Jam Tarts STEAM Competition: The Tasty Chemistry Behind Shortcrust Pastry
This year’s STEAM Festival took an unexpectedly delicious twist with the ‘Great Jam Tart Bake-Off’, where students competed to create the perfect jam tart. However, this wasn’t just a baking contest; it was a showcase of culinary chemistry, where science and flavour came together in flaky, buttery harmony.
The Challenge.
Students were tasked with baking their best jam tarts using shortcrust pastry. Students needed to make 6 identical jam tarts.
What is Shortcrust Pastry?
Shortcrust pastry is the base of many classic desserts, from pies to quiches. It’s known for its crumbly, tender texture, hence the name short, which refers to the lack of elasticity in the dough.
But how does shortcrust pastry work?
The Science Behind the Crust:
1. Fat is key:
Butter (or sometimes lard) is the fat that gives shortcrust its signature texture. When cold fat is rubbed into flour, it coats the flour particles, preventing too much gluten from forming. Less gluten means a more tender, crumbly texture—exactly what you want in a tart base.
2. Keep It Cool:
Temperature matters! Warm butter melts too soon and mixes into the flour, creating a tough dough. Cold butter, on the other hand, stays in small lumps, which melt in the oven to create little pockets of steam. These steam pockets puff up the pastry and give it that light, flaky bite.
3. Minimal Water:
Adding just enough cold water to bring the dough together is crucial. Too much water leads to more gluten formation, making the dough chewy instead of crisp and crumbly.
4. Rest and Relaxation (for the dough):
After mixing, the dough is rested in the fridge. This allows the gluten that did form to relax, which prevents the pastry from shrinking in the oven. It also chills the butter again—double win!
5. The Maillard Reaction:
How to get that beautiful golden crust? Thank the Maillard reaction—a complex chemical reaction between amino acids and sugars that happens when pastry hits high heat. It creates those delicious brown flavours that we all love.
Winners:
Miss Scott and Mr Dean judged the jam tarts, declaring Grace C as the winner, Anna W at second place and Abigail S at third place.
Whether you’re in the kitchen or the lab, the STEAM Festival proved that curiosity, experimentation and a pinch of creativity are always part of a successful recipe. The next time you bite into a jam tart, remember that there’s a whole lot of science in that sweet little shell!
Miss Scott
Food Preparation and Nutrition Co-ordinator
