Читать книгу Beginner's Guide to DIY & Home Repair - Kathryn Hawkins - Страница 9

Fat determines the texture and flavour of a pastry. Butter, vegetable shortening and lard are the most commonly used, but vegetable oils can also be used. Weigh or measure fat carefully as too much can make the pastry greasy and short (difficult to handle), while not enough will make a hard, dry pastry. Usually lard and butter are used together for best results, the former gives a short, crisp texture while the latter adds flavour. You will see recipes using combinations or a single fat. Choosing a hard vegetable fat is down to personal taste and health preferences. Choose a fat with no (unsalted) or a low salt content so that you can control the seasoning of the pastry – see notes on salt below. Avoid low fat spreads or any fat with an added water content (“spreadable”) as they will alter the texture of the finished pastry.

Shredded beef or vegetable suet is used for suet crust pastries. It’s down to personal taste which you prefer to use; personally, I prefer beef suet with savoury and vegetable suet with sweet fillings or delicate flavours like vegetables, fish and poultry.

If you want to experiment with different oils, make sure you choose an oil that is suitable for cooking. Delicate flavoured oils such as extra virgin olive or nut oils are not heat resistant – they are used to flavour a finished dish rather than cook with. However, when blended with a more robust oil like sunflower, they can be used for flavouring purposes. Remember that the colour and flavour of an oil will affect the final taste of the pie, so it is worth choosing a blander flavoured vegetable oil if you don’t want the pastry to dominate the pie filling.

Try to get the fat at the right temperature before blending with your flour. Rock hard fat, straight from the fridge, is too difficult to blend, but if it is too soft, the fat has already started to melt and won’t combine with the flour correctly. Don’t be tempted to blast fat in the microwave in order to soften it in a hurry; more than likely, it will get too soft and will ruin the pastry. Ideally, take the fat out of the fridge about 30 mins before using to make sure the fat is firm and cool, not soft and oily.