pastry making

[homerbart]

Can anybody tell me that in most recipes they say butter. What kind of butter. Would it be the hard butter or the softened butter - I am always confused by this

[BigMac]

If you mean should you use a block of butter or a spreadable-type, I would suggest using the block - then you know you are just using butter and not a blend with vegetable oils or whatever.

Can I also suggest you look at Delia's complete cookery course? There are recipes for different types of pastry, one of which (for puff pastry) suggests grating the butter having taken it out of the freezer... and it works. I used it to make individual Boeuf en Croute and they went down a storm.

The other thing I would say is that usually the best pastry is made by those with the coldest hands, so straight from the fridge should be ok.

Finally, experiment! Find out what works best for you and produces the best results and then stick to it. It should be fun, too... and, after all, the proof of the pudding...

[jack daniels]

I would recommend block butter also like BigMac - the colder the better. The art of pastry making is to handle it the least you can especially in the rubbing in stage (resembles breadcrumbs) and to keep it cool, even popping it in the fridge before cooking it either as a dough ball or ready rolled onto the pie etc...
You can make it by machine but still chill it before using it

good luck

[pastafreak]

I agree with jack daniels.....and I would make it unsalted butter.

[spudqueen]

Not very fashionable these days, but pastry made with half butter (original style butter - none of this messed about with stuff) and half lard is beautiful.

[Jugglering]

The secret of really good pastry is to keep everything as COLD as possible.... so make sure you are using chilled fat (butter, marg, lard whatever) and that you don't warm the flour and fat mix up too much when rubbing the fat into the flour. Use ice cold water, cold egg or cold milk to bind it together and then place the dough (covered with cling film or pop it into a wee placky bag) in the fridge to rest and rechill for half an hour before rolling out. Don't handle the pastry too much and you will end up with a lovely shortcrust pastry ! (This is the total opposite to yeast doughs btw - they just adore being groped and fondled....lol)

[ladyalex]

I agree with spudqueen .For shortcrust, half real butter, half lard is best. Keep everything cool and use as little iced water as possible to mix it to a dough. If you can, mix the water in with a knife rather than your hands. It takes a bit of doing, but....
Practice makes perfect and everything home made has to be pretty bad before it's thrown out.

[homerbart]

everybody thanks for all that - ta ra