MAKING PASTRY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 May 1941, Page 2

MAKING PASTRY

HINTS FOR THE HOUSEWIFE VARIOUS TYPES. HOW TO GET LIGHTNESS. Fruit, meat, and savoury pies made with light, crisp pastry are usually favourites in most families. It is a help to the housewife to be able to choose a satisfying dish which may be prepared either the day before if it is to be eaten cold, or in the morning if it is to be served hot at the evening meal. Perhaps few people realise what a large variety of pastries there are to choose from. The methods for making those best suited to recipes are also given—flaky, rough puff, short, and hot water crust. The quality especially to be desired in pastry is lightness, and this depends almost entirely upon the amount of cold air in the pastry when expansion takes place in the oven. The best pastry is, therefore, that which contains the greatest quanity of the coldest air prior to baking. The repeated foldings and rollings to which puff paste is subjected have this increase of air in view. The paste is greatly improved if it is allowed to cool between each rolling. Put the pastry aside in a cold current of air, of if ice is available, place it on that. In short pastry the expansion is aided by adding baking powder or some other acid and alkaline sub-stances.-which, when moistened, combine to form a constituent identical in its composition and effect with that of the atmospheric air to which puff paste entirely owes its lightness. The difference between puff or flaky and short crust is that in the former there are thin layers of air and pastry alternating, and in the latter the air fills small cavities all over the paste.

PROPORTIONS FOR TYPES. The general proportions for the various types of pastry are as follows: — Flaky Pastry—l2oz fat to lib flour. Rough Puff —12oz fat to lib flour. Sort —3oz fat to lib flour. Raised —4oz fat to 11b flour. The fat should be very lightly but very thoroughly rubbed in with the tips of the fingers. Never with the palms of the hand, as the heat from the hand would melt the fat. The water should be added gradually, to prevent hard lumps being formed, and to keep the consistence of the whole mass. A knife should always be used for mixing. Light handling and rolling are also necessary for success. READY FOR ROLLING. The pastry, when ready for rolling, should be sufficiently firm and dry to leave clean the basin used in the mixing process. The paste should be rolled in short forward rolls, lifting the rolling pin between each roll. When the fat is flaked on, fold the ends as an envelope, seal the open ends with the rolling pin. and repeat until all the fat is used. Puff paste should never be rolled off the edges as this may force out some of the air. it is better to thin the edges by a little pressure or an inward roll. CARE IN COOKING. All pastry requires a hot oven for cooking. For the richer pastries the heat of the oven is increased accordingly. The term “very hot oven" should not be confused with the idea that the heat is retained at its maximum throughout cooking. It implies that the oven should be heated for some length of time prior to cooking, sd that it is very hot when the food is put in. The heat is then reduced, as the oven should be sufficiently hot to retain a high temperature for the first ten to fifteen minutes of cooking, while i the pastry should be rising and browning steadily. When the pastry is firm and brown the heat of the oven is still further reduced so that it remains at a very moderate temperature until the contents of the pastry are also cooked. To prevent over browning the pastry may be covered with paper when the desired colour is obtained. Perhaps the most frequently used and most economical pastry is short pastry: for this either butter, or a mixture of lard and margarine, or a good beef dripping can be used.