ISO help w/pastry techniques

[whole milk]

Hi, I'm new to pastry but I've been practising a lot and have recently begun to feel confident. My only real models are what I've read on websites like baking911 and videos from Julia Child's television shows on PBS and I'm becoming envious that they can just roll, roll, roll and in seconds they have a perfect circle, rectangle, square. I know I need more practise but what are the techniques that you use that best help roll out a pretty dough?

Also, I've been using Jacques Pepin's (sp?) technique for puff pastry: He cuts the butter into strips then places them on 2/3 of the dough before folding and doing double turns. What I notice is that I can still see thin squares of butter by the end. Is this normal or is the marble I'm rolling on too cold (I keep it in the freezer until just before rolling). Again, I'm looking to find out what people in the real world are doing.

Cheers,

Steven

 

[expatgirl]

I know nothing about puff pastry but on regular pastry if calories are no limit then I highly recommend lard. Otherwise solid shortening like Crisco----if you have the time chill it beforehand. I tape a pastry cloth down on my countertop and sprinkle a light film of flour........after working the shortening into the flour via a large fork or pastry blender to the size of peas I add COLD water and QUICKLY stir to blend----the less you handle the dough the better-----the more you handle the dough the tougher it becomes....then with floured hands form into a ball---quickly once again........place on your floured taped down foured pastry cloth and sprinkle with a bit of flour, also flour your rolling pin before rolling.....work quickly..... adding more flour if necessary so it doesn't stick..have your pie plate handy so that you can measure......when the dough exceeds the diameter of the pie plate fold dough in half and carefully place in the pie plate.......if this fails do what I did the first few times and hurl the pastry across the room.....felt so good......here's a recipe that I have found that works for me:

8 or 9 inch one crust:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup plus 1 TBSP shortening or 1/3 cup lard (best)
2-3 TBSP cold water

10inch one crust pie
1 and 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt1/2 cup shortening or 1/4 cup plus 3 TBSP lard
3-4 TBSP cold water