14 Pastry Recipes to Make at Home

A pastry is a type of baked good made with a dough containing flour, water, and fat, such as unsalted butter, lard, shortening, or oil. A pastry can be sweet or savory and can feature various fillings, such as chocolates, fruits, even meats. Pies, croissants, tarts, and strudels are popular kinds of pastries.

Pastry chefs mix pastry dough, roll it out with a rolling pin, shape it, then bake until golden brown, sometimes spreading an egg wash over the pastry. Pastry dough has a higher fat content than bread, yielding a distinct flaky and crumbly texture.

All pastry doughs are made up of flour, water, and fat. Every variety of pastry dough is made with these core ingredients, and the ratio of those ingredients, and the way in which they are combined to form a dough, determines the end result. Here are the five most common varieties of pastry dough and how they're used:

1. 1. Flaky pastry: The most rustic and simple of all the pastry doughs, flaky pastry is used as the pie crust for sweet and savory pies, as well as the dough used in quiche, sausage rolls, and apple turnovers. It benefits from a hands-off attitude because the flakiest of doughs is the result of pea-sized chunks of cold butter and gentle hand work. Overworking this dough will yield tough and crumbly pastry, which is the last thing you want in a homemade pie.
2. 2. Shortcrust pastry: A much more forgiving and foolproof variety of pastry, shortcrust pastry is resilient if overworked. This dough is much more cohesive than flaky pastry, because it's often used as the sturdy base for tarts. In fact, this dough is so sweet and sturdy, it's not too dissimilar to shortbread cookie dough. Shortcrust is used for tarts and quiches.
3. 3. Puff pastry: Puff pastry, or pâte feuilletée, is a flaky, buttery pastry. Room temperature fat and air between the layers of the dough give a delicate, layered, and crisp finish. To make truly flaky puff pastry is a time-consuming process, and requires rolling out the dough and butter, wrapping the dough in plastic wrap, chilling the dough, and then rolling the dough out again. Some bakers prefer to make rough puff pastry, which is more forgiving. You can use puff pastry dough to make pie crusts, wrappings for meats, vol-au-vents, croissants, cream horns, mille-feuilles, palmiers, danishes, and pinwheels.
4. 4. Choux pastry: Choux pastry, or pâte à choux in French, is made of flour, water, butter, and eggs—it’s texture is thick and sticky. The batter is beaten together on the stovetop until it forms a thick mass. The process traps steam, which gets released in the oven when the pastry is baked, creating a puff pastry. This creates a crispy outer shell and hollow interior that can be filled with a variety of fillings. Choux pastry is used for cream puffs, cheese puffs, eclairs, and profiteroles.
5. 5. Filo pastry: This type of pastry is made in very thin sheets and used as a casing for numerous delicate savoury and sweet dishes such as baklava and börek in Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisine.

From savory galletes to puff pastry desserts, consider making the following recipes for your next brunch or dinner party:

1. 1. Apple pie: Apple pie is a dessert featuring a traditional tart or pie crust surrounding an apple pie filling. It is often served with whipped cream, ice cream (known as à la mode), or in certain regions, cheddar cheese. This recipe for apple pie also includes directions for making a flaky pie crust.
2. 2. Apple strudel: A strudel is a layered phyllo pastry with a sweet or savory filling. The name “strudel” comes from the German word for “whirlpool,” which is a nod to its spiraling shape. The Central European dessert features a very elastic dough stretched into delicate, paper-thin sheets, stuffed with filling (the most common is a spiced fruit like apple), and rolled into a long, snaking jelly roll shape. The pastry is then coiled onto a baking sheet, baked until golden brown, and served in open-ended sections. This recipe will show you have to make filo or phyllo dough, and a caramelized apple filling.
3. 3. Baked brie: Baked brie can be made with pastry dough, phyllo, or puff pastry for varying degrees of textural effect. Pie dough will result in a denser, buttery crumb, like a galette, while phyllo or puff pastry will result in a more delicate, crispy outer coating. Accompaniments like jam or compote can either be served on the side, or spread directly onto the rind of the brie before sealing in dough and baking.
4. 4. Baklava: Baklava is a pastry made from layers of thin, flaky phyllo dough brushed with clarified melted butter and baked, then soaked in hot sugar syrup (either simple syrup or honey syrup). Common fillings include chopped walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, and almonds. Turkish baklava sometimes includes cheese or custard.
5. 5. Cinnamon roll: A cinnamon roll is a sweet rolled pastry made with a yeasted dough, gooey cinnamon-sugar filling, and topped with cream-cheese icing. Cinnamon rolls, also known as cinnamon buns, are a popular breakfast pastry. Once you master this recipe, you can flavor your cinnamon rolls with other spices or fillings, such as cranberries, apples, pecans, nutella, brown sugar, cardamom, matcha, and any other flavor combinations you desire.
6. 6. Cream puff: Cream puffs are a dessert made of choux pastry spheres hollowed out and filled with whipped cream or pastry cream (crème pâtissière, custard, or vanilla pudding) and served with a dusting of powdered sugar.
7. 7. Croissants: Follow this recipe to make croissants at home. Once you master this recipe for croissants, you will be able to make flavored croissants, such as chocolate croissants, almond croissants, or ham and cheese croissants.
8. 8. Mille-feuille: Mille-feuille, French for “a thousand leaves,” is a simple dessert made by layering pieces of puff pastry with a cream filling. Sometimes called a Napoleon, this easy French pastry looks stunning but only requires a short list of easy-to-find ingredients: flour, eggs, heavy cream, puff pastry sheets, vanilla extract, sugar, and cornstarch.
9. 9. Mushroom galette: A galette is a free-form pastry without a mold. While a traditional galette filling consists of fruit, butter, and sugar, common savory variations use sliced peak summer tomatoes with fresh herbs, potatoes with rosemary, or sauteed mushrooms for the perfect brunch dish. This mushroom galette can be eaten as an appetizer or even as a main course with a side salad. You can also use other veggies as the filling for a galette.
10. 10. Samosa: A samosa is a fried or baked pastry with a spicy potato filling. The filling is wrapped in dough and folded into a triangular or cone shape. Indian samosas are a popular street food often accompanied by various chutneys or chickpea curries (samosa chaat). A samosa is traditionally made with a traditionally flaky pastry dough or phyllo dough.
11. 11. Spinach quiche: A quiche is a timeless savory egg custard most often associated with French cuisine. Quiche is made of eggs, an indulgent amount of dairy, and any number of filling combinations. One of the most classic filling combinations is sautéed spinach and cheese. You can fill a spinach quiche with fresh mushrooms, veggies, and various cheeses, including Gruyère cheese, feta cheese, parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, goat cheese, Swiss cheese, or mozzarella cheese. Although there are crustless spinach quiches, most quiches have a flaky, deep-dish pie crust.
12. 12. Strawberry rhubarb galette: Follow this recipe to make a strawberry rhubarb galette, a rustic French dessert featuring a tangy strawberry and rhubarb filling inside of a round of free-form pastry dough.
13. 13. Tarte tatin: Tarte tatin is a French upside-down apple tart that closely resembles an inverted apple pie. The dessert is made with apples caramelized in sugar and butter on the stovetop, then cooked in the oven beneath a layer of buttery pastry. Prior to serving, the baker flips the tart out of the pan to reveal a crown of glistening caramelized apples, and a crispy, crackly crust.
    
14. 14. Treacle tart: Treacle tart is a traditional British dessert consisting of a flaky shortcrust pastry crust filled with a thick, creamy confectionery filling flavored with treacle. This sweet syrup is combined with simple pantry staples like heavy cream, breadcrumbs, eggs, and lemon juice to create a luxuriously rich dessert filling with notes of caramel. This rustic treat, which dates back to the nineteenth century, is perfect for teatime snacking or a holiday dessert spread.

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