1. Pastry
| FAULTS | COMMENT AND ACTION |
| (a) Pastry hard and tough | Too much protein has been extracted from the flour due to incorrect levels of ingredients and/or too much working. 1. Reduce the water and increase the fat. 2. Check mixing, rolling and handling. Note that excessive rolling and handling contribute to working of the pastry. |
| (b) Pastry soft and crumbly | Insufficient protein has been extracted from the flour due to incorrect levels of ingredients and/or too little working. 1. Reduce fat and increase the water. 2. Check that mixing is correct. 3. The presence of too much baking powder may cause the effect described. |
| (c) Pastry blisters | This may be due to insufficient mixing of the fat and flour, or the addition of too much water. 1. Ensure that a crumbly biscuit-like texture is achieved when mixing fat and flour. 2. Reduce the amount of water so that excess does not eventually escape as steam on baking causing blisters. |
| (d) Pastry shrinks | Shrinkage is generally due to over stretching the pastry. This happens with over rolling or incorrect rolling. Remember that pastry is effectively “pressed” down to its required thickness. Shrinkage will also occur if the pastry has not been allowed to rest for several hours overnight. |
| (e) Speckling | This is due to deposits of flour on the pastry surface and should be brushed off before baking. |
| (f) Difficulty in moulding with pastry collapsing (hot pastry) | 1. Allow pastry sufficient recovery time, ideally overnight so that it may harden and cool. 2. Check that there is not too much water in the pastry recipe. 3. Ensure that boiling water is added to the pastry so that the starches are solubilized and set. |
| (g) Pastry cracks (hot pastry) | This may occur due to a variety of errors. 1. Increase the water if there is insufficient present. This will extract more gluten. 2. Make sure the dough is sufficiently mixed so that the paste is strong enough. 3. Make sure that flour is not trapped in the dough during blocking or rolling. 4. Make sure that boiling water is added to the dough during mixing. |
| (h) Pastry hard and brittle (hot pastry) | This is due to the pastry being too dry and may be improved by adding more fat and/or water. |
| (i) Puff pastry lacks flakiness | This may be due to: – 1. Margarine too warm, use cool margarine from the refrigerator otherwise it will mix too well with the flour. 2. Insufficient resting and chilling. The pastry should rest for several hours or overnight in a cool place. 3. Too heavy rolling. The layers of pastry created by folding and rolling are squashed together and give little flakiness on baking. Rolling to the desired thickness should be done gradually with care. |
| (j) Puff pastry goes short | With hot and cold pastry, the fat is rubbed well into the flour to give shortness in the finished product. However, with puff pastry the fat should not be rubbed in so well. 1. Make sure the temperature of the dough and margarine is cool. If the fat is too warm and soft it will mix too well with the flour. 2. Don’t roll the pastry too heavily as this will also mix the margarine and dough |
2. Re-working Scrap Pastry
| (a) Short Pastry | This may be either: – 1. Added into fresh dough at the end of mixing 2. Creamed into the fat before being added to the flour during mixing |
| (b) Puff Pastry | Puff scrap can only be added to puff pastry. This may be done by: –
1. Adding the puff scrap to the fresh dough at the end of mixing |
| (c) High speed mixers | Using these machines, it is best to add scrap during the mixing stage (See 3. (a)) |
| (d) Amount of re-working possible | This is largely determined by the system, machinery and experience. A good starting point would be 10%, which can then be raised, in some cases up to 50%. |
3. Tips For Using Frozen Pie Cases & Pastry
| 1. Thaw pie cases and lids overnight in the unopened box in the preparation room. In warmer weather thaw pie cases and lids in the unopened box in the refrigerator.
2. If you want to use less than a whole roll of pinned roll pastry it is inadvisable to refreeze more than twice. Each time you do the pastry will be harder to roll out. 3. Fill the pie cases with chilled filling only. 4. It is possible to freeze the finished pie once filled and bake off from frozen. 5. Bake at 190 – 200 degrees C for 30-35 minutes, 25-30 minutes for sausage rolls. 6. For a glossier finish remove the pie from the oven with 10 minutes to go, give a second glaze and return to oven. |
4. Filling
| FAULTS | COMMENT AND ACTION |
| (a) Filling in hot eating pie too thick | This may be due to: 1. Thickener used at wrong rate. Check usage details. 2. Meats cooked in the recipe water have not to be topped back up to the original starting weight of water. Remember that there will be evaporation loss and the usage rate of thickener is based on the total amount of recipe water 3. Mixture cooked for too long with thickener. The mixture should be simmered for about 5-10 minutes |
| (b) Filling in hot eating pie too thin | This may be due to: 1. Incorrect amount of recipe water. This should be reduced in line with the usage rate of the thickener 2. Mixture with thickener is not brought to the boil. The mixture should be simmered for 5-10 minutes so that the thickener can gelatinise |
| (c) Too much free fat in filling | Note legislation; at least 50% of meat content to be lean meat. Check that recipe complies with regulations. Free fat may be controlled by using Solus Mince or chunks, as these will absorb fat. Solus is used at 3% and may be added towards the end of cooking the meats. Note that the use of Solus is balanced with the water and not the meats. |
| (d) Pork pie fillings too tough | This can usually be attributed to excessive mixing. A softer texture can be achieved by reducing the mixing time and adding rusk with the seasoning at the start of mixing. |
| (e) Cured pork pie filling has poor colour | The colour is derived from the action of curing salts. Poor dispersion or low usage may result in poor colour. The curing salts should be: – 1. Mixed well at equal quantities with the spice unit. (Split packs) 2. Ensure good dispersion of the spice and cure throughout the meats3. Allow the mixture to rest for a short time in a chiller so that the cured colour may develop |
5. Problems with Baked Pies (see also pastry)
| FAULTS | COMMENT AND ACTION |
| (a) Boil out | This may occur due to a number of reasons: – 1. Pies overfilled. Reduce filling but check meat content is correct (See 4. (d)). 2. Freeze/thaw stable thickener has not been used. This thickness must be used when a pie is going to be frozen at some stage during production or distribution. 3. Filling is too thin. (See 4. (b)). |
| (b) Pies appear pale | Under baking, probably as a result of the oven being too cool. Bake at 205°C |
| (C) Pies appear too dark | Over baking, probably as a result of the oven being too hot. Bake at 205°C |
| (d) Sunken Pie |
This may be due to: – |
| (e) Pies appear damp and soggy | This may be due to: – 1. Too much liquid in the pie filling. This may seep into the pastry and prevent proper baking. Check meat content of filling (See 4. (d)). And that the thickener is being used at the correct rate (see 4.b)). 2. Insufficiently cooked. Bake at 205°C 3. Hot filling pit into cold pastry shells. Steam will penetrate the pastry making it damp. This will interfere with correct baking. Ensure that the filling is properly cooled before going into pie shells |
6. Glazes and Gelatines
| FAULTS | COMMENT AND ACTION |
| (a) Glaze does not completely dissolve | Incorrect or poor makeup. 1. Hot water make up requires water that is near boiling 2. Cold water glazes must be retested for at least 3 hours or ideally overnight for complete hydration. The glaze must be thoroughly mixed with water 3. Always add powder to water so that the glaze does not stick to the bottom of the mixing container. |
| (b) Glaze is too sticky | This may be due to: – 1. Incorrect usage rate of glaze. Check Lucas product manual for make up. 2. Too heavy application of glaze to pies. One coat before and/or after baking is usually sufficient. |
| (c) Mold growth on gelatine | Gelatines are susceptible to bacterial and mold contamination especially in warm weather. To control this problem: – 1. Do not keep gelatines warm for long periods of time. If they must be kept warm, keep them at a temperature at or above 90°C 2. Only make up sufficient gelatine for a particular operation |
| (d) Gelatine too soft/hard |
This depends on the type of gelatine and its usage rate. – Disperse powder on cold water |