Keeping Pastry Cold With a New Idea

How many times have you heard that the secret to good pastry is keeping it cold.

Well how are you supposed to manage that when it is 90 degrees in the shade and you promised months ago that you would make a blueberry pie on this date. Well I have a suggestion for you. Put the rolling pin in the freezer. And how long would that keep cold when the sun is beating down. Well if it is like my rolling pin it will keep very cold for quite a while. Read on and find out what I discovered.

Acquiring Your New Rolling Pin

I have shown a picture of the rolling pin I used to make these yummy blueberry tarts. It is a water bottle. This brand is a sleek cylinder. I peeled off the brand label and poured the water into a water jug and refilled it to an inch or so down from the top. I then stood it in a freezer and left it there until I wanted to make pastry. The blueberries that I had make into pie filling rested there beside the water bottle.

First Attempts With the Frozen Rolling Pin

When I decided to try out my new idea, I replaced the cap on the water bottle that is now frozen solid. It is so solid that it makes a fine rolling pin but there was a build up of flour on the bottle and the pastry kept lifting.

Solving the Problem

I raided my tshirt drawer and found a long sleeve tshirt that was made to fit snuggly. Since I didn`t need a long sleeve tshirt as it is summer, I removed one of the sleeves, washed it in bleach and rinsed it well. A quick spin in the dryer and I had a solution to the problem of flour and pastry freezing onto the rolling pin.

After I pulled the sleeve over the bottle, the rolling went very well and the pastry kept very cool.

I then stamped out a dozen circles and fitted them into the tart pan.

Now, it was going to take me a few minutes to clear away the pastry equipment and get out the filling so was I going to leave the pastry shells to sit on the counter and get warm. I think not after all the trouble I went to to keep the pastry cool. I popped the pan into the freezer even though it was only going to be a short time.

Then I pulled the chilled pan out of the freezer and filled the shells. Then I quickly slipped them into the preheated oven and cooked the tarts at 400 degrees.

The result was light flaky pastry and yummy tarts.