Water Pastry

Susy's Water Pastry

Taking advantage of the wet weather today, I stayed in, and I did a batch of pastry.  I made seven small pieces of thin pastry.  It was the result of kneading/stretching seven times.  From the pastry, I did pear strudel and leeks and Feta spiral pies.  I am very proud and pleased with the result. 

Pear Strudel

Circle-Spiral Leeks Pie

The strudel was so yum, the juicy pear and chopped walnuts, cinnamon and sugar are wrapped in flaky-light and crisp pastry, very delightful.  And the spiral leeks pie was so delicious, leeks with Feta, Parmesan and egg are encased in an excellent, flaky and crisp pastry.  Absolutely a treat!

Rolling The  pastry to make Thin and Finer Pastry

(use a skinny wooden roller to work with this pastry- a piece of wooden dowel about 45 cm length is good enough)

The fourth stage of rolling

The six-stage of rolling
The pastries are finer.

The five-stage of rolling

Cover the pastries with a damp cloth
7 stage,  roll again to have a thin-finer pastry

The seven-stage of rolling is rather hard, but you could do it with patience.  Sprinkle with a lot of plain flour, and you have to make sure that the pastry is not too dry.  It got to be slightly damp.  Roll carefully with a very thin/skinny wooden roller, then you will have a delicate pastry.  Otherwise, the stage 6 is good enough.  I did up to that stage for making the strudel and leeks pies  

The pastry recipe is at the older post.  Anyway, I will put it in this post too,  the formula has improved/changed a little.


Susy’s Water Pastry

Ingredients:

1cup plain flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oil
1/3cup warm water

Method
In a bowl, place the flour and salt.
Stir in the warm water and oil and mix thoroughly
Knead lightly onto a floured board, to make a soft dough.
Wrap in a cloth/tea towel, let it rest for at least 45 minutes
Unwrap the cloth, knead the dough again very quickly
Divide the dough to 6-12 and shape them into circles*
Roll them to large and thinner circles, until almost see through.
Now you have a delicate thin water pastry that is ready to use.
*Instead of a circle you can shape differently, such as into rectangular

The Strudel and The Leeks Pies

Make sure that you brush every layer of the pastry with oil/butter then put the filling, roll it over and over to encase the filling.  Bake the strudels and the pie in a hot preheated oven at 175° C for 18-22 minutes.  You will have beautiful, flaky and crisps light pastry. So good!

Give the recipe a go, have fun with friends or with your young children.  Once you master it, you can cook any pies that you wish. 
This pastry is so versatile, you can bake it or fry it.

Have Fun
Susy