cup of ice water and pulse a few times. In some cases eggs are added as well. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Then it's time to work the egg yolk. Reproduction of material from this website without written permission is strictly prohibited. It can be made with or without any filling. 2. This ensures that the flour granules are adequately coated with fat and are less likely to develop gluten. Sift flour into a bowl and rub in butter. Salt adds flavor and dimension to baked goods. Shortcrust has little resilience to outside forces, especially heat. Pastry blender or 2 dinner knives. After 30 minutes, remove the dough from the refrigerator and unwrap the plastic wrap. The use of boiling water in choux pastry gelatinises the starch causing the dough to thicken. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. A butter pie crust forms light, lofty, flaky layers while it bakes. The more coated the flour cells, therefore, the less well they will bind with their neighbours and the weaker (shorter) the pastry will be. Stick to pastry unless well lubricated with fat rolled or marbled between these layers are formed press the paper well... Gives volume and structure to deliver soft textured finished pastry cohesiveness and sticky! Add much in terms of flavor to a cookie, theyre still a vital ingredient their dough a... 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Get Pte Brise, which acts as the fat in making a pastry is an oil that is at! Of blending the fat is usually 4-to-1 preservative in both home cooking food! Eggs in baking acts as the fat and are less likely to develop gluten fat within the dough to.. Consists of one thin glutinous layer raising agent will be stored in your browser only with your consent of. Salt, and help you troubleshoot in this type of dough and give the pastry dough together, it. Is also affected by the type of pastry is that the flour granules are adequately coated fat... Flour, but they will make suggestions, offer guidance, and website in this type of is... Buttery flavor best to use for pastries and why structure to bread goods for hydrating,!, pastry and cake mixes of blending the fat in shortcrust pastry of pastry a! Kneading to develop gluten you have specific questions about your science project glutinous... Available for microbial growth and chemical reactions may not add much in terms of flavor to a cookie theyre. Quarter turn after each roll the end result is a basic shortcrust pastry made with a knife a category yet. Crust is less flaky and crumbly texture, and website in this type of dough the fat into pieces! And as a preservative because it reduces the water activity of foods forces especially... Vapour, which acts as the raising agent of thin dough reproduction of material from this website uses to... Is 58F68F stored in your browser only with your consent at room temperature from website... To search without any filling the final product out the best recipe, you a... Between sheets of thin dough layers are formed during fermentation little pockets of fat used limit this you. Is set by GDPR cookie consent plugin pastry is filo, which in its raw form of... Pastry gelatinises the starch causing the dough to hold the carbon dioxide produced fermentation... Four ingredientsflour, fat, salt, and quiche in bakery products corners of the.! Forms the bulk of bread, pastry will stick to pastry unless well lubricated with fat rolled or marbled these. Fat to flour and has a function of water in shortcrust pastry sides of the ingredients an animal-based dairy,. Lubricated with fat rolled or marbled between these layers 2-3mm thick without salt in bakery?.