5 Types of Pastry Doughs

What kitchen utensils and equipment do I need to make pastry dough recipes?

The basic utensils to create any pastry dough recipes are simple. You’ll need a  spatula to mix the dough, and a rolling pin to flatten them according to your needs. Creating pastry dough by hand is fun, but it can be hard work. It may also take extra time to get to your desired result consistently.

Two equipments that may help mixing the dough process are:

• KitchenAid mixer, with pastry beater if you are making a flaky dough

• Food processor with dough blade

You can choose either one of them depending on your cooking and baking routine, size of your kitchen, or any preference that you have.

How a pastry beater makes it easy

With the KitchenAid pastry beater attachment for your stand mixer, this process is super easy. The horizontal stripes on the pastry beater makes it easier to cut and evenly blend cold butter into the flour without overmixing or heating up the ingredients. This ensures that your dough has that delightful flaky texture.

This versatile baking assistant doesn’t stop there, though. It can help you efficiently prepare the crust, and then switch over to mixing and mashing whatever fillings you dreamt up for your pastry. No need to change to another attachment.

Pastry beater is available for:

• Medium tilt-head mixers

• Bowl-lift mixers

If you don’t have a pastry beater at home, the paddle attachment works well for mixing different types of dough.

1. Flaky pastry

A versatile choice for both sweet and savoury recipes, flaky pastry is perhaps best known as the hero of pie crusts. You won't be surprised why, because the secret to making a great flaky pastry is being generous with the butter. Blending large butter pieces into the dough helps you get that delightful texture that just flakes away with each bite.

Flaky pastries are amazing for quick bakes, but follow your recipe closely, because it's easy to overwork the dough. Don’t stress, though, a delicate touch and some help from your KitchenAid stand mixer or food processor is all you need.

Flaky pastry recipe for winter galette

Try this delectable vegetable and crumbled feta winter galette, folded beautifully into a golden-brown, flaky crust.

2. Shortcrust pastry

This robust pastry is great for making thicker crumbly treats like tarts, cookies, and even quiches. Its balanced ratio of one part butter to every two parts of flour makes it sturdy, meaning it doesn't get overworked easily.

This little advantage makes shortcrust pastry the ideal base for home bakers learning to master the craft.

Master the basic of making shortcrust pastry

Learn the basics of making three different shortcrust pastries: pâte sablee, pâte sucrée, and pâte brisée.

3. Puff pastry

Now let's talk about puff pastry, as you've no doubt heard that term many times drooling over baking recipes. Puff pastry is all about simplicity. It's the simplest form of laminated dough, the gorgeous result of folding butter into a basic dough made of just flour, water, and salt.

Puff pastry is the go-to choice for fancy pie crusts and savoury meat pies, but don't be intimidated. With the help of your KitchenAid stand mixer, you can easily create something called a "rough puff". It's equally delicious, but as the name suggests, it's a bit less hands-on and uppity. 

Pastel de nata with puff pastry

Make the Portuguese proud with a golden-delicious pastel de nata.

4. Filo or phyllo dough pastry

This layered pastry is like a close cousin of the puff pastry, visiting from the Middle East or the Balkans. It's most often used to layer ultra-thin sheets of pastry around your favourite fillings to create delicious baklava or crispy spring rolls.

This unleavened dough does not contain a rising agent, so you can stretch it into paper-thin sheets for better layering. After each layer is laid down, add a brush of oil before the next one to make sure you get that signature crispiness we all love in a good baklava. It's no wonder phyllo is the puff pastry's favourite cousin!

Mouth watering for some homemade baklava?

Try this easy-to-follow baklava recipe and silence the craving.

5. Choux dough pastry

Some people call it cream-filled pastry, because inside its crispy outer shell there’s a cosy little spot for all the scrumptious fillings you can dream up. With choux pastry, you're only limited by your own imagination, because it takes sweet and savoury fillings equally well.

Somewhat surprisingly, you start off creating choux pastry adding eggs to the dough. The thick and deliciously gooey mixture then puffs up when you bake it thanks to steam. That creates the crispy outer shell that crumbles on your way to the yummy fillings you've tucked inside. Really, the only difficult part is deciding what to put in.

Learn how to make choux pastry recipe

Curious to make different types of choux? Mastering the basic choux pastry will make things easier later.

Making pastry dough with your food processor

If you're starting to feel a bit left out because of all this talk of stand mixers, don't! You can still make perfect pastries using your trusty and versatile KitchenAid food processor.

First, you need to blend the wet ingredients in a liquid measuring cup so they're easier to pour into the processor. Then, give the dry ingredients a quick pulse in the processor so they're mixed well and ready.

Now, you're set to turn on your processor and add the wet ingredients gradually, nice and easy. Keep that going until your dough becomes an elastic ball of goodness pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Keep adding flour to it if it seems a bit too wet. If it looks too dry, add some water.

Now your dough is ready to be moved over to a lightly floured surface, because it's kneading time! Work the dough for about 30 seconds until it's smooth and ready to go. You’re well on your way to your greatest-ever bake!

Discover the versatile range of KitchenAid food processors.