The pastry investigator hews to scientific method. She formulates her hypothesis: Pastry perfection rests on the ratio of flour to fat to water.
She gets to work _ years of false starts and soggy pies. Just as she is underlining her final formula _ 2 cups flour, 2 sticks butter, { cup water _ she learns that her colleagues have derived the identical equation. In science, corroboration is good.
She notes subtle distinctions. Each recipe calls for the same ingredients, same proportions, different procedure.
Back in the lab, she runs a trial. One technique specifies dicing the butter into 512 cubes, rubbing 256 into the flour and stirring the remainder in whole. Others cut butter into flour via mixer, food processor or spatula. The final method skips the cut-in. It's simply toss, roll, fold.
The scientist bakes and tastes. Out of a sample size of five, four are good. One is stunning. It's nothing but flake _ crisp, layered, lovely flake.
For humanitarian reasons, she halts her research and releases the results: The roll method is not better. It's the best.
