DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY: Food

REVISION 2001 EXAM

The exam question this year is about snack foods and edible casings and fillings.     One of the edible casings could be made from

PASTRY

Which pastry is appropriate?

v         FLAKY PASTRY   -sometimes referred to as Puff Pastry, although this one is made slightly differently to Flaky, so ignore this for the exam!

FLOUR TO BE USED FOR MAKING FLAKEY PASTRY IS STRONG PLAIN FLOUR

This is the only suitable one.    This is because it has lots of gluten in it.

GLUTEN is a protein found in this type of flour, which makes the dough elastic and stretchy.

ITEMS THAT ARE MADE WITH FLAKY PASTRY –

Sausage rolls             apple puffs       apple turnovers     cream horns

Sausage plaits       steak and kidney pies        some other fruit pies

When cooked this pastry has lots and lots of layers – looks like ‘flakes’.

v         SHORT CRUST PASTRY is another type of pastry that makes an edible casing.    This is an ordinary everyday pastry which is CHEAPER to make than the one shown above.    This pastry is made with PLAIN FLOUR ONLY.

  ITEMS THAT ARE MADE WITH SHORT CRUST PASTRY

Apple pies   or any fruit flavour pie     quiches          meat pies        

some cheaper sausage rolls       Bakewell tarts     flan cases filled with fruit

Which ingredients can you use to make these pastries –

The flour of choice

Fat – either a hard animal fat like butter or a hard margarine like Stork – or Echo  -  not the one in a tub which is for spreading, but the block type, sold in 250 grm packs.   Supermarkets sell their own brand.

v         HOT WATER CRUST PASTRY

As the name suggests it is made using hot water.   Lard is melted in the water and then flour is added very quickly: it is beaten well until it looks like smooth wallpaper paste (best description for it!).   It is then cooled and moulded into the required shape.    It is difficult to roll out as it has to be worked whilst still warm.

FLOUR THAT IS USED IS    STRONG PLAIN FLOUR

This type of pastry is used for

Veal and ham pies   sometime called Grosvenor pies and have eggs down

the middle of the filling    game pies     turkey and ham pies   large and

small pork pies: the town famous for its pork pies is MELTON MOWBRAY.

CHOUX PASTRY

This is again made with STRONG PLAIN FLOUR  with again using a hard fat like butter and eggs to make the pastry light and fluffy.   This pastry can be piped into shapes.    Used for making

Cream puffs     éclairs       profiteroles       beignets

The word choux means cabbage in French and when the pastry is cooked it does look rather like the head of small cabbage.

Because it has more expensive ingredients, these products may cost more.   All of the pastries mentioned can be made in a factory situation.

They are also made by the local one-man-band baker who runs his own business or works for a small chain of bakers who still bake bread and cakes on their premises.   

FAST FOOD outlets will probably buy in lots of ready made pastries as

STANDARD FOOD COMPONENTS