Pastries and Laminated Products
Domain 5 covers shortcrust, choux, puff and Danish pastries. The exam checks the fat-to-flour ratio, the rolling and resting rules, the egg gauge for choux, and the layer count in lamination.
Shortcrust
Fat to flour is about 1:2 by weight, rubbed in until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add ice-cold water sparingly, gather gently and rest 30 minutes before rolling to relax gluten and prevent shrinkage. Bake blind at about 190 °C with beans or rice in parchment.
Choux
Water and fat are boiled, flour is beaten in to form the panada, then dried over heat until a film forms on the pan. Cool to about 60 °C and add eggs gradually. The gauge is the batter: it should hang from the beater in a V and fall in a ribbon within about 5 seconds. Pipe and bake at 200 °C, then lower to 170 °C to dry out. Never open the door early.
Puff and Danish
Puff pastry is détrempe and beurrage of equal, plastic consistency, rolled at 15–18 °C; three book (3-fold) turns give 3³ = 27 fat layers and 28 dough layers. Danish is a yeasted laminated dough, so it is proofed before baking; puff pastry must never be proofed.
Worked example
A recipe specifies three double turns. Each book turn folds the dough in three, so layers multiply by 3 each time: 3 × 3 × 3 = 27 fat layers. That means 28 dough layers and 55 layers in total, giving fine lift. Two turns would give only 9 fat layers - coarser and less rise - so the turn count is a specification, not a preference.
Traps that cost marks
- Fat too cold: it cracks and tears the dough, breaking the layers.
- Fat too warm: it is absorbed into the dough and no lift develops.
- Skipping the rest, so the pastry shrinks in the tin.
- Egg-washing the cut edges of puff, sealing them and stopping the rise.
- Proofing puff pastry, which melts the butter layers.