A delicious snack and dessert item, the puff pastry is also a high-calorie food
The word pastry means a sweet baked food made of dough with a high fat content. Renaissance cooks first invented the soft fluffy delicacies that crumble in hand, properly called “puff pastries.”
The art of making puff pastries reached its zenith in the creations of Marie-Antoine Carême, chef to many European royal families.
Fat and dough are the chief ingredients in a puff pastry. The proportion of fat is high- as much as 30 per cent. The basic procedure involves rolling dough into a rectangular sheet, smearing fat on the surface, and then folding the dough over to form a multi-tiered fat-dough block.
Refrigeration reduces the size of the fat-dough block. The process of rolling and refrigeration is repeated several times.
The layering process traps microscopic air bubbles in the dough. These expand and “puff” the pastry during baking. A well-made pastry will expand as much as ten times during baking.
The Danish pastry depends on yeast for leavening, while others require nothing more than steam. Modern puff pastries come in hundreds of flavours; chocolate-based ones are the most popular.
Butter is not a suitable fat for pastry-making because it melts at low temperatures and blends with the dough during layering and steaming.
Fats that melt at high temperatures, like some varieties of margarine, are ideal for making pastries.
Puff pastries contain high amounts of fat. Margarine is rich in trans-fatty acids, which can accelerate atherosclerosis in blood vessels and lead to heart attack and stroke.
Rich in sugar
Pastries are also rich in sugar, and their “lightness” is no guide to their calorie content. The puff pastry is a delicious snack and dessert item, but it is also a high-calorie food with significant health risks if consumed regularly or in excess.
Moderation will protect your health, weight and teeth.
RAJIV M
Printer friendly
page Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
