I had been dreading Pastry Week since I first read it in the initial course outline. Good pastry requires light hands and a cool touch. I have hot hands and am pretty good at smooshing the butter into the flour. Not really what you are after. For one family function I managed to make pastry so tough we just ate the filling out of the case. Turns out, however, that good pastry is not all that hard to make after all.
We started with a basic shortcrust pastry. Shortcrust is good for everyday quiches and rustic tarts. Add a bit of sugar and you have the perfect base for a sweet rustic tart. I rarely make quiche because I can never find a recipe I like. My big take away message is that if you have a basic shortcrust recipe and a basic savoury custard, you can make a great quiche from pretty much anything. I am now equipped with both, and have made possibly my best quiches to date.
Next came rich shortcrust. Here I was in my element. This pastry is more about smooshing the butter and flour together. The real problems start when you are trying to roll the pastry out. It is better to do this between layers of baking paper so the pastry doesn’t stick to the bench top. We made large tarts, small tarts and pies. Gluten free and spelt pastries were both on the menu.
I can also now say that I have made puff pastry from scratch. It is not difficult, but it is a time consuming process not helped by the rising temperatures both inside and out of the kitchen. Sausage rolls, open roast vegetable tarts and a beetroot tarte tartin used our newly made puff pastry sheets to full advantage.
The remainder of the week was spent practising our new pastry making and baking skills. A vast array of gluten and gluten free pastries and bakes were trialled, all of which had to be eaten. By the end of the week I felt tired, grumpy and found it difficult to focus. I discovered I was not the only one feeling this way, and put it down to the large volumes of sugar we had been consuming.
Despite my initial apprehension, I loved Pastry Week. I learnt so much, the key point being that pastry is better when kept cold. I now feel I could confidently tackle any pastry project and am sure that quiche will be appearing a lot more frequently at home. I remain a fan of store bought puff, but I know I can make it if I need to.
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