What is the purpose of a pastry blender?
A pastry blender cuts butter or shortening into smaller pieces, creating “coarse crumbs”.
How to use a pastry blender?
- Place flour, baking powder/baking soda, salt, sugar into your recipe. Mix well.
- Add butter/shortening.
- Cut the butter using your pastry blender. When you cut the butter move your wrist to make a ¼ turn at the end to mix it into your flour.
- Cut your butter with your pastry blender until the butter looks about ½ cm pieces aka coarse crumbs. The butter will all be covered in your flour mixture.
How do you cut butter in a recipe?
- Make sure your butter is cold, right out of the refrigerator.
- Cut your butter into your flour mixture by pressing your pastry blender into the butter, cutting right through to the bottom of the butter. If it’s too hard, just try cutting smaller pieces off of the top until it’s a bit easier to work with.
- Once it’s a bit more worked in, cut your pastry blender into your flour with a ¼ turn at the end to completely mix it into your flour mixture.
- Cut all of the butter with your pastry blender until your butter is in small pieces ~½ cm.
How do you clean a pastry blender?
Rinse the pastry blender with a bit of water, or soak in some soap and water. Once the majority of your butter/flour is off of the pastry blender, place it on the top rack of your dishwasher to fully clean it.
Is a pastry blender necessary?
Yes. Using a pastry blender is one of the hand tools recommended for making pastry. Making pastry is already difficult enough, especially without the right tools.
What is the Best Pastry Blender?
The best pastry blender is the Spring Chef Pastry Blender.
Why?
- Strong stainless steel blades – twice as thick as a regular pastry blender
- Built to last – they want you to pass on your pastry blender to a future generation
- Heavy duty
- Ergonomic round handle grip for small-medium sized hands
- Thick rubber handle for more give for your hands
- Cuts cold butter with ease
What else can you use a pastry blender for?
You can use it to mash up avocado, cooked sweet potatoes, potatoes, or butternut squash.
