On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1065

The English word pastry, Italian pasta, and French pâte and pâté all go back to a suggestive group of ancient Greek words having to with small particles and fine textures: they variously referred to powder, salt, barley porridge, cake, and an embroidered veil A later Latin derivative, pasta, was applied to flour that had been wetted to a paste, then dried; it led to Italian pasta and to pâte meaning “dough.” Pâté is a medieval French word that was given originally to a chopped meat preparation enclosed in a dough, but eventually came to name the meat preparation itself, with or without enclosure Pie was the near equivalent of the original pâté in medieval English, and meant a dish of any sort — meat, fish, vegetable, fruit — enclosed in pastry The word had less to do with doughs than with odds and ends: it came from magpie, a bird with variegated coloring that collects miscellaneous objects for its nest Water in Pastry Fats An important difference between butter and either lard or shortening is that butter is about 15% water by weight, and therefore doesn’t separate dough layers as thoroughly as the pure fats do; water droplets in the fat can glue adjacent layers together Pastry makers generally prefer European-style butters, which contain less water than standard American butter (p 35) However, some water is useful for producing steam that pushes apart the dough layers of laminated pastries Manufacturers formulate puff-pastry margarine with about 10% water Other Ingredients Water is essential for binding the flour particles into a dough, and the water content is especially critical in pastries because there is so little Pastry cooks say that as little as 1/2 teaspoon/3 ml variation in water in cup/120 gm flour can make the ... between butter and either lard or shortening is that butter is about 15% water by weight, and therefore doesn’t separate dough layers as thoroughly as the pure fats do; water droplets in the fat can... layers of laminated pastries Manufacturers formulate puff-pastry margarine with about 10% water Other Ingredients Water is essential for binding the flour particles into a dough, and the water content... together Pastry makers generally prefer European-style butters, which contain less water than standard American butter (p 35) However, some water is useful for producing steam that pushes apart the