When it comes to learning about what is the history of pastry is you first need to understand just what this food product is. Today pastry is a form of dough which can be made using a variety of different ingredients. However the main ones seem to be flour, butter, shortening, eggs as well as baking powder and will then be used to make a variety of different dishes.

In most cases today pastry will be rolled out using a rolling pin in order to be the base for a variety of different baked foods including pies, tarts and quiches. So in order for a person to make perfect pastry they must time the time to blend the ingredients correctly. It is important that the flour and fat are mixed together thoroughly before any liquid is added. By doing this it will ensure that the flour coats the fat adequately and prevent the production of gluten which can cause the pastry to become tough as it cooks.

But pastry has been around for many centuries now and was originally used by those living in the Mediterranean regions of Europe during ancient times. However it was until the crusaders began to return home from the wars that pastry begun to become much more popular in the Western parts of Europe including Britain. But as well as the people of the Mediterranean using pastry in their cooking there is strong evidence to show it was also being used by Egyptians, Greeks, Phoenicians and Romans as well.

All the recipes that these countries and people were using were adopted by other civilizations throughout the western hemisphere. Today there are recipes which if looked at closely could certainly be traced back to these much more ancient civilizations. Even in Asia pastry was being used although rather than being made using flour and fat they would make theirs from rice and bean curd as well as from flour. Often the contents of their pastry dishes would contain sweet or sesame based fillings. Even today in order to differentiate between the type of pastry made in Western countries and that made in Asian ones the term "west cake" is used for what we consider to be normal in the USA and UK.

When you look at what the history of pastry is you will find that rather than it being used as a covering in order to complement the fillings, it was used by the Egyptians as a way of soaking up the juices from the meats as they were cooked. In fact pastry was not introduced to Europe until the 7th century when it was brought there by Muslims and certainly in the UK by the medieval period many areas around the country were producing their own particular brands of puddings and pies and which were consider to be delicacies for that particular area. Even today in the UK you will find that certain pastry goods are still made and which are associated with a particular area.