• Print This Page
• Send to a friend
• Change Text Size
• RSS Feed

Nora Ephron says ‘life is too short to make pastry.‘ If this resonates with you then read on.

As you know, in your networks of family and friends, if you find or hear about something that’s really good, you pass the information on. In the WomensNook network we do the same. I want to let you know that Careme Pastry, made in the Barossa Valley but available now in lots of stores, is good. Really good. I found it in my local deli about a year ago and have been using it ever since. I still have my favourite homemade shortcrust pastries but who doesn’t need a quick path to success sometimes or better yet, all the time? Especially when it comes to puff pastry.

A few months ago I went to a demonstration class by Careme’s in-house pastry chef and there were lots of hints for using puff pastry that I thought you might like to know about:

• Don’t use Careme puff pastry as a base in a tin for pies, tarts and the like. There is too much rise in the pastry, because of the traditional French method used to make it, so it will lift any filling up - and out- of the tin. Puff pastry is best for free form galettes if you are wanting a puff pastry pie, sweet or savoury.
• Reroll leftover puff pastry and, after resting in fridge for about 15 minutes, cut and twist strips of the pastry, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake till golden in a 180C oven. I do this often, sometimes using sugar instead of parmesan. You get a bit of caramelisation happening with the sugar so I line the tray with baking paper to make cleaning up easier.
• Puff pastry rises quickly and so you may think it is cooked but be patient, reduce oven temperature and let inner layers of pastry cook a little longer. Don’t be afraid to let pastry go a deep golden colour. There is nothing worse than dampish, uncooked inner layers of pastry.
• Avoid eggwashing the edges of puff pastry because it can glue the puffy layers together. Use  eggyolks only and carefully brush the pastry, not the edges.
• Often, with pies for example, the lid of puff pastry is cooked well before the filling is hot, so to avoid this problem, pre- bake lids of puff pastry and gently reheat over filling for the last few minutes before serving.
• Scatter about a ¼ cup fresh breadcrumbs over puff pastry before adding juicy things like tomatoes. They mop up a lot of the moisture that the pastry would otherwise absorb.
• Homemade sausage rolls using puff pastry are just fantastic. The Careme hint is to place a sheet of phylo pastry between the sausage and puff pastry. It absorbs a lot of the steam from the sausage to keep the pastry crisp. The same technique applies with casseroles and pies with lids of puff pastry.
• Careme Pastry’s website is full of tips on working with pastry and there are some fantastic recipes. Check it out.