How to make pasty dough?

[msalper]

Hi All,

I'm new in here and cooking. And I really wan to know how to make pasty dough. I don't know if anyone tastes chicken pasty from Gregg or Cornwall. I still remember the taste of "chicken pasty" and I have tried many times to make correct one. It was good for fillings but dough was not good.
What are the main ingredients for dough. Some people say "flour, butter and salt" and water. And others say without a butter is OK.

Can you help me plz?

 

[texasgirl]

Welcome to DC, Msalper!! Someone will be here to help you very soon!!

 

[Zereh]

Welcome to DC msalper! =)

I recently bought this fantastic recipe book, Once Upon a Tart ..., written by Frank Mentesana & Jerome Audureau with Carolynn Carreno. It's a great read as well as a great source of pastry ideas.

They devote a whole chapter to the dough making process, which is why I picked it up in the first place. I am baking challanged & paranoid of dough in particular. =P (I can "cook" like mad though!) They go into great detail about why it's best to use a smidge of semolina flour and why it's important to use both butter and a small bit of solid vegetable shortening.


Savory Tart Crust:
2 1/2 c unbleached all-purpose flour
3 T semolina flour
1 t salt
12 T (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cubed
3 T cold solid vegetable shortening
A glass of ice water

1. Position the oven racks so that one is in the center and preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Put the flours and salt in the bolw of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple times just to integrate the flours and salt.
3. Add the butter and shortening all at once and pulse quite a few times, until the mixture forms little balls, like moist crumbs, and no chunks of butter or shortening remain. You have to pulse, not run, the food processor. The worst thing that can happen at this stage of the crust-making game is for the flours and fats to come together in a paste. (If you don't have a fp, just use a fork or pastry tool to cut the fats into the flour).
4. Remove the blade from the food processor and dump the dough crumbs into a big bowl. Fill a tablespoon with ice water and sprinkle it over the surface of the dough. Repeat with 3 more tablespoonsful.
5. Use your hands or a wooden spoon to bring the dough together intoa ball, adding more water if needed, 1 tablespoon at a time. The dough should be just past crumbly, but holding together. You don't want it to be so wet that it sticks together or turns white in color.
6. Cut the dough in half, and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Press each half with the palm of your hand to form a disk. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before rolling out.
7. Roll out 1 disk of dough to 1/4 inch thick. Fit it into your tart pan and chill for 30 minutes. Then use the tines of a fork to prick holes over the bottom of the tart. Line the dough with parchment paper or aluminum foil, wiegh down with pie weights or dried beans.
8. Place the tart shell on the center rack in the oven, and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and weights from the pan. Return it to the oven, and bake until the crust is golden brown and toasted all over, 5-10 minutes more for a par-baked tart shell. For a fully baked tart shell, bake for another 15 minutes at 400 degrees F or until it's golden brown all over. Remove the tart shell from the oven and set it on a wire rack to cool.

whew! Ok, I have tried doing this once. =) The flavor of the tart crust was super but I still had issues with the rolling out process. But that is just something that I'll get better with in time, I know it! Maybe that's what I should do this afternoon ...


Z

 

[Shunka]

I just make a regular pie dough for my pasties. Works for knish too.

 

[msalper]

Many Thanks Texasgirl and Zereh for your answers...)

I made a dough close to your recipe, but I'm still trying to find a way for a good taste. Because my dough taste is not good at all. I have read a dough recipes from different web site.
Some of them tells about yeast pasty dough. And you told about tart dough. I'm still confusing and unfortunately I can't remember what it (chicken pasty dough) looked like. (

 

[amber]

I saw several recipes online for cornish pasties, but you probably want a recipe that has been tried by others on here. Perhaps Ishbel can help, she is a member on here and from the UK. There are probably others on here with great recipes as well.

 

[Ishbel]

This is the Cornish pasty recipe that I use - it's as close to the ones made by my friend in Mevagissey as any pasty recipe I've tried.

http://www.cornishlight.co.uk/cornish-pasty.htm

BTW - Gregg's is a chain bakery - ie it has branches all over the United Kingdom - from Cornwall in the west to the highlands of Scotland. I think their stuff is mass produced and not too good!

If you get back to Cornwall, try to find a branch of the Cornish bakers called Blewett's - much more like home made. BUT, the best way to buy them is to find a Womens Institute Friday market (usually held in WI halls or schools) and then you can guarantee that the pasties will have been made by local housewives and will taste GREAT.

 

[msalper]

Thank you very much Ishbel. But I'm not in England, in here Turkey.
So this is very difficult to taste it. Your recipe is what I already made, and fault for me. But I think it could be my mistake to choose wrong butter.
Are you sure that Greggs uses this kind of pasty dough? I mean flour, butter, salt and water. Or can it be yeast pasty dough? I'm sorry for these questions...
Many Thanks Again

 

[Ishbel]

I have no idea what type of dough Gregg's use, Msalper, sorry.

I don't think it could be a yeast dough as it is a pastry, not a bread-type dough.

As I've said, Gregg's are a massive chain - they are high volume, cheaper products than some of the better bakery chains.

I'm sorry I've never known a pasty to be made with a bread-like dough - but maybe Gregg's has decided on a non-traditional method?

The pastry can be made with butter or with butter AND some lard - maybe that's the difference?

 

[Constance]

Freezer Piecrust

This recipe was given to me by my ex-husband's aunt. It's most tender and flakey I've ever eaten, and wonderfully convenient.

Aunt Dorothy's Freezer Pie Crust

3-1/2 cups water
small hand of salt
1/3 cup sugar
5 lb flour
3 lb butter flavor Crisco

Mix flour, sugar and salt. Cut in shortening. Mix in water. The dough will seem kinda gooey, but don't worry.Roll in 24 balls and wrap each with seran wrap. Freeze in large ziplock bags. Thaw one ball for each crust needed, (about 1 hour).
Roll out on floured pastry cloth and proceed as usual.

You can re-freeze them if you change your mind, or put in the fridge for later. They will last indefinately in the freezer.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I come from an area of the U.S. where Cornish and Finnish settlers came and stayed. They brought with them a dish called Pastie. I would think this is the same as your pasty.

My mother made these for us and used a standard pie crust recipe. I altered her recipe by substituting soup base for the salt. So I can tailor the flavor of my crust by changing the soup base. For a filling that contains chicken for instance, I use chicken soup base rather than salt in the dough mixture. I might also add herbs such as Sage of Thyme to the flour before mixing. For a traditional pastie, we use very course grind lean beef, onion, potato, rutabega, fresh garlic, and sometimes carrot, seasoned with salt and pepper, and wrapped in a flavored pie crust. All ingredients are pre-cooked before placing in the crust. The pastie is then baked until cooked through and golden brown.

Hope this helps make your pasty more flavoful. Do not use a yeast crust.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[msalper]

I thank every one of you...
I will try again to make pasty dough by your instructions.
And also I found web sites tells what I want to make... I linked them below... I can understand now, because of their apperance, I used wrong butter or oil... In every recipe, butter is different than I used. Lard or vegetable. I use our traditional butter that made from cow milk.

Now I'm searching for a best vegetable fat I can use.

Maybe it can be a idea for you what kind of dough that I try to make is in the link below.

http://www.westcornwallpasty.co.uk/
From here, click the galery and you will see...
http://www.cornish-links.co.uk/pasty.htm#recipe
This is the one that I want...

 

[Ishbel]

In place of lard, the veg alternative in the UK can be bought under the trade names of Trex or Spry. Haven't bought either of them for many years, though

 

[msalper]

Do you know the ingredients of them. What kind of vegetable? So Maybe I can choose closest one in here our market.

 

[Ishbel]

I think Spry and Trex are types of solid vegetable oil which Americans call 'shortening'? BUT, don't quote me on it. They are very white coloured blocks of solid, but quite soft, fats.

 

[PA Baker]

Welcome to the site, msalper! Here is a recipe that is at least 3 generations old in my family. The original recipe is as typed and my grandma's changes/additions are in parenthesis:

Pasties

Filling
1 lb cubed beef (approx.)
1 lb cubed pork (approx)
1 carrot diced (optional)
3 medium onion, diced (4)
4 medium potatoes, diced (6)
3 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
6 Tbsp cold water (optional)
2 Tbsp melted butter (pat margarine)


Crust
3 c flour (4 c)
1 c shortening (1 ¼ c lard)
1 tsp salt
½ c cold water (add slowly—may not need full ½ c)


Mix filling well in large bowl. Divide into 6 equal parts. Mix crust like piecrust dough. Divide into 6 equal parts. Roll out to size of a 9” dinner plate. Put filling on ½ and pull other half over filling. Seal. Make 3 slashes in the top. Bake at 425F for 15 minutes. Then reduce heat to 375F for 45 minutes.


(Make sure shortening/lard are at room temperature. Put an additional pat of butter on top of the filling.)

 

[msalper]

Hi all,

Thank you for your replies. They were very usefull. Yesterdey I made my last try about pasty. And...........it was successful
Pasty Dough
3 C. flour (all purpose)
1 C. butter (It was vegetable margarin)
1 tea sp. salt
1 C. water
Fillings
750-800 gr. Sliced chicken (After boiling)
1 tea sp. Wirchestshire Sauce
1 tea sp. Salt
1 tea sp. Black Pepper
3 tb sp. Flour
400-450 ml. Light Milk
1 tb sp.Yogurt (I think you can use Sour Creme)
125 gr. butter


I mixed flour and salt. Then cut the cold margarin into flour very finely. I had to use my hands to make crust. Then I added water to give a form. And I put it in refr. for freeze. with plastic cup.

I don't know how you make it but in here we prepare a sauce called "besamel":
Melt the butter in a cup with low fire. Then add flour and stir well until it come together and after a minute it will look like crust. Then add milk(not cold) slowly and stir very well and quick. It will form like pudding and set a side.
In other small cup; mix salt, wirchestshire sauce and black pepper. Then mix it into "besamel sauce". Stir well.
Add chicken into that sauce.

I'm sure you know other steps.

Now I will try to make softer dough. It changes by amount of butter, flour. And I will add a milk instead of water.

Thank you again...

 

[Shunka]

We call it a bechemal sauce too. Your recipe looks good!! I'm glad you were able to make it to your taste. For a softer crust, maybe try a little bit of cream cheese along with the butter when mixing it with the dry ingredients. That will give you a softer crust when baked.