2006-06-06 22:58:59 · 2 answers · asked by eric 1 in Food & Drink ➔ Cooking & Recipes
The key to good pastries is the lack of gluten development and the presence of butter or lard.
Use only pastry flour (aka cake flour) for making pastries. It has far less gluten to develop.
Don't work the dough any more than is absolutely necessary. Working (kneading, mixing) the dough developes the gluten.
You can't make a really good pastry with oil or margarine other hydrogenated fats. Don't try.
A good product to start on is pie crust. Once you can make a light, flaky pie crusts, you'll have the basics down to making good pastries of other types.
2006-06-07 02:40:42 · answer #1 · answered by Montana Don 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Keep your hands clean and your head out of the oven.
2006-06-07 06:01:12 · answer #2 · answered by Bullwinkle Moose 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋