Pastry Basics

Full French patisserie is its own enormous subject — this chapter covers just the two doughs everything else in a home kitchen tends to build on: pâte brisée, a short, crumbly tart dough, and choux, a cooked dough that puffs from nothing but its own steam.

Pâte Brisée: A Short, Cold Dough

"Short" describes a dough's own texture — tender and crumbly rather than chewy — and it comes from keeping gluten development to an absolute minimum. This is the exact opposite goal from Chapter 2's fresh pasta dough, which wanted real gluten structure. Here, gluten is genuinely the enemy.

1. Cut cold butter into flour Cut cold, cubed butter into flour using your fingertips, a pastry cutter, or a food processor pulsed briefly, stopping once the mixture looks like coarse crumbs with pea-sized butter pieces still visible.
2. Add ice water gradually Add ice-cold water a tablespoon at a time, mixing just until the dough starts to come together — stop the moment it does, well before it looks like a smooth ball.
3. Rest in the fridge before rolling Wrap and refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes. This relaxes what little gluten formed and keeps the butter solid, both of which make the dough easier to roll cleanly.

Blind Baking

For a tart or quiche shell that needs to hold a wet filling, the crust is often partially or fully baked empty first — "blind." Line the chilled, rolled-out shell with parchment paper, fill it with pie weights (or dried beans), and bake until the edges are set before removing the weights and parchment to finish. The weights stop the base from puffing or the sides from slumping while the crust sets.

Choux Pastry: Puffed by Steam Alone

Choux is built completely differently — cooked on the stove first, then finished with raw eggs beaten in. Unlike almost every other baked dough, choux contains no baking powder, no baking soda, and no yeast at all.

1. Bring butter, water, and salt to a boil Bring water, butter, and a pinch of salt to a full boil in a saucepan.
2. Add flour all at once, off the heat, and beat Remove from the heat, tip in the flour all at once, and beat vigorously until it forms a smooth mass that pulls cleanly away from the sides of the pan — this cooked mixture is called a panade.
3. Cool briefly, then beat in eggs one at a time Let the panade cool for a few minutes (hot enough to still cook the eggs would scramble them), then beat in eggs one at a time, making sure each is fully incorporated before adding the next.
4. Check the consistency The finished dough should be smooth, glossy, and thick enough to hold a soft ribbon shape when a spoon is lifted from it — not runny, but not stiff either.

1. Pipe onto a lined baking sheet Pipe the dough into small mounds (for profiteroles or gougères) or logs (for éclairs), spaced well apart.
2. Bake hot first, then lower the temperature Start in a hot oven to drive a strong initial puff, then reduce the temperature partway through to dry out the interior without over-browning the outside.
3. Never open the oven door early Opening the door before the structure has genuinely set lets the trapped steam escape all at once — the puffs collapse immediately and won't recover.

Kitchen Practice