55
votes
What to use instead of cling film to wrap pastry
It is less useful than what you think
Frame challenge incoming...
Cling film is very light and made especially for such purposes. The environmental damage is extremely low - which limits what ...
- 734
27
votes
What would result from not adding fat to pastry dough?
You'd end up with something somewhere between unleavened bread, pasta & laminate flooring, depending on what else you did with it.
The first two are what you'd get if that's how you treated them, ...
- 29.7k
24
votes
Accepted
How to adequately secure a liquid filling in a piece of pastry?
Liquid fillings are typically piped into pastries after baking, like with donuts, eclairs, and cream puffs.
The method you used relies on crimping and sealing the dough with a long seam in contrast to ...
- 5,381
20
votes
Accepted
Is there any substitute for butter (or oil) on puff pastry?
No. An edible organic liquid that does not dissolve in water, almost by definition, is an oil.
That's not the important thing, though. Substances like mineral oil are edible yet non-nutritive; they ...
- 26.9k
13
votes
How much should I beat choux pastry for optimal rising?
You have gotten a fundamental principle of the choux pastry wrong.
The rising and airiness is not caused by beating air bubbles into the batter, unlike with sponge cake and similar, but by trapping ...
- 58.7k
11
votes
What to use instead of cling film to wrap pastry
You don't have to use clingfilm (cling wrap, saran wrap depending where you are in the world), there are alternatives as long as the pastry is not sticky:
Plastic bags: I reuse zippable plastic bags ...
- 75.4k
9
votes
Accepted
Cake Projector Alternatives
That is totally doable. Just print out an appropriately sized copy of the desired picture and put a piece of waxed paper over it. Using a piping bag, trace the picture with frosting, filling it in. ...
- 58.5k
9
votes
Accepted
Shortcrust tart stopped working
If your dough is very dry and crumbly, it needs more water.
Add a few mL to the dough when adding the beaten egg.
- 1,880
9
votes
What would result from not adding fat to pastry dough?
Your title mentions oil but your question mentions shortening. Be aware that oil and shortening are not the same thing, and substituting one for the other will change the results. Oil is fat that is ...
- 3,138
9
votes
How to adequately secure a liquid filling in a piece of pastry?
You didn't specify what pastry you are making. If you are using a dough which is suitable for filling, such as choux pastry, then indeed piping is the best way to go.
There are however recipes which ...
- 137k
9
votes
What is a reasonable culinary substitute for cucurbita maxima or other pumpkins used in pie and bread?
Sweet potato is similar to pumpkin in pies (and some feel superior), and would probably work well in quick breads and muffins as well. Spices in these types of baked goods are generally predominant ...
- 5,468
8
votes
Accepted
Why does pâte à choux puff up?
A choux is an interesting batter that is created in a way that maximizes gluten structure. It is essentially cooked twice. You combine and heat water and butter, then add flour and continue cooking ...
- 73.8k
8
votes
Accepted
Why not use cornstarch instead of flour for pastries?
You still need some gluten, otherwise the cake will crumble. Any recipe that is gluten free has to use a number of different additives to mimic the structure provided by the gluten. If you just ...
- 10.6k
8
votes
How to adequately secure a liquid filling in a piece of pastry?
I would add another strategy inspired by Chinese soup dumplings. The idea is very simple. Your filling leaked through the seams and liquid only flows downwards. Hence you need to ensure that all the ...
- 896
8
votes
How can I fix a liquidy choux pastry (Gougères) dough for piping?
Most of the sources I've seen online say that you absolutely shouldn't add more raw flour to liquidy choux dough.
The recommended solution seems to be to make half a batch of dough without the eggs, ...
- 2,288
7
votes
Accepted
How does altering the fat-to-flour ratio affect the pastry?
Flour (+ water, either directly or from other ingredients such as egg white) gives the pastry structure. As you knead the flour, the gluten network develops and results in elasticity. When cooked, ...
- 2,155
7
votes
Accepted
Can I "fill" a chicken pot pie 24 hours before cooking it?
Absolutely not. As the other poster said but I will say with no "I think", I will say I know it will ruin the pastry. You will end up with a gummy crust that will never give you the flaky texture ...
- 181
7
votes
How to adequately secure a liquid filling in a piece of pastry?
Czech baking is full of filled dough buns. I have found out the hard way the same problem as you have.
Traditional Czech filled buns called buchty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchteln are filled ...
- 171
6
votes
Accepted
Non-flaky non-crumble pie crust
Normally, pies are done with pie crusts, and they do have the crust types you describe.
But you can certainly add pie filling to some other type of crust and enjoy the result, if that's what you ...
- 137k
6
votes
Non-flaky non-crumble pie crust
What you are looking for is typically considered a kitchen mistake:
Overkneading.
Not-so gentle handling of the dough and some kneading plus a bit more eggs or a dash of milk will add density.
There ...
- 58.7k
6
votes
Shortcrust tart stopped working
The recipe is a prototypical German style Mürbeteig, and whatever went wrong, it is not with the ratio, so it must be something about the process.
If you have problems, I'd say the first thing to do ...
- 137k
6
votes
Name of this Italian pastry?
I don't think these have a specific name, but it's possible to take a guess what they are made of.
The container is a "cialda", a thin waffle. Here is a recipe with pictures, basically it's done with ...
- 920
6
votes
Accepted
How do I pick up and move shortcrust pastry dough without breaking it?
If the pastry is sticking to the rolling surface regardless of how well floured it is, it is possible that you are pressing down overly hard and not keeping the board floured throughout the process.
...
- 3,204
6
votes
What would result from not adding fat to pastry dough?
This sort of pastry is known as short pastry, although it has variants (e.g. you can make flaky piecrust with these ingredients). It is mandatory that you make it with some form of solid fat, the only ...
- 137k
6
votes
Pie crust too soft to put in pan
That's an unusual problem, rollable pie crust recipes will in my experience always get hard enough in the fridge and actually too hard/brittle after a full night there.
Troubleshooting should go in ...
- 137k
6
votes
What kind of dish/pastry consists of white bread with ice-cream or some sort of mousse inside?
This is almost certainly Brioche con Gelato, which is Brioche, a sweet and rich bread with gelato a rich ice-cream made with whole milk and sugar.
- 14k
6
votes
Accepted
Hot Water Crust Pastry: effects of different ratio of ingredients?
So, first of all, the method you chose for listing the ratios is not exactly the most effective in depicting the ratios for comparison...
Usually we just list ratios as parts or with the quantities ...
- 2,848
5
votes
Glazing bread pre-baking
I would simply add it near the end baking. If you add it at the beginning it will almost certainly burn, as you said. Pop it on 5 minutes or so before you need to take the bread out and the honey will ...
- 43.5k
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