On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1066

difference between a crumbly texture and a
tough one. Eggs are often used to provide
richness and added cohesiveness to crumbly
pastries, and of course also contribute water.
Various dairy products, including milk,
cream, sour cream, crème frche, and cream
cheese may replace some or all of the water,
andatthesametimeprovideflavorandfatas
well as sugars and proteins for the browning
reactions. Salt is added mainly for flavor,
though it does have a tightening effect on
gluten.
CookingPastries

BakingPansTwoportionsofthesamepastry
dough,bakedinthesameovenbutindifferent
kindsofpan,willcookdifferently.Shinypans
reflectmuchoftheoven’sradiantheat(p.
782)awayfromthecrustandsoareslow
cooking.Blackpansabsorbmostofthe
radiantheatandconductittothecrust,and


clearglassallowsittopassrightthroughand
heatthecrustdirectly.Thinmetalpanscan’t
holdmuchheatinthemselvesandsotendto
slowheatingandproduceunevenbrowning.
Heaviergaugemetalpansandceramicplates
andmoldscanaccumulateovenheat,get
hotterthanthinpans,andtransmittheheat
moreevenlytothepastry.

Baking Apart from bready croissants and
Danish,mostpastrydoughscontainverylittle
water, not nearly enough to gelate all the
starch granules. Cooking therefore partly
gelatesthestarchanddriestheglutennetwork
well, and produces a firm, crunchy or crisp
texture and a golden brown exterior. Pastry
crusts in particular are cooked at relatively
high oven temperatures so that the dough
heats through and sets quickly. Slow heating
just melts the pastry dough’s fat, and the
protein-starch network slumps before the
starch gets hot enough to absorb water from