Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder, and/or eggs. Small tarts and other sweet baked products are called “pastries.”

Pastry may also refer to the dough from which such baked products are made. Pastry dough is rolled out thinly and used as a base for baked products. Common pastry dishes include pies, tarts, quiches and pasties.

A good pastry is light and airy and fatty, but firm enough to support the weight of the filling. The characteristic flaky texture can be achieved by repeatedly rolling out a dough and spreading it with butter and folding it to produce many thin layers of folds.

Different kinds of pastries are made by the nature of wheat flour and also due to certain types of fats. When wheat flour is kneaded with water it develops strands of gluten, which make the bread tough and elastic. In a pastry, this toughness is unwanted. So fat or oil is put in to slow down the development of gluten.