Plain Pastry
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into a mixing bowl.
Flour the blade of a knife and chop the shortening into the flour until it resembles meal.
Make and shape the dough
Gradually add cold water until the mixture forms a paste that sticks together but does not adhere to the knife or bowl.
Transfer the mixture to a lightly floured board and roll it into a ball, picking up any flour or dough from the sides of the bowl.
Pat the dough into a rectangular shape and roll it out to the desired thickness.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the dough once it is combined with water.
- Shortening
- Coats flour particles and creates a tender, flaky texture by keeping layers separate.
- Cold water
- Binds the flour and fat into a cohesive dough without developing excess gluten.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas to lift the dough slightly, making it lighter in texture.
The step that matters
Adding the cold water. Adding too much water or mixing too vigorously makes the dough tough, because extra water hydrates more gluten. Add water gradually and stop once the dough just holds together, so the shortening stays in small pieces that create flakiness.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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