Hi.

if a dough has excess butter or too little; what changes ? Aiming for fine 'crumbly' result. My understanding of the word crumbly is like compacted flour dust, not compacted sand texture, breaking and collapsing when biten.

Clues from the baking fans, please ?

There are many sorts of 'pastry'

Some are deliberately crumbly which also means a bit crunchy as in apple or other fuit crumble.

Some are 'flaky' as in strudel, creamash, etc

Some indeed crumble to fine(ish) powder as in shortcrust od shortbread.

Some 'puff up' on baking. and so on.

Part of the difference is the amount of liquid, part is the way the shortening (oil or fat) is mixed with the dry ingredients.

In addition to what studiot posted, the temperature of the butter can make a difference. Many recipes call for cold butter for extra flakiness.

Just now, Phi for All said:

In addition to what studiot posted, the temperature of the butter can make a difference. Many recipes call for cold butter for extra flakiness.

Yeah I forgot to mention that. +1

For pie crusts, this site claims that a combo of butter and shortening gives the best flakiness

https://www.thekitchn.com/best-way-to-make-flaky-pie-crust-23605563

(Interesting that getting the dough drunk with vodka gives good flakiness, too)

This morning's bake

The flour mix is also important.

Edited July 6Jul 6 by studiot