I’m trying to make pasty shell but it keeps coming out w consistently of everything else? Why God, why?
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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.
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