What ingredients to add to the dough to make pastry successful: secrets from Yevhen Klopotenko

To make any pastry dish, from simple pizza and pies to sponge cake, the most important thing is to make a good dough.

Chef Yevhen Klopotenko has shared on his website the secrets of making the perfect dough, which will help you make fluffy, light, and airy dough.

Flour

For baking, you can use

• wheat
• buckwheat
• rye
• whole grain
• rice
• almond

The expert advises experimenting – mixing several types of flour.

"I like to combine wheat flour with whole wheat. But to experiment, you need to know that each type of flour has its own characteristics. For example, if you use rye flour or whole wheat flour in your cooking, you need more liquid because they are low in gluten. It also happens that you buy wheat flour from the same manufacturer for many years and then one pack is completely unsuccessful – the dough spreads and it is impossible to cook anything with it," Klopotenko said.

Sugar

Klopotenko advises using brown, refined sugar for baking. You can also add honey, stevia, and powdered sugar.

"It's worth noting that a sweet ingredient makes the dough more elastic. For example, if you add less sugar than specified in the recipe, the dough is likely to be stiff, and if you add more sugar, it may spread," the chef says.

Eggs

"Depending on which part of the egg you use for baking, you will get a different effect. For example, the mission of the white is to make the dough airy and tender, and the yolk is to make it more elastic. If you add a whole egg to baked goods, it acts as a binder," says Klopotenko.

Dairy products

It is thanks to dairy products – milk, kefir, yogurt, butter, cream, and whey – that baked goods do not become stale, and remain fluffy and aromatic.

"Dairy products contain proteins, lactose, and milk fat – these are the components that prevent staling and, accordingly, increase the shelf life of baked goods. that are cooked simply with water," Klopotenko explained.