it's demo 5 already!!! isnt it quick??!!! geez..
today we learned about Pâte Brisèe aka shortcrust pastry.
Normally, a basic pastry will involve relationship between flour (generally wheat flour as it contains gluten. however, too much gluten will result in an elastic dough), fat (butter, pastry margarine, lard) & liquid (egg, stock, milk).
Types of pastry
1. Friable dough (short dough - crumbly type)
-> Shortcrust (Pâte Brisèe)
- uses 'rub-in' method
- has small air pockets when cooked (there are chunks of fats)
- more resilient
- can be use as savory or sweet tart
-> Sweet pastry (Pâte Sucrèe)
- uses 'creaming' method
- no fat chunks
- more fragile
-> Pâte À Foncer
- usually uses butter / lard
- firmer texture
- usually use as savory tart
2. Choux (pronounce as 'shoe') pastry
- cooked twice
- higher water content therefore the middle of the pastry rises
- examples will be eclair and cream puffs
3. Laminated dough (Lamination is term for the process of alternating layers of dough and butter when making pastry)
- layered fat
- examples are puff pastry and croissant
Back to topic that i will be learning in my Demo 5. Pâte Brisèe...
Making a Pâte Brisèe seems easy but it's not as there are lots of 'you gotta go with the feeling sort of thing' :(
1st you sieve all the dry ingredients
2nd 'cut-in' or 'rub-in' cold butter to the dry ingredients till your bowl is filled with fine breadcrumb look a like mix
3rd you add liquid which is water & eggs in this case. this will result in the rise of the the tart. Eggs has fats as well which act as the moistening ingredients resulting in a nice and soft pastry :)
4th work it into a dough and let it 'rest' about 30mins in the fridge.
hmm pause for a moment and think...why do we have to let the dough rest in the fridge? i am sure chef did tell us the reason but i ermm forgot..okok i admit i forgot. so i googled and found 3 reasons.
Reason 1
During the rubbing in of butter and mixing of the dough, the butter will be soften. By rolling the dough right after you had form the dough, you are pressing the softened fat (aka the butter) into the flour granules. What you want to do is have the fat roll out into flakes between layers of the dough. Refrigerating the dough helps to cool down the fat and allows it to harden. Once it is hardened, it will roll out into the desired flakes.
Reason 2
Resting allows any glutens that were formed to relax, creating a more tender pastry. Glutens are form when you add water to wheat flour where water molecules combine with 2 proteins found in wheat flour known as gliadin and glutenin (click on the link the explanation is so interesting. i just love science).
Reason 3
During resting the water in the dough will spread out, for a more even hydration and therefore a more consistent result. During mixing, you are trying to evenly incorporate the water completely into the dough while not mixing so much as to form a lot of glutens. Glutens are encouraged and strengthened by mixing which will result in high elasticity of the dough where the pastry will shrink and be tough). Some recipes attempt to minimize this by adding a bit of vinegar or other acid, which inhibits gluten formation.
You should consider the half hour to be a minimum resting period. Pastry dough can be made up a day or more in advance without loss of quality, provided it is refrigerated until you are ready to use it.
There things to take note as well. If you had underworked your dough, cracks will form this is due to moisture not evenly spread out (there are some parts without moisture). If you overworked your dough, as said before, you will form too much gluten and your tart will shrink when baked.
see what i told you that it's all about feeling...you gotta feel that you had work the dough enough..
and we shall continue....
5th roll the rested dough and dock it. Dock refers to putting holes in pastry allowing air to pass when baking
- usually uses butter / lard
- firmer texture
- usually use as savory tart
2. Choux (pronounce as 'shoe') pastry
- cooked twice
- higher water content therefore the middle of the pastry rises
- examples will be eclair and cream puffs
3. Laminated dough (Lamination is term for the process of alternating layers of dough and butter when making pastry)
- layered fat
- examples are puff pastry and croissant
Back to topic that i will be learning in my Demo 5. Pâte Brisèe...
Making a Pâte Brisèe seems easy but it's not as there are lots of 'you gotta go with the feeling sort of thing' :(
1st you sieve all the dry ingredients
2nd 'cut-in' or 'rub-in' cold butter to the dry ingredients till your bowl is filled with fine breadcrumb look a like mix
3rd you add liquid which is water & eggs in this case. this will result in the rise of the the tart. Eggs has fats as well which act as the moistening ingredients resulting in a nice and soft pastry :)
4th work it into a dough and let it 'rest' about 30mins in the fridge.
hmm pause for a moment and think...why do we have to let the dough rest in the fridge? i am sure chef did tell us the reason but i ermm forgot..okok i admit i forgot. so i googled and found 3 reasons.
Reason 1
During the rubbing in of butter and mixing of the dough, the butter will be soften. By rolling the dough right after you had form the dough, you are pressing the softened fat (aka the butter) into the flour granules. What you want to do is have the fat roll out into flakes between layers of the dough. Refrigerating the dough helps to cool down the fat and allows it to harden. Once it is hardened, it will roll out into the desired flakes.
Reason 2
Resting allows any glutens that were formed to relax, creating a more tender pastry. Glutens are form when you add water to wheat flour where water molecules combine with 2 proteins found in wheat flour known as gliadin and glutenin (click on the link the explanation is so interesting. i just love science).
Reason 3
During resting the water in the dough will spread out, for a more even hydration and therefore a more consistent result. During mixing, you are trying to evenly incorporate the water completely into the dough while not mixing so much as to form a lot of glutens. Glutens are encouraged and strengthened by mixing which will result in high elasticity of the dough where the pastry will shrink and be tough). Some recipes attempt to minimize this by adding a bit of vinegar or other acid, which inhibits gluten formation.
You should consider the half hour to be a minimum resting period. Pastry dough can be made up a day or more in advance without loss of quality, provided it is refrigerated until you are ready to use it.
There things to take note as well. If you had underworked your dough, cracks will form this is due to moisture not evenly spread out (there are some parts without moisture). If you overworked your dough, as said before, you will form too much gluten and your tart will shrink when baked.
see what i told you that it's all about feeling...you gotta feel that you had work the dough enough..
and we shall continue....
5th roll the rested dough and dock it. Dock refers to putting holes in pastry allowing air to pass when baking
6th tucking in the dough on the tart cases (this is not easy i tell you) u can only see the result when you had baked and remove the tart from the case. a perfect tucked in will result in a uniform base (straight base and angled corners)
7th the addition of baking beans or pie weight when baking (to maintain the shape)
7th the addition of baking beans or pie weight when baking (to maintain the shape)
8th the timing that your tart is in the oven will be about 15-20mins (NB: do not open the oven at the start as the tart is beginning to cook. by opening the oven door you will reduce the heat in the oven hindering the tart from cooking)
9th when you FEEL that the side of your tart is cook enough, remove baking beans and brush some egg wash and continue to bake till you FEEL that the colour of the tart is to your liking.
wahhh so much FEELINGS involved...
anw i was super excited about this lesson as there is Tart au Chocolat (Chocolate tart)!!! but only to know we are making Tart au Citon (Lemon tart) each :( but i didnt know Lemon tart tasted so yummy!!! i mean WALAlicious~~~ haha
Gosh i think i made a super long lecture post haven't i? however, i will edit this post and update with the step by step photos when i bake it again. fyi, Tart au Citron will be one of our exam recipes!!! hence i need to practice a lot so that my hand can do the job when i am in exam without having to worry :) yea kaisu i know..i am Singaporean what. and i am proud to be one =D
Products of Chef Julie...i am definitely gonna make chocolate tart!
9th when you FEEL that the side of your tart is cook enough, remove baking beans and brush some egg wash and continue to bake till you FEEL that the colour of the tart is to your liking.
wahhh so much FEELINGS involved...
anw i was super excited about this lesson as there is Tart au Chocolat (Chocolate tart)!!! but only to know we are making Tart au Citon (Lemon tart) each :( but i didnt know Lemon tart tasted so yummy!!! i mean WALAlicious~~~ haha
Gosh i think i made a super long lecture post haven't i? however, i will edit this post and update with the step by step photos when i bake it again. fyi, Tart au Citron will be one of our exam recipes!!! hence i need to practice a lot so that my hand can do the job when i am in exam without having to worry :) yea kaisu i know..i am Singaporean what. and i am proud to be one =D
Products of Chef Julie...i am definitely gonna make chocolate tart!
and my WALAlicious products ;) it is really really really WALAlicious even though i ermm didnt follow the instructions exactly due to ermm my blurness (i didnt know the stove was not heated up and i just kept stirring my lemon curd expecting it to curdle -.-''')
but overall it is still good ok..but of course i would have failed as you can see my cut up lemon tart is not gooey (the tart was in the fridge for 3 days though which i am not sure if that was the reason) comparing to chef julie's gooey yummy lemon curd. anw i am gonna perfect it!
ok writing 2 posts in a day is tiring..especially the many research in info to include. sorry that i haven't been updating lately due to the 'lazy' bug that caught up on me. I am gonna update it so frequent that i do not have to add 'blog posting' as one of my homework =P
ciaozz...time to shower then to rest :)
sorry if i am super long winded..but i am a detailed person...hope i am that way when it comes to baking as well which i seem to be lacking of organization skill as the head chef of LCB had pointed out to me :( boo hoo hoo...really sad leh..haizz but my friends said he say]id it to everyone. but he said that specifically to me only when he gave our individual feedback of the day :( also also he helped me a lot during my disastrous '1-step behind everyone' practical 6 on making of Tarte aux Pommes (apple tart) which i will blog about in my next post. ok i think i kinda leak out some info ont he next post but i cant help it.. okok gotta go..
btw the easter sunday meal was wooolalaly good..roasted lamb, potatoes, kidney bean rice..hmmm hmmmmm...woooolala WALAlicious ;)
The tart looks yum yum!!
ReplyDeleteRoasted lamb... I wan too!!!