Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2 (50 page)

First aid for cracked shells

If a partially baked shell develops a small split or crack, paint the area with beaten egg and patch with raw dough just before filling and baking. If sides seem thin or weak, you may paint with beaten egg and patch or strengthen them with a strip of raw dough, or you may fill the shell by no more than ⅓ so sides will not be under any strain during baking.

Freezing and leftovers

Baked shells may be wrapped airtight and frozen; it is wise to put them in a protective container of some sort. Leftover dough may be frozen and used again or combined with more of the same dough when you make another batch.

REFERENCE CHART FOR PASTRY DOUGH FORMULAS

Flour:
Measure by scooping dry-measure cups into flour and sweeping off excess with straight edge of knife. Sift only
after
measuring.

Butter:
Regular unsalted butter (not whipped butter) usually has a firmer texture and less water content than salted butter; we recommend it.

Liquid:
Always start with the minimum amount of liquid called for, and add more by droplets as needed. The warmer and softer the butter, the less water the mixture will absorb. Hand-made dough, therefore, absorbs less liquid than machine-made.

DESCRIPTION	USES	FORMULA
ENTRÉE PASTRIES
1) Pâte Brisée Ordinaire
Regular pastry dough with less butter than the following, therefore easier to roll and form	For general pie crusts, plain quiches , turnovers, meat mixtures	3½ cups (1 lb.) flour 9 ounces (2¼ sticks) butter 2½ ounces (5 Tb) shortening 2 tsp salt ¼ tsp sugar ¾–1 cup iced water
2) Pâte Brisée Fine
Finest pastry dough—delicate texture, fine flavor, fragile (Volume I, page 139)	For fancy appetizers and tartlets, rich quiches , and the best quality of pre-baked shells	3½ cups (1 lb.) flour 11 ounces (2¾ sticks) butter 3 ounces (6 Tb) shortening 2 tsp salt ¼ tsp sugar ¾–1 cup iced water
3) Pâte Brisée à l’Oeuf
A light, crisp dough	Especially for shells and cases molded and baked on upside-down forms, and for turnovers	3½ cups (1 lb.) flour 9 ounces (2¼ sticks) butter 2½ ounces (5 Tb) shortening 2 tsp salt ¼ tsp sugar ¾–1 cup liquid (1 egg plus necessary iced water)
SWEET PASTRIES
Pâtes Sucrées
Any of the previous dough formulas	For the same uses	Same formulas except for salt and sugar proportions, which should be changed to: ⅛ tsp salt 5 Tb sugar
4) Pâte Sucrée aux Jaunes d’Oeuf
Less rich than #2, finer texture than #1 and #3	For baked tarts and tartlets, and pre-baked shells	3½ cups (1 lb.) flour 9 ounces (2½ sticks) butter 2½ ounces (5 Tb) shortening ⅛ tsp salt 5 Tb sugar ¾–1 cup liquid (2 egg yolks plus necessary iced water)
5) Pâte Sablée—Pâte Sèche
Sweet cookie dough, crisp and buttery; the more sugar you add the more difficult the dough is to handle	For cookies, sweet tarts and tartlets, and especially for pre-baked shells	4⅓ cups (20 ounces) flour 9 ounces (2¼ sticks) butter 2½ ounces (5 Tb) shortening 8 to 18 Tb sugar ¼ tsp baking powder 3 eggs 1½ tsp vanilla extract ⅛ tsp salt
PÂTÉ DOUGHS
6) Pâte à Croustade—Pâte à Pâté
An excellent pâté dough that is also good to eat	For pâtés and meat pies that are molded in raw dough either in the spring-form pâté mold, or in a baking dish	3½ cups (1 lb.) flour 5½ ounces (11 Tb) butter 3 ounces (6 Tb) lard 2 tsp salt ¾–1 cup liquid (4 egg yolks plus necessary iced water)
7) Pâte à Croustade à l’Envers
A pâté dough that will hold its shape and is also good to eat	For pâté cases that are partially baked on upside-down forms before being filled with meat mixtures and baked; also for free-form pâtés en croûte	4⅓ cups (20 ounces) flour 7 ounces (1¾ sticks) butter 3½ ounces (7 Tb) lard 2½ tsp salt 1–1¼ cups liquid (2 eggs plus necessary iced water)

FRENCH PUFF PASTRY

Pâte Feuilletée

French puff pastry,
pâte feuilletée
, is literally what the French title implies: hundreds of leaves or layers of dough separated by hundreds of layers of butter. A piece half an inch thick puffs up 4 to 5 inches in the oven and is unbelievably light and tender to bite into. With almost as many uses as it has layers, puff pastry is the dough for
vol-au-vent
and Napoleons, for
coqs en pâte, gigots en croûte
, and all kinds of turnovers, tarts, pie toppings, first-course pastries, and luxurious cocktail tidbits. It dresses up the simplest store-bought cheese mixture, can add the final flourish to the grandest platter, and since it freezes perfectly for several months, puff pastry is tremendously useful to have available on those occasions when you need something fast to assemble that looks impressive.

If you enjoy working with your hands you will find it is the most fascinating of doughs to make, and if you want to acquire a facility in pastry,
pâte feuilletée
will teach you all the tricks. It most definitely takes practice to perfect, but when you have mastered puff pastry you will find it such a satisfying and splendid accomplishment you will bless yourself for every moment you spent learning its techniques.

THE TWO KINDS OF PUFF PASTRY

The classical, best-quality puff pastry,
pâte feuilletée fine
, contains equal parts of butter and flour, is made in a rigidly traditional manner, and you must count on 6 to 7 hours from the time you start it to the time you can form and bake it. This is what you use for
vol-au-vent
, patty shells, and fine desserts such as that most wonderful of almond tarts called the
Pithiviers
. However, it is not at all necessary to be so grand for cocktail appetizers, cheese-filled cases, leg of lamb baked in a crust, Beef Wellington, and a host of other delicious items. For these, and in fact for most of your puff pastry needs, simple puff pastry,
demi-feuilletée
, is very good indeed and can be made in half the time. Because it is so much easier to make, we suggest that you start your career on
demi-feuilletée
, and when you get around to the classic method it will then seem like only a variation on a familiar theme.

EQUIPMENT

Although you can mix pastry on a wooden table and roll it out with a broom handle, you will find it easier to make when you have a pastry marble and a good rolling pin. This is particularly true for puff pastry.

A pastry marble

The smooth, cool surface of marble is ideal to roll dough upon and scrapes clean easily while you work. A piece that can slide in and out of your refrigerator will be a miraculous help to pastry making in hot weather. You can usually find ready-cut polished marble in furniture stores; you can sometimes pick up an old marble table- or bureau-top in a junk shop; or look up marble suppliers in the telephone directory. The minimum size to consider is ¾ inch thick and the size of your refrigerator shelf, which is around 14 by 28 inches for the standard home-size model.

Rolling pins