Pastry and sweet sauces
6 short explainers. Read them in order, or jump to the question you have right now.
- 151Choux pastry and steamChoux has no yeast and no baking powder. You cook flour into a paste with water and butter, beat in eggs, then bake hot. The water turns to steam and…
- 152Laminated dough layersLamination wraps a block of butter inside dough, then rolls and folds it again and again to build many thin alternating layers. In the oven, water in the…
- 153Pie crust: less waterWhen flour meets water, its proteins link into gluten, which bakes up stretchy and tough. Great for bread, bad for pie. Use just enough water to hold the…
- 154Lemon curd: gentle heatLemon curd thickens because yolk proteins heat up and link into a loose gel that holds the juice and sugar. Push the heat too hard and the proteins tighten…
- 155Ganache ratiosGanache is chocolate and cream. Hot cream melts the cocoa butter, and stirring spreads fat droplets through the cream's water into a smooth emulsion. More…
- 156Caramel sauce and creamSugar caramelizes around 160°C (320°F), far above the 100°C (212°F) where water boils. Cream is mostly water, so it flashes to steam, foams up and flings…
