What does lard do to pastry?
What does lard do to pastry?
The pros: Lard produces an extremely crisp, flaky crust. It’s also easy to work with, as its melting point is higher than butter, so it doesn’t soften as quickly while you handle it, or threaten to dissolve into the flour as quickly as butter before baking.
Is pastry better made with lard or butter?
Pie crusts made with lard are flaky and crisp, while all-butter crusts have rich flavor and tenderness. Lard has a higher melting point than butter, making pastry easier to work with. Butter’s lower melting point absorbs more quickly into flour requiring colder pastry and quick work to retain flakiness.
What is hot water crust pastry made of?
Hot water crust is traditionally used for producing hand-made pies. As the name suggests, the pastry is made by heating water, melting the fat in it, bringing the mixture to a boil, and finally incorporating the flour. This can be done by beating the flour into the mixture in the pan, or by kneading on a pastry board.
Can I use butter instead of lard in hot water pastry?
Here’s what you need to make hot water crust: Fat – I like to use a combination of 50% butter and 50% lard. Traditionally this pastry is made with only lard, but I like the taste butter gives. You can also use only butter instead for vegetarian-friendly recipes.
How do you make tender and flaky pastry?
Fats contribute to the flakiness and tenderness of pastry by being layered in between sheets of thin dough. It can also be cut in or rubbed into the flour as pea-sized shapes before the final dough is made. The fat melts during baking, leaving air spaces.
Which is better for pie crust butter or lard?
Butter being superior in flavor in most doughs and crusts, does make for a harder fat to work with. It melts quickly, and if not handled correctly, can create a chewy crust rather than flaky. If baked to perfection, butter-based crusts almost always win out.
Why is my hot water crust pastry hard?
According to Reader’s Digest, when hot water crust pastry is hard, the reason behind it is usually that there wasn’t enough fat or liquid added to the dough. Without enough of either, the dough is more difficult to work with which leads you to overwork it.
What flour do you use for hot water pastry?
Hot water pastry doesn’t take any fancy ingredients, and can easily be made vegan. Let’s explore each ingredient in this recipe. Flour: Using a mixture of bread flour and all-purpose flour gives extra strength. You can use 100% all-purpose flour if you’re not using this crust for free-form pies.
What creates the most tender pastry?
The pastry or cake flour keeps the pastry dough tender, and the vinegar strengthens the gluten and adds elasticity. This pastry dough has more salt than most. Kosher salt is coarser than table salt. If you are using table salt instead, cut the amount of salt in half.
