In Britain and Australia (as well as historically) the term pastry refers to the dough whilst pastries are confections made primarily from pastry. In North America, the term Pastry is used for sweet baked goods made with dough, however, it is generally used colloquially to describe all sweet baked or fried goods.

The precise definition of the term pastry varies based on location and culture. Common doughs used to make pastries include filo dough, puff pastry, choux pastry, shortcrust pastry and Flaky pastry. Pastries tend to have a delicate texture, often flaky or crumbly, and rich flavour. This is caused by the crystals found in solid fats, which forces the starch particles apart and stops the formation of elastic gluten, making the pastry short. Pastries also tend to be baked.

The European tradition of pastry-making is often traced back to the shortcrust era of flaky doughs that were in use throughout the Mediterranean in ancient times. In the ancient Mediterranean, the Romans, Greeks, and Phoenicians all had filo-style pastry in their culinary traditions. In the plays of Aristophanes, written in the 5th century BC, there is mention of sweetmeats, including small baked goods filled with fruit. Roman cuisine used flour, oil, and water to make the pastry dough that were used to cover meats and fowls during baking in order to keep in the juices, but the pastry was not meant to be eaten. The Romans also used a type of pastry sheet know as tractae as a larder stand-by for thickening. A pastry that was meant to be eaten was a richer pastry that was made into small baked goods containing eggs or little birds and that were often served at banquets. Greeks and Romans both struggled in making a good pastry because they used oil in the cooking process, and oil causes the pastry to lose its stiffness.

In the medieval cuisine of Northern Europe, chefs were able to produce nice, stiff pastry dough because they cooked with shortening and butter. Some incomplete lists of ingredients have been found in medieval cookbooks, but no full, detailed versions. There were stiff, empty pastry dough called coffins or 'huff paste', that were eaten by servants only and included an egg yolk glaze to help make them more enjoyable to consume. Medieval pastry based baked goods also included small tarts to add richness.

It was not until about the mid-16th century that actual pastry recipes began appearing. These recipes were adopted and adapted over time in various European countries, resulting in the myriad pastry traditions known to the region, including Portuguese "pastéis de nata" to Pasty in the United Kingdom. Throughout the world pastry has developed. In China, Chinese flaky pastry (Chinese: 中式酥皮; also known as Chinese puff pastry) is made in two distinct styles, Huaiyang-style (淮揚酥皮) and Cantonese-style pastry (廣式酥皮). In Asia, Spring rolls are made with a simple pastry dough of water, flour and oil.

The main types of pastry are:
Dumpling Wrappers
This is the most basic type of pastry, often made from nothing more than flour and water, though sometimes oil can also be added.

Shortcrust pastry
Shortcrust pastry is the simplest and most common pastry. It is made with flour, fat, butter, salt, and water to bind the dough. Pâte brisée is the French version of classic pie or tart shortcrust pastry. The process of making pastry includes mixing of the fat and flour, adding water, chilling and then rolling out the dough. Chilling before rolling is essential since it enables the fat (lard, butter, etc.) to harden again and thus create flaky layers in the dough. It also allows for even hydration and inhibits gluten formation. It results in a tender flaky pastry. The fat is mixed with the flour first, generally by rubbing with fingers or a pastry blender, which inhibits gluten formation by coating the gluten strands in fat and results in a short (as in crumbly; hence the term shortcrust), tender pastry. A related type is the sweetened sweetcrust pastry, also known as pâte sucrée, in which sugar and egg yolks have been added (rather than water) to bind the pastry.

Puff pastry
Puff pastry has many layers that cause it to expand or "puff" when baked. Puff pastry is made using a laminated dough consisting of flour, butter, salt, and water. The pastry rises up due to the water and fats expanding as they turn into steam upon heating. Puff pastry come out of the oven light, flaky, and tender.

Flaky pastry
Flaky pastry is a simple pastry that expands when cooked due to the number of layers. It bakes into a crisp, buttery pastry. The "puff" is obtained by the shard-like layers of fat, most often butter or shortening, creating layers which expand in the heat of the oven when baked. A form of Flaky pastry is Chinese flaky pastry, but it uses oil instead of butter.

Choux pastry
Choux pastry is a very light pastry that is often filled with cream. Unlike other types of pastry, choux is in fact closer to a dough before being cooked which gives it the ability to be piped into various shapes such as the éclair and profiterole. Its name originates from the French choux, meaning cabbage, owing to its rough cabbage-like shape after cooking.
Choux begins as a mixture of milk or water and butter which are heated together until the butter melts, to which flour is added to form a dough. Eggs are then beaten into the dough to further enrich it. This high percentage of water causes the pastry to expand into a light, hollow pastry. Initially, the water in the dough turns to steam in the oven and causes the pastry to rise; then the starch in the flour gelatinizes, thereby solidifying the pastry. Once the choux dough has expanded, it is taken out of the oven; a hole is made in it to let out the steam. The pastry is then placed back in the oven to dry out and become crisp. The pastry is filled with various flavours of cream and is often topped with chocolate. Choux pastries can also be filled with ingredients such as cheese, tuna, or chicken to be used as starters.

Filo (Phyllo)
FIlo is a paper-thin pastry dough that is used in many layers. The filo is generally wrapped around a filling and brushed with butter before baking. These pastries are very delicate and flaky.

Malsouka/Brik
Also known as brik sheets, (Arabic: ورق البريك, French: feuilles de brick) or bourek sheets (ورق البوراك) or dioul (Arabic: ديول) is a Maghrebi pastry sheet that resembles filo. It is thicker than filo and unlike filo is created by spreading wafer-thin layers of dough on a heated pan rather than by rolling a raw dough.

Hot water crust pastry
Hot water crust pastry is used for savoury pies, such as pork pies, game pies and, more rarely, steak and kidney pies. Hot water crust is traditionally used for making hand-raised pies. The usual ingredients are hot water, lard, and flour. The pastry is made by heating water into which the fat is then melted, before bringing to the boil, and finally mixing with the flour. It can be done by beating the flour into the mixture in the pan, or by kneading on a pastry board. Either way, the result is a hot and rather sticky paste that can be used for hand-raising: shaping by hand, sometimes using a dish or bowl as an inner mould. As the crust cools, its shape is largely retained, and it is filled and covered with a crust, ready for baking. Hand-raised hot water crust pastry does not produce a neat and uniform finish, as there will be sagging during the cooking of the filled pie, which is generally accepted as the mark of a hand-made pie.

Suet pastry
A traditional pastry in British cuisine used in both sweet and savoury dishes. Suet is the raw, hard fat of beef, lamb or mutton found around the loins and kidneys. Its high smoke point makes it ideal for deep frying and pastry production.

Strudelteig Pastry
Traditional strudel pastry, known as Strudelteig, differs from puff pastry in that it is very elastic. It is made from flour with a high gluten content, water, oil, and salt, with no sugar added. The dough is worked vigorously, rested, and then rolled out and stretched by hand very thinly with the help of a clean linen tea towel or kitchen paper.

Links to all the above types of pastry, and many others can be found in the recipe links section below:

In the context of this page, pastries are typically small or hand-fitting confections made primarily from pastry and there are links to several types of pastries in the links below. Pies and Tarts also have a significant pastry component, but these have their own home at the Pies and Tarts Recipes page.

The alphabetical list of all the recipes recipes for pastry and pastries on this site follows, (limited to 100 recipes per page). There are 249 recipes in total:

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Soft Spring Roll Wrappers (Soft Spring Roll Wrappers)      Origin: Fusion	Briouat à la Viande Hachée (Briouat with Minced Meat Filling)      Origin: Mali	Dwmplinau Afal (Apple Dumplings)      Origin: Welsh
A crust for custards      Origin: Britain	British Pumpkin Pie      Origin: Britain	Egg Roll Wrappers      Origin: Mauritius
Advieh Baklava      Origin: Iran	Bur      Origin: Somalia	Empanadas      Origin: Chile
Air Fryer Beef Wellington      Origin: Britain	Burek      Origin: Bosnia	Empanadas      Origin: Uruguay
Air Fryer Pastry      Origin: Britain	Caca boeuf (Beef Patties)      Origin: Guadeloupe	Empanadas de carne (Argentinan Beef Empanadas)      Origin: Argentina
Air Fryer Sausage Rolls      Origin: Britain	Cáca gur (Gur Cake)      Origin: Ireland	Empanadas de carneo (Argentinian Meat Empanadas)      Origin: Argentina
Akume with Ademe Sauce      Origin: Togo	Cacennau Bach Jam (Jam Cheese Tarts)      Origin: Welsh	Empanadas de carneo (Argentinian Meat Empanadas)      Origin: Vatican City
Al-Motubug (Stuffed Pastry Squares)      Origin: Saudi Arabia	Caribbean Patty Crust      Origin: American	Empanadas fritas de mariscos (Fried Seafood Empanadas)      Origin: Easter Island
Aliter Dulcia III (Another Sweet III)      Origin: Roman	České koláče (Czech Kolachke)      Origin: Czech	Empanadas Method II      Origin: Chile
Aloo Pie      Origin: Trinidad	Cevizli Baklava (Turkish Walnut Baklava)      Origin: Turkey	Esfiha (Savory Stuffed Pastries)      Origin: Brazil
Anglo-Indian Dal Pitha      Origin: Anglo-Indian	Cheese Baklava      Origin: Syria	Fari Masa      Origin: Niger
Api con Pastel      Origin: Bolivia	Chin Chin      Origin: Nigeria	Fatayas Sénégalais (Senegalese Fatayas)      Origin: Senegal
Apple Dicky      Origin: England	Chin Chin II      Origin: Nigeria	Feta Cheese Puffs      Origin: Britain
Apple Tart Spiced with Herb Bennet Root      Origin: Britain	Chocolate Éclairs      Origin: Britain	Figolli (Maltese Easter Biscuits)      Origin: Malta
Apricot Kolaches      Origin: Czech	Chocolate Pastry      Origin: Britain	Filo/Phyllo Pastry      Origin: Britain
Asabia el Aroos (Brides' Fingers)      Origin: Afghanistan	Christmas Pastelles      Origin: Trinidad	Fish Slice      Origin: Britain
Atwemo (Twisted Cakes)      Origin: Ghana	Churros (Fried Choux Pastries)      Origin: Spain	Fistikli Baklava (Turkish Pistachio Baklava)      Origin: Turkey
Baadusha      Origin: India	Cocoa Nib and Currant Rugelach      Origin: Jewish	Flaky Pastry II      Origin: Britain
Baklava      Origin: Northern Cyprus	Coconut Pitha      Origin: Anglo-Indian	Flaón      Origin: Spain
Baklawa      Origin: Egypt	Cornulete Vanilate (Romanian Walnut Crescents)      Origin: Romania	Flaounes II (Easter Cheese Cakes)      Origin: Cyprus
Ballywindland Rolls      Origin: Ireland	Crescent Rolls to Die For      Origin: American	Forfar Bridies      Origin: Scotland
Banana Lumpia      Origin: Federated States Micronesia	Croissants      Origin: France	Frangipane-topped Mince Pies      Origin: Britain
Barbagiuan      Origin: Monaco	Crulla      Origin: Scotland	Franjki (Dalmatian Fried Pastry)      Origin: Croatia
Basyniai (Walnut and Fig Cakes)      Origin: Roman	Crwst Persli (Parsley Pastry)      Origin: Welsh	Fruit Risshews      Origin: England
Beef Steak and Kidney Pudding      Origin: Britain	Crwst Sawrus Cyfoethog (Rich Savoury Pastry)      Origin: Welsh	Gambian Meat Pie      Origin: Gambia
Beef Wellington      Origin: Britain	Curd Cake      Origin: Britain	Gateau Chinoise (French Guianese Chinese Cake)      Origin: French Guiana
Beef Wellington for Two      Origin: Britain	Dabgadz Banir Boerag (Fried Cheese Turnovers)      Origin: Armenia	Ghagina tal-Isfoll (Pastizzi Dough)      Origin: Malta
Bizcochos Uruguayanos      Origin: Uruguay	Dhaktyla (Ladies' Fingers)      Origin: Cyprus	Ghrayba      Origin: Libya
Blejska Kremšnita (Bled Cream Cake)      Origin: Slovenia	Dim Sum Dumplings      Origin: China	Gibanica (Cheese Strudel Pie)      Origin: Serbia
Bolivian Salteñas      Origin: Bolivia	Dim Sum Dumplings      Origin: Hong Kong	Gruzinchiki (Siberian Fish Rolls)      Origin: Siberia
Bonnie Prince Pudding      Origin: Scotland	Dim Sum Dumplings      Origin: Taiwan	Gyoza Wrappers      Origin: Japan
Boorrma (String Pastry Rolls)      Origin: Lebanon	Djibouti Sambusas      Origin: Djibouti	Hapai Hantue (Filled Buckwheat Dumplings)      Origin: Bhutan
Bourek me Kima (Pastries Stuffed with Minced Meat)      Origin: Cyprus	Dornoch Dreams      Origin: Scotland
Briks Dayouls (Dayoul Pastry Sheets)      Origin: Algeria	Dulce de Tres Leches (Cream of Three Milks)      Origin: Peru

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