5 Most Common of Pastry Dough

Pastry Bakery Knowledge: Pastry Dough

What is Pastry Dough?

• Pastry dough is made up of flour, water, and fat as the main ingredients. 
• Additional ingredients: Egg, baking powder, sugar, milk, etc.
• Every type of pastry dough is made with the ratio of main ingredients and additional ingredients and how they are combined to form a dough to determine the name of pastry dough. 
• The taste can be sweet or savory
• The dishes of pastries such as Pies, tarts, Eclairs, Apple strudel, Danish, Profiterole, Quiches, etc.

Pastry Dough Product

Read: Fresh Pasta

Types of Pastry Dough

1. Shortcrust Pastry
2. Choux pastry
3. Puff or Flaky pastry
4. Phyllo Dough - Filo Pastry - Phyllo Sheet
5. Strudel Dough

1. Shortcrust Pastry

• The most basic pastry, used for sweet or savory tarts (it contains little or no sugar). 
• The French version consists of around 50% flour and 50% butter and eggs.
• The British version is plainer: without eggs and traditionally made with lard (these days, this is more usually a white vegetable fat, possibly with some butter).
• Common dishes: Pies and Tarts
• Visit Savory Tart Recipe from Sugar Love Spices

Shortcrust Pastry
Pies and Tarts

Read: Types of Buttercream

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

• The pastry dough for sweet tarts. 
• This is similar to shortcrust pastry, but with 15% sugar added, sometimes also (a great improvement!) with 15% ground almonds. 
• It is fragile and crumbly, delicious on its own, so can be used just as it is to make biscuits.

How to make Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

• Sift the flour, sugar, and salt into a large bowl. 
• Add the butter and shortening. 
• Rub the fats between your fingertips and thumbs, or use a pastry blender, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. 
• One tablespoon at a time, work in enough ice water just until the dough comes together, being careful not to over mix.

How to Make Shortcrust Pastry

Read: How to create canapes

2. Choux Pastry

• The famous French dough used for éclairs, Saint-Honoré, and profiteroles.
•  It starts as a butter + water + milk + flour mixture, called “panade” in French, into which eggs are then incorporated. 
• During cooking, the water contained in the dough turns to steam to form bubbles. 
• Common dishes: Eclairs and Profiterole

Choux Pastry Product
Eclairs and Profiterole

Read: Types of Salads

How to Make Choux Paste

• Gently heat milk, butter, and water until the butter has melted, then bring to the boil.
• Once boiling, turn off the heat and quickly shoot in flour (and sugar, if using).
• Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture is well combined and comes away from the sides.
• Cool to hand temperature and beat in the eggs gradually to a smooth dough the texture should be a reluctant dropping consistency.
• To make eclairs, fit a piping bag with a 1.5 – 2cm round nozzle.
• Wet your finger and press down any peaks.
• Pipe 8 - 12 cm lengths onto a greased baking sheet.
• Place in a heated oven and bake until golden and firm.

How to make Choux Pastry

Read: Types of Meringue

3. Puff Pastry/ Flaky Pastry

• Puff is used for thin tart bases, pies, pastries, turnovers, mille-feuilles. 
• This is a more technically involved pastry, consisting of a basic dough (the "détrempe" in French,) which is like a shortcrust pastry made with more water. This is rolled out and wrapped around a slab of butter, then folded and re-rolled several times to produce alternate layers of butter trapped between layers of dough.
• During cooking, flaky layers form within the dough. The butter melts and the water turns to steam, so creating the puff pastry’s characteristic light open texture
• Common dishes: Danish, Spinach turnover, Vol au vin/ Vol au vent, Curry puff, etc. 

How to make Puff Pastry

Read: 4 Types of Hors d’oeuvres

4. Phyllo Dough - Fillo Dough - Filo Pastry 

• The flaky, flavorful, layered sheets of tissue-thin pastry are best known for use in traditional Greek and Mediterranean dishes such as baklava, and spanakopita
• Filo-based pastries are made by layering many sheets of filo brushed with olive oil; the pastry is then baked.
• But light, elegant fillo adds a sophisticated taste and texture to almost any dish you can make from dish dough (from appetizers and snacks to main dishes and desserts).
• Common dishes: Spanakopita, Baklava, Phyllo dough roll, Goat cheese filo parcel, Phyllo cheese pie, etc.

Phyllo Dough Product
Baklava, Strawberry cup pastry, Spanakopita

Read: Types of Breakfast

5. Strudel Dough

• The strudel is Austrian in origin, and its name comes from the German word Strudel, meaning "whirlpool" - which the pastry resembles when cut to reveal its thin sheet of dough rolled around the filling. 
• Strudels can be sweet or savory, but the sweet apple strudel is the most famous.
• Common dishes: German Apple Strudel, Moroccan Vegetable Strudel, Austrian Potato Strudel, etc. 

Strudel Dough Product
Potato, Vegetable, and Apple Strudel

How to make Strudel Dough

Read: 9 Types of Breakfast

Visit Our Links

Sitemap
Previous: Types of Bread
Next: Sandwich,
Culinary Training Program,
AMAZON Chef's Store,
PDF Presentation,