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Types Of Pastries

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Published: September 11, 2006

The word pastry conjures images of sweet and tasty delights like cakes, cream puffs, and pies. In the world of culinary arts pastries have a more specific definition.

 A pastry is a baked food made with the essential ingredients of flour, milk, water, or eggs, and shortening. There are five main types of pastries and they are identified according to the amount of shortening used, types of additional ingredients, and method of mixing, blending, and baking.

The first main type of pastry is called the flaky and short crust pastry. This type is typically used to make pies and tart crusts. The crusts are made by rubbing shortening into flour. Flaky crust pastries are made with a flaky textured dough while short crust pastries have a more crumbly texture. Filling is then added to the crust. The type of filling used depends on the type of pie or tart being made.

The second type is called the puff pastry. This type originated in France and contains many layers. It is called puff pastry because it tends to rise in a puff like shape. It is made by repeatedly rolling butter into dough and making hundreds of thin layers. Popular puff pastries include croissants, Napoleons, and Palmiers.

Choux is the third main type of pastry. It is made by beating eggs into a mixture of flour, shortening, and liquid. The mixture is then cooked until it is smooth and forms a puff pastry shell which can be filled with a variety of fillings. Popular types of choux pasties include éclairs, cream puffs, and fancy cakes.

Phyllo is another type of pastry that is made with flour, water, and a little bit of oil. The mixture is kneaded and stretched until it becomes as thin as tissue paper. The dough is made to be thin in order to serve as a casing for different fillings. This type of pastry dough is mostly used for strudels.

The fifth type of pastry is sweet dough. It is usually made using wheat flour and a lot of sugar. Sweet dough is perhaps the most common pastry. It is combined with a variety of fillings, toppings, icings, glazes, fruit, and nuts to make pastries. Sweet dough pastries include cinnamon buns, coffee cake, croissants, dough nuts, sweet rolls, hot cross buns, and croissants.

There are more to pastries than meets the eye or the stomach. Different techniques, methods, and a lot of creativity goes into making these tasty, popular desserts.


Olver, Lynne. Food Timeline-History Notes: Pies & Pasties. The Food Timeline. Aug.12, 2006. 8 Sept. 2006. .

Pastry 101: Introduction. Baking911.com. 9 Sept. 2006.
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