Flaky Pastry
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a basin, mix the flour and salt.
Rub one-third of the fat into the flour mixture.
Gradually add the cold water to form a stiff paste.
Turn the paste onto a floured board and roll it into a long strip.
Laminate
Divide the remaining fat into three portions.
Place one portion of fat on the paste in small pieces, then dredge lightly with flour.
Fold the paste evenly in thirds, turn it, and roll it out.
Repeat the folding and rolling process twice, using one-third of the fat each time.
Finally, fold and roll once without adding any fat.
The pastry is now ready for use.
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 structure of the dough when combined with water.
- Dripping or lard
- Creates flaky layers by separating the dough into thin sheets that stay distinct when baked.
- Cold water
- Hydrates the flour to form a cohesive paste, with cold keeping the fat from softening.
The step that matters
Keeping the fat in distinct layers during folding. Rolling and folding spreads the fat into thin sheets between layers of dough. If the fat softens or is worked into the flour too much, the layers blend and the pastry loses its 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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