Pastes | Types of Pastes | Faults

Pastes are creamy thick mixture made with flour , water , egg and butter . They are used for making various type of pastries . They form bases of many pastries while many are used as filling. 

The types of pastes are :-

1. Short crust paste :- Short crust paste is crisp and brittle. It is not elastic and resilient like dough and used for making savoury Product such as turn over and pies, tarts. It can be cut into shaped and used as savoury biscuit.

Method :- 

• We need Butter , flour , salt and water . We are going with 500 GM flour , 250 gm butter, 30 ml icy cold water and 5/10 gram of salt. 

• First we will sift the flour and add salt. Now we are going to add butter . We will rub butter in flour by using our fingertips.

• Now we are going to add cold icy water and work with dough slowly bringing dough together with finger.

• When dough start to form a ball, we will turn out in working table and knead lightly to form dough. We won't be overkneading

• Now we will make the dough flat with hand , cover it and wrap and refrigerate at least half an hour to keep gluten at rest and relax so it won't shrink during cooking. 

Note :- we are not much water while making dough. The process will be easy while making dough by adding more water but results hard , tough pastry. 

2. Sweet paste :- Sweet paste is sweet in taste. It is brittle and short like short crust paste but is used in sweet Product. It uses creaming method and is used for making tarts , pies and base for certain cake and pastries. 

Method :-

• We will be going with Flour , icing sugar ,butter , eggs and lemon juice. We are going with 1 kg flour , icing sugar 300 gram , butter 300 gm , lemon juice and eggs 300 gram. 

• Sift flour with icing sugar

• Place in a bowl and put in butter. Now work with finger tips. 

• In a bowl we are going to make well now, and will add egg. 

• Now gradually draw in flour and make paste.we will knead the paste till smooth

• Roll into ball , flatten slightly and wrap , refrigerate. 

Note - In bread making we need flour with high gluten content while for pastries we need flour with low gluten content . Gluten decides how much liquid flour will absorb. 

3. Choux paste :- Choux means Cabbage in French . Choux is a versatile precooked paste that can be used in pastries and fried for use in fritter. Pastry Product made from choux paste includes eclair , Paris Brest. When choux paste is baked , a stem is formed inside which pushes the paste out giving hollow texture. It is then baked at low temperature to keep it firm and crisp.

Method :-  

• We are going with water , Butter , Flour and eggs and using water 250 ml , butter 125 gram, Flour 150 gram and egg 4 no.s

• First of all we are going to melt butter in water and bring boil. 

• Now,Add flour and stir it with wooden spoon

• Cook for some minutes untill the mixture pulls away from pan, forming ball shape and remove from heat. 

• Place dough in bowl and mix dough for few minutes and allow it to cool. 

• Now add beaten eggs gradually, mixing the dough untill it is smooth. 

• The paste should be of pipe able consistency but not runny. 

Note - Baked choux pastry rise due to egg content and stem . The oven should be hot when placing eclair in oven . Without this , eclairs will not rise. 

4. Suet paste :- suet pastry can be cooked by boiling, steaming or baking . It is used for plain pudding that are made from fruit. The suet must not be melted before use and should be minced fine as possible to add cold water and flour. It can be used to make assortment of sweet and savoury items. Suet is the fat layer found in the kidney of cattle. We used beef suet. 

Method :-

• We are going with flour , baking powder , salt , water and ,beef suet. We need flour 259 gram , baking gram 10 gram , water 125 Gram and Beef suet 100 gram. 

• Now first of all we will sieve the flour by adding salt and baking powder . 

• Now we will mix suet by mincing it very fine. 

• We need to create a well at centre where we will mix water and knead to smooth paste. 

FAULTS IN PASTES MAKING :- 

1. Short crust - 

Hard pastry : due to too much liquid and to little fat , over handling or insufficient rubbing 

Shrunk pastry : Excess Stretching during rolling out 

Soft and crumbly pastry : Too little water and too much fat used 

Sunken pie : if oven temperature is too low , cold pastry put over got fillings. 

2. Suet pastry - 

Heavy pastry : Insufficient baking powder

Tough pastry : Dough handed too much

3. Choux pastry -

Mixture too soft : Insufficient cooling of flour before adding eggs and if eggs added too rapidly

Pastry did not rise : if oven is too cold and baking time is short

Sinking after removal from oven : Insufficient baking.

4. Puff pastries -

Fat running out during baking if oven is too cold

Shrinking pastry : If insufficient resting 

Some more pastry faults are :-

1. Pastry will be soft and oily if Temperature of oven is low 

2. Pastry will shrink when cooking if the pastry is stretch

3. Pastry blisters if fat not rubbed sufficiently and too much water used 

4. Pastry will be too dark if cooking time is too long and oven temperature is too high

5. The cook pastry will be dry if too much liquid added and mixture over handled 

6. The pastry will be hard and tough if too little fat was used and pastry over rolled 

7. Pastry will be pale if not baked properly for long and oven temperature not hot enough.