Goose Feather Pastry Brush

Few weeks ago when I started to make Kolache pastry for Marjo I was faced with a dilemma as to how to separate individual little kolaches from touching each other on the baking sheet as they rise without collapsing them. At first I have tried super thin painter’s spatula but the dough got stuck to the steel blade. Than I had a flashback and saw my grandmother using thin feather brush dipped in butter to do the job. Not only that, I also remembered that my mother brought the brush to me when she visited us in Canada about 15 years ago. This is the original brush, about 80 years old and still works like a charm. The feathers are stiff and soft at the same time so you can run them in between pastry, separating and buttering them all at the same time. When the pastry came out nicely separated I was so thankful to my mom and grandma.

By the way, they are incredibly easy to clean: just dip the brush in near boiling water and it is done. The brush is also great for brushing egg wash on the dough.

Just run buttered brush in between pastry pies and they will not stck to each other in the oven.

The individual kolaches separated without any problem at all.