I’m trying to make pasty shell but it keeps coming out w consistently of everything else? Why God, why?
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theres a lot of things there, so it might get a bit messy explaining.
the difference boils down to hydration and mixing. hydration makes things spring up in the oven. mixing changes texture by affecting gluten formation (a group of proteins).
waffles are high hydration, and the mixing is thorough. the high hydration makes them fluffy (i think, waffles arent really a thing where im from, but i imagined them as like pancakes in texture)
scones are mixed while dry to ensure fat distribution, and then mixed just enough with liquid to ensure uniformity. if you over mix scones the fats start melting and combining with the liquids and solids “wrong” and form too much gluten, so they end up dense.
cake batter is wide ranging with regards to hydration. Sponge cakes can be quite thick batters, or quite runny (like a chiffon cake). they are mixed depending on the thickness. a thick batter is mixed gently or folded, to prevent gluten forming and making it dense. runny batters are more forgiving as the liquid allows the contents to slide past each other easier (more complicated than that, but thats an eli5 explanation)
cookie batter is low hydration, so mixing must be gentle otherwise gluten will form and mess up the texture.
puff pastry is quite low hydration, but high in fat which provides the little water that is present and needed to lift the pastry. theres two types of puff pastry, laminated and…….not laminated (i guess). laminated is made by layering butter between sheets of dough. the butter melts in the oven and water in it evaporated and lifts the pastry. the other type is made bu rubbing butter into the flour to make crumbs and flakes of butter. the butter still provides water to lift it, and the uneven nature of the crumbs and flakes of butter makes the pastry open lots of pockets. in wither case, if you mix it too much, the butter will disperse too much, and wont be in a form fit to make layers form in the pastry as it cooks.
so, in summation, if your pastry is turning out wrong, and youre following a set recipe with a defined amount of liquids, you’re probably mixing it too long or too much. idk for certain though, i cant see the pastry. r/baking is helpful for troubleshooting these things
If you’re following a recipe (ie the amounts are measured correctly), then there is a likelihood that you might not be controlling the temperature.
Chill the butter, flour and water before starting out. Mix very quickly (and as little as possible) in a food processor. Then set it aside to chill again. The key to flaky pastry is keeping the butter “chunks” within the dough and not letting the butter melt into the flour.
The same goes when folding and shaping – work quickly and don’t let things get warm. This is why professional chefs sometimes use marble tops and or specialty counters that are cooled for pastry making.
The critical difference between the different batters, dough etc is fat/water/flour ratio. The leavening is important as well, of course. Waffles/pancakes – high water to fat and flour. Cakes/cookies – medium water, medium fat. Pastry low water, typically higher fat. As with these things – mixing time is important. Flour has gluten and controlling how it develops will affect the end result. Unlike bread, cakes/cookies/pastries don’t rely as much on gluten for texture – so overmixing is bad.
Great comments so far, I’ll only add that Puff Pastry is the “not like the others” on the this list.
The other doughs/batters usually have leavening ingredients (typically baking powder or soda). These ingredients create gas bubbles in response to either heat or acidity, making the waffle/scone/cake/cookies puffy and tasty, otherwise they would be a brick.
FWIW, cake doesn’t *have* to have baking powder, but all ready-made mixes do. Handmade cake recipes might use egg whites.
Puff Pastry doesn’t have leavening at all, it gets it’s puff from melting butter laminated into the dough.
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