Sweet on Pastry Dough

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Try adding a bit of confectioners' sugar to pastry dough. Folks who normally would leave the edge of the crust can't help but gobble it up!
For best results, keep everything cold. Use cold hands, a cold marble top, pastry board or worktop and water. (To keep hands cold, fill a resealable plastic bag with ice and then hold it in your palms for a few seconds.) Handle the pastry as little as possible and always use the finger-tips, the coolest part of the hands.
Placed the dough in a refrigerator between rollings so that the pastry remains firm.
Always sift the flour and salt, after measuring, together into the mixing bowl; this helps to lighten the mixture.

Chill the liquid in the refrigerator before use. The liquid parts (water, eggs, etc.) of the recipe should be very cold. Be careful not to overdo it as an excess of liquid causes a sticky, unmanageable dough and any extra flour then added will make it tough.
Rolling out must be done using firm, light strikes, rolling in one direction only and rotating the dough between "rolls". Avoid stretching the pastry as this causes shrinkage in baking.
Pastry requires a hot, well-preheated oven. Too low an oven temperature causes pale, hard and flat pastry.

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