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Pastry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the food. For the distributed hash table system, see Pastry (DHT).
Not to be confused with Pasty.
Pastries
Image
The folding process of Puff pastry
Place of originWorldwide
Main ingredientsOften flour, sugar, milk, butter, lard or shortening, baking powder, eggs
  • Wikibooks logo Cookbook: Pastries
  •  Wikimedia Commons logo Media: Pastries

Pastry is various unleavened doughs, often enriched with fat or eggs.[1][2][3] The dough may be called pastry dough.[4] Common pastry dishes include börek, pies, tarts, and turnovers.[5][6]

In North America, the term Pastry is used for sweet baked goods made with a dough,[7] however, is generally used colloquially to describe all sweet baked or fried goods.[8][9] This usage is a modern term, as historically, as per The American Heritage Dictionary, the term was similar to that used in British and Australian English.[10] Items like Croissant and Danish pastry may look like Puff pastry but are made with a leavened dough, Viennoiserie, that are described as a meeting point between bread and pastry,[11] and by the Dictionnaire Petit Robert as neither a pastry nor a bread.[12]

Definitions

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The precise definition of the term pastry varies based on location and culture.[1] Common doughs used to make pastries include filo dough, puff pastry, choux pastry, shortcrust pastry and Flaky pastry.[1][3] Pastries tend to have a delicate texture, often flaky or crumbly, and rich flavor. This is caused by the crystals found in solid fats, which forces the starch particles apart and stops the formation of elastic gluten, making the pastry short.[13] Pastries also tend to be baked.[14]

Image
Pastry brake, dough brake or pasta maker for filo dough

Pastry terms

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Pastry blender
A kitchen implement used to chop the fat into the flour, which prevents the melting of the fat with body heat from fingers, and improves control of the size of the fat chunks. Usually constructed of wire or plastic, with multiple wires or small blades connected to a handle.
Pastry board
A square or oblong board, preferably marble but usually wood, on which pastry is flattened.[15]
Pastry brake/Dough sheeter
Opposed and counter-rotating rollers with a variable gap through which pastry can be worked and reduced in thickness for commercial production. A small version is used domestically for pasta production.[16]
Pastry case
An uncooked or blind baked pastry container that is used to hold savory or sweet mixtures.[17]
Pastry cutters
Various metal or plastic outlines of shapes, e.g. circles, fluted circles, diamonds, gingerbread men, etc., sharpened on one or both sides and used to cut out corresponding shapes from biscuit, scone, pastry, or cake mixtures.[18]

History

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Image
A typical Mediterranean baklava, a phyllo dough pastry sweetened with nuts and honey

The European tradition of pastry-making is often traced back to the shortcrust era of flaky doughs that were in use throughout the Mediterranean in ancient times. In the ancient Mediterranean, the Romans, Greeks, and Phoenicians all had filo-style pastry in their culinary traditions. In the plays of Aristophanes, written in the 5th century BC, there is mention of sweetmeats, including small baked goods filled with fruit. Roman cuisine used flour, oil, and water to make the pastry dough that were used to cover meats and fowls during baking in order to keep in the juices, but the pastry was not meant to be eaten. A pastry that was meant to be eaten was a richer pastry that was made into small baked goods containing eggs or little birds and that were often served at banquets. Greeks and Romans both struggled in making a good pastry because they used oil in the cooking process, and oil causes the pastry to lose its stiffness.[19]

In the medieval cuisine of Northern Europe, chefs were able to produce nice, stiff pastry dough because they cooked with shortening and butter. Some incomplete lists of ingredients have been found in medieval cookbooks, but no full, detailed versions. There were stiff, empty pastry dough called coffins or 'huff paste', that were eaten by servants only and included an egg yolk glaze to help make them more enjoyable to consume.[20][21] Medieval pastry based baked goods also included small tarts to add richness.

It was not until about the mid-16th century that actual pastry recipes began appearing.[22][23] These recipes were adopted and adapted over time in various European countries, resulting in the myriad pastry traditions known to the region, including Portuguese "pastéis de nata" to Pasty in the United Kingdom.

Throughout the world pastry has developed. In China, Chinese flaky pastry (Chinese: 中式酥皮; also known as Chinese puff pastry) is made in two distinct styles, Huaiyang-style (淮揚酥皮) and Cantonese-style pastry (廣式酥皮).[24] In Asia, Spring rolls are made with a simple pastry dough of water, flour and oil.[25]

Types of pastry dough

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Shortcrust pastry
Shortcrust pastry is the simplest and most common pastry. It is made with flour, fat, butter, salt, and water to bind the dough.[26] Pâte brisée is the French version of classic pie or tart shortcrust pastry.[27] The process of making pastry includes mixing of the fat and flour, adding water, chilling and then rolling out the dough. Chilling before rolling is essential since it enables the fat (lard, butter, etc.) to harden again and thus create flaky layers in the dough. It also allows for even hydration and inhibits gluten formation. It results in a tender flaky pastry.[28] The fat is mixed with the flour first, generally by rubbing with fingers or a pastry blender, which inhibits gluten formation by coating the gluten strands in fat and results in a short (as in crumbly; hence the term shortcrust), tender pastry.[29] A related type is the sweetened sweetcrust pastry, also known as pâte sucrée, in which sugar and egg yolks have been added (rather than water) to bind the pastry.[30]
Puff pastry
Puff pastry has many layers that cause it to expand or "puff" when baked. Puff pastry is made using a laminated dough consisting of flour, butter, salt, and water. The pastry rises up due to the water and fats expanding as they turn into steam upon heating.[31] Puff pastry come out of the oven light, flaky, and tender.
Flaky pastry
Flaky pastry is a simple pastry that expands when cooked due to the number of layers. It bakes into a crisp, buttery pastry. The "puff" is obtained by the shard-like layers of fat, most often butter or shortening, creating layers which expand in the heat of the oven when baked. A form of Flaky pastry is Chinese flaky pastry, but it uses oil instead of butter.
Choux pastry
Choux pastry is a very light pastry that is often filled with cream. Unlike other types of pastry, choux is in fact closer to a dough before being cooked which gives it the ability to be piped into various shapes such as the éclair and profiterole. Its name originates from the French choux, meaning cabbage, owing to its rough cabbage-like shape after cooking.[32]
Choux begins as a mixture of milk or water and butter which are heated together until the butter melts, to which flour is added to form a dough. Eggs are then beaten into the dough to further enrich it. This high percentage of water causes the pastry to expand into a light, hollow pastry. Initially, the water in the dough turns to steam in the oven and causes the pastry to rise; then the starch in the flour gelatinizes, thereby solidifying the pastry.[33] Once the choux dough has expanded, it is taken out of the oven; a hole is made in it to let out the steam. The pastry is then placed back in the oven to dry out and become crisp. The pastry is filled with various flavors of cream and is often topped with chocolate. Choux pastries can also be filled with ingredients such as cheese, tuna, or chicken to be used as appetizers.
Filo (Phyllo)
FIlo is a paper-thin pastry dough that is used in many layers. The filo is generally wrapped around a filling and brushed with butter before baking. These pastries are very delicate and flaky.[34]
Malsouka
Also know as brik sheets, (Arabic: ورق البريك, French: feuilles de brick) or bourek sheets (ورق البوراك) or dioul (Arabic: ديول) is a Maghrebi pastry sheet that resembles filo.[35][3][36][37] It is thicker than filo[3] and unlike filo is created by spreading wafer-thin layers of dough on a heated pan rather than by rolling a raw dough.[36][38]
Hot water crust pastry
Hot water crust pastry is used for savoury pies, such as pork pies, game pies and, more rarely, steak and kidney pies. Hot water crust is traditionally used for making hand-raised pies. The usual ingredients are hot water, lard, and flour. The pastry is made by heating water into which the fat is then melted, before bringing to the boil, and finally mixing with the flour. It can be done by beating the flour into the mixture in the pan, or by kneading on a pastry board. Either way, the result is a hot and rather sticky paste that can be used for hand-raising: shaping by hand, sometimes using a dish or bowl as an inner mould. As the crust cools, its shape is largely retained, and it is filled and covered with a crust, ready for baking. 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, which is generally accepted as the mark of a hand-made pie.[39]
Suet pastry
A traditional pastry in British cuisine used in both sweet and savoury dishes. Suet is the raw, hard fat of beef, lamb or mutton found around the loins and kidneys. Its high smoke point makes it ideal for deep frying and pastry production.[40][41]

Chemistry

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Different kinds of pastry doughs are made by utilizing the natural characteristics of wheat flour and certain fats. When wheat flour is mixed with water and kneaded into plain dough, it develops strands of gluten, which are what make bread tough and elastic. In a typical pastry, however, this toughness is unwanted, so fat or oil is added to slow down the development of gluten. Pastry flour can also be used, since it typically has a lower level of protein than all-purpose or bread flours.[42]

Lard or suet work well because they have a coarse, crystalline structure that is very effective. Using unclarified butter does not work well because of its water content; clarified butter, or ghee, which is virtually water-free, is better, but shortcrust pastry using only butter may develop an inferior texture. If the fat is melted with hot water or if liquid oil is used, the thin oily layer between the grains offers less of an obstacle to gluten formation and the resulting pastry is tougher.[22]

A good pastry is light and airy and fatty, but firm enough to support the weight of the filling. When making a shortcrust pastry, care must be taken to blend the fat and flour thoroughly before adding any liquid---to ensure that the flour granules are adequately coated with fat and less likely to develop gluten. On the other hand, overmixing results in long gluten strands that toughen the pastry.

[edit]

Items made with pastry dough.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Davidson, Alan (2014-01-01). The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford University Press. p. 585. ISBN 9780192115799.
  2. ^ Rowland Foote; Philip Coulthard; Tong Groves; Bob Kenyon; David Klaasen; Danny Stevenson; Harry Tallon; Malcolm Ware (1996). Food Preparation and Cooking. Cookery units. Student guide. 2nd Edition. Stanley Thornes. p. 199. SBN 0748725560. {{cite book}}: Check |sbn= value: length (help)
  3. ^ a b c d Kipfer, Barbara Ann (2012-04-11). The Culinarian: A Kitchen Desk Reference. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-544-18603-3. Cite error: The named reference ":0" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Definition of 'pastry'". Oxford English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 23 August 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  5. ^ Bo Friberg (March 2002). Professional Pastry Chef. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 0-471-21825-1.
  6. ^ L. Patrick Coyle (1982). The World Encyclopedia of Food. Facts on File Inc. ISBN 0-87196-417-1.
  7. ^ "pastry noun". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 28 June 2026.
  8. ^ "American pastries: top 10 iconic desserts, history and recipes". Mae Innovation. 18 November 2025.
  9. ^ "Best American Pastries". Taste Atlas. Retrieved 28 June 2026.
  10. ^ The American Heritage dictionary. Delta Trade Paperbacks. 1994. p. 607.
  11. ^ Michael Suas (2009). Advanced Bread and Pastry: A Professional Approach. Delmer Cengage Learning. pp. 302–305. ISBN 9781418011697.
  12. ^ Alan Davidson (2006). The Oxford Companion to Food. OUP Oxford. ISBN 9780191018251.
  13. ^ Alan Davidson (1999). Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford University Press. p. 293. ISBN 9780192115799.
  14. ^ Larson, Sarah (2022-01-27). "Pastry Chef vs. Baker: What's the Difference?". Escoffier. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
  15. ^ "The Pastry Board in the Kitchen: Functions, Benefits, and Why Choose Stainless Steel". Giemme Spoleto. 27 March 2025.
  16. ^ "Pastry Sheeters". Secondhand Catering Equipment. Retrieved 28 June 2026.
  17. ^ "How To Bake Pastry Blind". Leith Education. 28 September 2023.
  18. ^ Sinclair, Charles. International Dictionary of Culinary Terms. Grand Rapids: Bloomsbury Plc, 1998
  19. ^ History of Baking and Pastry Cooking Archived 2013-01-13 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ Jennifer Megyesi (1 October 2010). The Joy of Keeping a Root Cellar: Canning, Freezing, Drying, Smoking and Preserving the Harvest. Skyhorse. pp. 156–. ISBN 978-1-62873-151-4.
  21. ^ Jane Struthers (5 February 2009). Pies: Recipes, History, Snippets. Ebury Publishing. pp. 15–. ISBN 978-1-4070-2659-6.
  22. ^ a b Jaine, Tom, and Soun Vannithone. The Oxford Companion to Food. New York: Oxford UP, 1999
  23. ^ Bakeinfo. "Types of Pastry- BakeInfo (Baking Industry Research Trust)". www.bakeinfo.co.nz. Archived from the original on 2010-11-19. Retrieved 2018-01-03.
  24. ^ 獨角仙 (2016-05-31). 點點我心 (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 萬里機構出版有限公司. ISBN 978-962-14-6032-5.
  25. ^ "Spring Roll Sheets Recipe. Spring Roll Wrappers Recipe". Sharmispassions. 7 April 2025.
  26. ^ Leanne Kitchen (2008). The Baker. Murdoch Books. p. 171. ISBN 978-1-74196-097-6. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  27. ^ "Pate Brisee (Pie Dough) Recipe". Martha Stewart. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
  28. ^ "Resting Pastry Dough". KitchenSavvy. 2006-06-19. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
  29. ^ "Tarts". The Art and Soul of Baking. Andrews McMeel Publishing. 21 October 2008. p. 207. ISBN 978-0-7407-7334-1. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  30. ^ Peter Barham (2001). "Short crust variations". The Science of Cooking. Springer. p. 183. ISBN 978-3-540-67466-5. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  31. ^ Peter Barham (2001). The Science of Cooking. Springer. p. 189. ISBN 978-3-540-67466-5.
  32. ^ Michel Suas (2009). "Part 4: Pastry". Advanced Bread and Pastry, 1st ed.: A Professional Approach. Cengage Learning. p. 504. ISBN 978-1-4180-1169-7. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  33. ^ Secrets of Eclairs. Murdoch Books. 1 November 2012. pp. 78–. ISBN 978-1-74336-424-6.
  34. ^ "Grains of truth about pastry" (PDF). 2006-10-31. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-10-31. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  35. ^ Souli, Sarah (31 May 2016). "Brik a L'oeuf: The Tunisian Dumpling". Roads & Kingdoms. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  36. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference marks2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  37. ^ Steingarten, Jeffrey (1998). The Man Who Ate Everything. The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 334. ISBN 0-679-43088-1.
  38. ^ "Chef Fehmi cooks malsouka, a Tunisian-style of crepe". Wicked Local. 2011.
  39. ^ Dan Lepard (24 November 2007). "Hot water crust pastry". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  40. ^ How to Make Pastry. Hot Methods. 2011. p. 11. ISBN 9781647589578.
  41. ^ Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery. Cassell's. 1896. p. 938.
  42. ^ King Arthur Flour Company. "Professional Baker's Reference: A Guide to the Numbers". King Arthur Flour. Archived from the original on 2017-10-24. Retrieved 2018-01-03.
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