Basic Pastry Techniques

The most important thing to remember when making pastry is to handle the dough as little as possible. Work well with chilled ingredients as quickly as you can. If over worked, the dough will shrink during baking and be tough after baking. Before refrigerating, flatten the dough to a disc of even thickness and wrap carefully for even chilling without drying the edges. Chilling the dough before baking allows it to ‘relax’ and firms the fat to prevent shrinkage. If the chilled dough is a little too firm for rolling, let it soften briefly at room temperature first.