Pastry Recipes & Coffee
Go straight to the pastry recipes
How many people can pass the window of a meticulously decorated pastry shop without stopping? Not many I guess, but some of us will turn into the shop and indulge in the view of delicious and yummy strudels, pies, tarts and so on. But it is absolutely the case that with a little practise, patience and good pastry recipes you can make these yummy patisseries by yourself and next time you pass a pastry shop again you could be among those people who can turn away with a big smile on their faces.
For people who don't know what pastry is:
The basic pastry is a thinly rolled dough made from flour, fat and water. The wide range of pastries vary in texture and taste according to the proportion of fats used and the method of blending it with the flour. A good pastry is light and airy but firm enough to support the filling.
There are many types of pastry:
- SHORT CRUST or pie pastry is the easiest type of pastry to make and most widely used. It is made of flour, fat, salt and water. The fat is rubbed into the flour. A little ice cold water is added to the mixture to make a dough. Once the dough is made, it is rolled out on a floured board (only once) and then shaped, filled and baked. For richer taste the water can be replaced with an egg. This pastry can be used for sweet and savoury pies and tarts. It is quite crumby when baked.
- PUFF pastry is layered pastry. It has higher fat content than short crust pastry. Puff pastry is made by using flour, butter, salt, and water. To make puff pastry perfect you need to use special rolling and folding technique to create fine layers of dough with trapped air in between. When it is baked it expands or "puffs". Because it is difficult and time consuming to make, puff pastry is commonly available in the frozen section of every supermarket. It is usually available in sheets or cups.
- FLAKY or rough pastry is similar to puff pastry but easier and quicker to make. This pastry is ideal for recipes where the pastry don't need to rise so much. When baked it is light, crisp, wafer-thin, buttery pastry.
- FILO pastry is plain, paper thin pastry. Because of its thinness, it is the most delicate of all of the pastries and breaks easily. It is rolled and stretched until it forms the thin sheet. Every sheet should be coated with melted butter to prevent breaking. It dries out very quickly, so it needs to be covered with damp cloth. Multiple layers are used as the basis for Greek and Middle Eastern baklava and strudels. This pastry is made with high gluten content flour.
...and there are many more. But remember, each pastry is based on a different method of preparation and results in different texture when baked. Some types of pastry will demand more baking skills and more time to prepare than others. But for beginners there is always some good quality pastry in every supermarket, so you don't need to worry about making a perfect pastry dough from scratch.
Tips to make perfect pastry:
- Before you start working wash your hands under cold water to keep them cool.
- Keep all the ingredients cool.
- Handle the dough as little as possible.
- Add the liquid only a little at a time.
- When the dough is ready wrap it in the cling film and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before rolling out.
- Before rolling the dough out flour the working surface and the rolling pin.
- Always roll the dough in the same direction.
- Short crust, puff pastry and their relatives need to be kept cool for best results.
- Puff pastry can be kept wrapped in cling film in the fridge for two or three days before baking or be frozen for up to three months. It is the same with other pastry dough.
Some of the pastry recipes that I regularly use are:
Good to know
- Pastry recipes probably showed up in Europe for the first time in the 16th century so there is plenty of knowledge and recipes.
- Chinese pastry is made from rice.
- There is an old cooks' saying that people with cold hands are good at making pastry.
- Professional pastry chefs use a refrigerated marble when making puff pastry.
- Most of the pastry recipes are perfect for coffee.
