Plain Pastry
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a bowl, combine the pastry flour, baking powder, and salt.
Cut in the fat until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Add ice water gradually until the dough holds together.
Chill
Chill the dough before rolling it out.
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
- Pastry flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure.
- Fat
- Coats flour particles and creates flaky layers by keeping pieces separate.
- Ice water
- Hydrates the flour so the dough holds together while staying cold.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas for light rising in the baked pastry.
The step that matters
Add ice water gradually. Too much water or warm water lets gluten develop and melts the fat, making the pastry tough instead of flaky. Adding water slowly stops as soon as the dough holds together.
“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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