Why does Pidy pastry stay fresh for ages, while the pastry I make grows whiskers in a week or so?
This is because home-made pastry comes out of the oven with a moisture content around 15 – 20 %. There are always mould and yeast spores in the atmosphere and all they need is a moist and nourishing place (like your pastry) to set-up home and start a family. In no time at all, there’s so many of them that they become visible black or grey blotches (and yes, eventually grow whiskers). The clever bakers at Pidy worked out that if they pass the pastry through a dehydration oven after normal baking, and reduce the moisture content to somewhere around 5%, there is no longer enough moisture to support mould growth and no spoilage occurs. This process extends the shelf-life by many months, and sometimes up to a year, depending on the particular kind of pastry.
