For those who do not want to make their own pie crust, what are the ready-made ones worth – shortcrust pastry, puff pastry, shortcrust pastry, pizza dough, etc.? – sold commercially?
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What do you do with flour, water, butter and a touch of salt? Dough to cook, nothing could be simpler. However, for convenience or to save time, we use ready-made pasta from the store. What are they really worth? Patricia Chairopoulos conducted the investigation for the magazine 60 million consumers.
franceinfo: You have tested shortcrust pastry, puff pastry, shortcrust pastry, pizza dough. Is “ready-made” really popular?
Patricia Chairopoulos: Yes, since nearly 85% of French people buy shortcrust and even more flaky pie crusts, much more than pizza crusts. As for the brands, their preferences go to those of the distributors (56% of sales), knowing that as a national brand, Herta is the big winner in the department.
If we look at the lists of ingredients for industrial pasta, unsurprisingly, it all starts with wheat flour, generally type T55 (white and refined). Then come, in the composition, the water then the fat and other ingredients that are not found in pasta made at home: wheat gluten, spirit vinegar, additives such as guar gum. It is especially pizza dough which is ultra-processed, with several additives, notably to improve the texture, in certain references. In total, these compositions vary between 3 and 12 ingredients, which is starting to add up.
For shortcrust pastry and puff pastry, you need butter. Are they found in industrial dishes?
Yes, butter, oil or margarine… it all depends on the brand! The three fats coexist in this section, depending on the references and the type of dough. But overall, and fortunately, butter dominates. According to our analysis, 9 references out of 13 shortcrust pastry products tested are based exclusively on butter and we found the same proportion for puff pastry. Otherwise, the butter is replaced either by margarine or, most often, by palm oil combined with rapeseed or sunflower oil, like several organic products.
It’s more disappointing for pizza dough. While the traditional recipe is based on olive oil, we found absolutely none in the 13 industrial versions of our study, regardless of the price of the dough. It’s too expensive. She is mainly replaced by rapeseed or sunflower oil.
On the labels, to know the composition of the products, is the information clear enough?
Not always ! The order of ingredients follows descending order of weight, but almost nothing is specified about the quantities used. This indication is only mandatory for ingredients highlighted on the labeling or in the sales description, for example if it is a “pure butter” dough. Additionally, any additives intentionally added during dough manufacturing must be listed. Note that some brands provide transparency by indicating the origin of the raw materials, flour and fat.
In general, are these high-fat pastas harmful to your health?
Excess is always harmful. So if we eat shortcrust or puff pastry – since they are the fattest – every day, yes it is harmful. You also have to think about what you put on top: it becomes worse for your health if you add cold meats or cheese. Note that pizza dough is much less fatty, three times less than the others. On the other hand, they are very salty: half a pizza provides half of the daily salt intake, recommended by the World Health Organization.
Should we favor organic pie crusts?
An organic dough will guarantee wheat grown without synthetic phytosanitary products and reduced use of additives. But be careful, organic pie crusts also include, for reasons of cost, rapeseed or sunflower oil rather than butter.