It’s easy to find the different types of pastry ready-made in the supermarket, but do you know that it isn’t that difficult to prepare pastry at home? Here I will list various some of the different types of pastry chef pastry recipes such a puff pastry, shortcrust pastry, shortcrust pastry and filo. Sometimes we just buy any pastry and put it in the fridge without knowing how to best use it and what are the best recipes. Here I will highlight their main differences, the best recipes and also how to make the most of these doughs!
Types of pastries
Puff pastry, shortcrust pastry, shortcrust pastry and filo pastry: so good but so different! Whether they are ready to use or homemade, they make our food extremely appetizing. The advantage of using pastry is that it can be frozen making life easier in the kitchen. Obviously differences, characteristic and peculiarity make them unique and preferable than the others for rustic preparations and savory dishes.
Besides the basic ones I would like to mention other types of pasty on the market such as pâte sabléè shortcrust pastry, pasta matta (crazy dough) or kataifi pastry which is very fashionable lately.
Shortcrust pastry
The shortcrust pastry is the simplest and best known type of pastry. Excellent for both sweet and savory preparations, it comes to our rescue many times. So, it is mainly made with butter and sugar, flour and eggs, and most importantly can be prepared in advance and is ideal for many occasions. First of all tarts with jam or creams, if for example you want to use it for savory preparations you can make it by adding less sugar. If, you prefer a more rustic and less refined flavour, you can replace all or part of the flour with wholemeal, spelt or other flours. Salt must never be missing in this preparation to be added according to the needs of the recipe. Once prepared, it must be left to rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour, or it can be frozen. It can be used for classic tarts, biscuits or savory pies. It’s flavor depends a lot on the amount of butter, but I have also prepared it with olive oil and everyone appreciated the taste.
Puff pastry
Puff pastry is another very popular pastry, very versatile, lending itself for baked goods and also savory preparations. When baked the pastry becomes like divided in crunchy sheets that form thanks to they large quantity of butter and the process in which it’s prepared.
Pasta Brisé
The Pasta Brisé, originating in France, is perhaps the one that is right in the middle between sweet and savoury. Its dough is mainly made up of flour, butter, water and salt, and optionally sugar to make it sweeter. Tarte tatin and some types of biscuits are all made with this pastry.
Phyllo dough
Phyllo dough , is a very tasty pastry used widely in Greece and Turkey, made up of many overlapping sheets. It has a fairly neutral flavor and you need to overlap at least 4 sheets of phyllo dough spaced out with a dab of oil.
Sablé pastry
The sablé pastry which is a variant of the shortcrust pastry but differs from the way it’s prepared. The method consists in obtaining quickly working the butter so that the mixture looks like sand. Having a greater quantity of butter, it is much more crumbly than the classic shortcrust pastry. It is mainly used to make biscuits and sweet preparations.
Pasta Kataifi
Pasta Kataifi is of Greek origin, and is often used in Turkish or Arab cuisine. It is a pasta made up of many threads, similar to thin spaghetti, which have the function of creating a crunchy shell. I tasted a very special Turkish dessert using this pastry but it also goes perfectly with fish, especially shellfish which become crunchy and tasty when wrapped in it. Today it is also found in the supermarket in comfortable packages.
