Editing Pastry (section)

==Chemistry==
Different kinds of pastry doughs are made by utilizing the natural characteristics of wheat flour and certain fats. When wheat flour is mixed with water and kneaded into plain dough, it develops strands of gluten, which are what make bread tough and elastic. In a typical pastry, however, this toughness is unwanted, so fat or oil is added to slow down the development of gluten. Pastry flour can also be used, since it typically has a lower level of protein than all-purpose or bread flours.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kingarthurflour.com/professional/guide-to-numbers.html|title=Professional Baker's Reference: A Guide to the Numbers {{!}} King Arthur Flour|last=Inc.|first=King Arthur Flour Company|website=King Arthur Flour|language=en|access-date=2018-01-03|archive-date=2017-10-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024095507/https://www.kingarthurflour.com/professional/guide-to-numbers.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Lard]] or [[suet]] work well because they have a coarse, crystalline structure that is very effective. Using unclarified butter does not work well because of its water content; [[clarified butter]], or [[ghee]], which is virtually water-free, is better, but shortcrust pastry using only butter may develop an inferior texture. If the fat is melted with hot water or if liquid oil is used, the thin oily layer between the grains offers less of an obstacle to gluten formation and the resulting pastry is tougher.<ref name="autogenerated1999">Jaine, Tom, and Soun Vannithone. The Oxford Companion to Food. New York: Oxford UP, 1999</ref>

A good pastry is light and airy and fatty, but firm enough to support the weight of the filling. When making a [[shortcrust pastry]], care must be taken to blend the fat and flour thoroughly before adding any liquid---to ensure that the flour granules are adequately coated with fat and less likely to develop [[gluten]]. On the other hand, overmixing results in long gluten strands that toughen the pastry. In other types of pastry such as [[Danish pastry]] and [[croissant]]s, the characteristic flaky texture is achieved by repeatedly rolling out a dough similar to [[yeast]] bread dough, spreading it with butter, and folding it to produce many thin layers.